temporary nature

Before discussing the conditions that would need to be satisfied for allowances paid under an internship program to cover foreign living expenses to be excluded under s. 6(6)(a)(i), the Directorate first noted, regarding the s. 6(6) exception, that:

A Band Council of an Indian Reserve employed non-aboriginal staff at the reserve, who lived in housing on the reserve, but also might have a home off-reserve to which they would travel on weekends. In addition to their base salaries, they were paid a cost of living premium and a transportation premium. Were the premiums excludable from income pursuant to s. 6(6) where the employee signed a one-year contract with the Band Council that had been renewed every year for the past five years, or where the employee instead signed a 3-year contract with the Council. CRA responded:

In the course of a general discussion of the meaning of "duties … of a temporary nature," CRA stated:

[W]here an employer offers its employees a contract of employment of less than two years but the possibility of renewal of the employment contract is known from the outset and/or if it often happens that the employees of this employer renew their employment contracts, it is unlikely that the duties of the employees will be of a temporary nature. …

Regarding a situation where the taxpayer was hired temporarily to help address a temporary work backlog at a remote work site but then was retained once it became clear that another worker had definitively left the work site, the Directorate stated that the determination as to whether a work engagement is temporary generally must be made at its commencement based on the following factors: