The taxpayer was a securities broker for National Bank Financial ("NBF"), and worked there with another investment advisor ("Auger") in the what they styled as the "Auger-Massicolli" partnership. As part of a client retention and lead management strategy, he would mail clippings from newspapers and magazines to clients. These clippings were generated by their spouses, who were the sole employees of a corporation ("Sydwood") whose two equal shareholders were corporations controlled by an Auger or the taxpayer's family trust. The two partners paid fees to Sydwood of 0.15% per month (2% per annum) of assets the two partners "generated," for the Sydwood "research" services.
The taxpayer deducted research fees of $134,697 and $152,199 in computing his employment income for 2003 and 2004 as business expenses, and his commission income for those years was $463,510 and $376,262. Paris J. disallowed the deductions in full under s. 67. Among the reasons listed were that:
- NBF provided similar reports for $20 per mailing, and the taxpayer could not establish that it was reasonable not to use them instead - i.e. that the Sydwood reports were superior, or that the NBF fees would have been greater;
- the research fees were greatly in excess of Sydwood's cost ($50,000 a year for salaries, plus some financial publication subscriptions); and
- the taxpayer's claim that 0.15%-0.40% per month was the competitive rate for similar report-generating services was unsubstantiated.