akgcma --
I have found a document published by a prominent Canadian law firm
that describes in detail a recent CCRA decision speaking to precisely
the point of Canadian law that interests you. That CCRA document is
an Advanced Income Tax Ruling ("ATR") apparently issued in 2003.
The April 2003 newsletter of Gowling LaFleur Henderson, LLP, which is
entirely concerned with this ruling, states:
"However, what happens when a business person sends a client a box of
chocolates . . . . As a promotional gift it would seem logical that
the entire amount would be deductible, as the business person or the
business is not participating in the personal consumption of the gift.
In other words the gift would only be used in the act of promoting or
advertising a particular business for the purpose of earning income.
The CCRA has decided in a recent Advance Income Tax Ruling that the
deductible expense for such gifts is deemed to be 50% of the lesser of
the amount actually paid and an amount which would be reasonable in
the circumstances . . . .
"It is important for businesses to remember that when advertising or
promoting themselves through promotional gifts, not all promotional
gifts are treated equally. It may be prudent to rethink that bottle
of chocolate or bottle of wine in favour of key chains or mugs, unless
of course the key chains and mugs are made of chocolate."
Gowling Lafleur Henderson, LLP: Taxation Law (April 2003): "Can You
Eat That Gift, by Lewis Retik
http://www.gowlings.com/resources/newsletterPDFs/042.pdf
(The above is a PDF document that requires Adobe Reader to access. If
you do not have that free software installed on your computer, it can
be downloaded here):
Adobe Reader
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
The CCRA's Web site contains archived copies of some pre-1986 Advance
Income Tax Rulings. However, the agency states on the following
linked page that such rulings are no longer published on its site, but
rather "are released in severed form to various commercial publishers
of tax information."
CCRA: Archived Published Advance Income Tax Rulings
http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/menu/ATRA-e.html
Unsurprisingly, it does not appear from my searching that any such
commercial sources make these rulings available online, and I do not
have convenient access to print versions of any such sources.
The Gowling newsletter linked above does not contain a citation to the
ATR that provides the CCRA's interpretation that you have referenced.
However, the Gowling firm's Web site has contact information for its
offices in every major Canadian city, linkable from its home page:
Gowling Lafleur Henderson
http://www.gowlings.com/index.asp?lang=0
I am sure that if you need a citation to, or even a fax of, the CCRA
ruling, you will be able to obtain it from that firm without any
difficulty by contacting them and referencing the newsletter article.
Search Strategy:
I began with a thorough search of the CCRA's Web site using a variety
of search terms. When these searches were unsuccessful, I used a
variety of Google searches, including:
ccra wine business expense
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=ccra+wine+%22business+expense%22%2250%25%22
ccra business expenses gifts wine
://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=ccra+business+expenses+gifts+wine
The first result returned by the latter search was the newsletter linked above.
I then used the following Google search focused specifically on ATRs
(now that I knew what they were):
CCRA rulings published
://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=CCRA+rulings+published
The first result returned by this search was the CCRA page, linked
above, referring to the publication of ATRs.
I also used many other combinations and permutations of search terms
in order to decide with confidence that the primary document issued by
the CCRA is not available online.
I am confident that this is the information you are seeking. If for
geographic or other reasons, it is not convenient for you to contact
the Gowling (or another) Canadian law firm or library for a copy of
the document or its citation, please ask for clarification before
rating this answer and I would be happy to assist you further.
markj-ga |
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