The taxpayer, who had degrees in economics, business and accounting, retired from chartered accountancy for health reasons and proceeded to set up a securities trading business. He spent several years training, and researching technology and tools. Hershfield J. denied the taxpayer's purported business losses for those years. While it was clear that the taxpayer's intentions of beginning a business were genuine, he was well qualified, and the expenses were reasonable, Hershfield J. found (at para. 11) that "a continuing and underlying theme in all of Mr. Walsh's testimony [was that] Mr. Walsh was in school throughout the period under appeal." The taxpayer had conducted a few trades in 2006, but the total amounts were in the hundreds of dollars and were essentially "practice exercises" (para. 12).
Accordingly, the taxpayer's activities "did not yet reach the level of commerciality to justify a finding that a business had commenced" (para. 18).