Distributors received up-front payments from a manufacturer for their agreement to provide services in connection with promoting the manufacturer's products.
CRA indicated that if the amount was received "free of conditions or restrictions respecting its use from the commencement of the contract," it would be included in income under s. 9, and if instead the "acts and obligations which the distributor corporation had to accomplish after the end of the taxation year were sufficiently significant to reach a conclusion that the sum was not earned in that year," then it "could" be included in income under s. 12(1)(a). CRA then stated:
[A]n amount included in the computation of income [under s. 9] by virtue of the realization principle could also come within paragraph 12(1)(a). In such a case and subject to subsection 20(7), the distributor corporation could have the right to deduct a reasonable amount as a reserve if the situation was described in one of subparagraphs 20(1)(m)(i) to (iv).