Lori E.J. Patyk

The appellant purchased properties and executed vendor take back mortgages and a development agreement, paying land transfer tax on the total amount including the development milestones.

The development milestones were never met, the agreement was terminated, and the mortgages were discharged.

The appellant sought a refund of the land transfer tax paid on the development amounts.

The court dismissed the appeal, finding that the obligations under the development agreement formed an integral part of the consideration given on closing, and the contingent nature of the liability did not exclude it from the value of consideration under the Land Transfer Tax Act.

A charitable foundation appealed a decision of the Minister of Revenue denying a refund of retail sales tax paid on prepared food products served at fundraising events where attendees paid a single ticket price.

The dispute concerned whether food provided at such events was supplied “without specific charge” under s. 12 of Regulation 1012 made under the Retail Sales Tax Act.

The court applied modern principles of statutory interpretation and concluded that the phrase requires a distinct charge for the food itself, not merely that food costs be embedded within a bundled event price.

Because the ticket price for the events did not itemize or separately allocate a charge for the prepared food products, the food was provided “without specific charge.” The foundation was therefore entitled to the exemption and the requested refund.

The applicants invested in a Ponzi scheme through their companies.

They received payments that were reported as income and paid taxes on them.

After discovering the fraud, they applied for an order rectifying their corporate and tax records to show the payments as a return of capital, and for a declaration to that effect.

The court dismissed the claim for rectification because the documents accurately reflected the applicants' intentions at the time they were prepared.

However, the court granted a declaration that the moneys were a return of capital, without prejudice to how the payments should be treated for tax purposes by the tax authorities.