cra travel tips reddit

50 Must Have Travel Tips from Experienced CRAs

• Caitlin Hirschman, R.N.

October 25, 2017

Recently, I sat down with Clinical Team Leads Caitlin Hirschman and Jamie Christensen who have a combined 25 years of monitoring experience to learn more about the travel tips they’ve acquired over the years.  Here’s what they had to share:

1.  Expect the unexpected.  Things will go wrong, so you just have to be patient and stay calm when you are traveling.  Going in with the expectation that everything will go according to plan is a recipe for dissatisfaction.

2.  Get loyal with an airline and hotel chain so you can reap the benefits of their rewards systems (when it isn’t cost prohibitive).  You’ll appreciate the free upgrades and other goodies that you’ll collect over time.

3.  Have cash. It comes in handy for tips and other small items.

4.  Invest in comfortable shoes.  Wear flats and bring sneakers.

Luggage & Packing

5.  Travel with a backpack and a carry-on.  Using a backpack rather than a purse or tote bag leaves your hands free which will make things much easier.  The backpack can also serve as the go to bag while you are on-site.

6. Invest in a good carry-on.  Consider one that is small enough to fit under the seat if you’ll be going on lots of overnight trips.  That way you won’t have to gate check your bag if they run out of room in the overhead compartments or if you are on a small regional flight that doesn’t accommodate roller boards.

7. Keep a ready-to-go toiletry kit that you don’t have to repack each time that contains carry-on size liquids.

8. Aveeno makes face wipes that work well as a non-liquid facial cleanser.

9. Pack light. A good rule is to pack two shirts for each pair of pants and re-wear the pants. 10. Pack clothes that don’t require ironing.

11. Bring some candy. It can make a good pick me up when you are feeling worn down. 12. Gum can come in handy too.

13. Don’t forget your chargers.

14. De-clutter your wallet so you are only carrying what you really need.

15. TSA pre-check is totally worth it. Not only does it provide the convenience of not needing to take off your shoes and take things out of your bags at airport security, but the shorter lines can save you a lot of time especially at larger airports. (Rho pays for TSA pre-check for frequent travelers).

16. Delta and Southwest are favorites for airlines. If you take Southwest, it’s worth it to pay for the early bird check-in so you get a better seat assignment. The cost will be offset by what you might have spent checking your bag.

17. Consider joining an airline club. It can provide a really nice break during a long layover or if you get stuck because of a flight cancellation. (Rho pays for airline club membership for frequent travelers).

18. In general, aisle seats are preferred, but window seats may be better for a redeye.

19. Make sure to get a seat close to the front of the plane if you have a close connection, even if it means taking a middle seat. A middle seat is definitely preferable to a missed connection.

20. Don’t bring fish or beef jerky to eat on the plane. Your fellow passengers will appreciate it.

21. Avoid connecting flights through New York area airports. Atlanta is a good airport for transfers.

Ground Transportation & Parking

22. Consider using Uber to get from home to the airport depending on how long you will be gone and what time your flights are departing and arriving. It can be substantially cheaper than parking and you get dropped off close to the terminal at most airports.

23. If you do need to park, consider using an off-site parking service. You can earn points, they provide amenities like coffee and newspapers, and drop you off right by the terminal and your car. It can also feel safer than walking through a parking garage late at night.

24. Consider using Uber or other ride-sharing services in cities where parking can be a problem. This may also be a good plan if your visit is at an academic site. University parking is notoriously problematic.

25. If you have a good taxi driver, get their card so you can use them for the rest of the trip or future trips to the same city. It also allows you to call ahead for a ride.

26. Download a noise machine app. It can help you sleep better in new places—particularly noisy ones.

27. Don’t sleep naked. You never know when there will be an unexpected hotel fire alarm.

28. When visiting a new site, ask them for hotel and restaurant recommendations.

29. Ask for a higher level hotel floor (never ground floor).

Health and Wellness

30. Bring an empty refillable water bottle and then fill it once you are on the other side of airport security. It’s easy to get dehydrated while you are traveling, and this is an easy, cheap, and environmentally-friendly solution.

31. Bring snacks. You never know when you are going to be stuck somewhere that it isn’t convenient to get food or where food options aren’t great. You can also choose healthier snack foods when you pack them yourself rather than purchasing them at the airport.

32. Make a plan to get in a workout wherever you go. It is easy to ignore your health when you are traveling frequently. Bring workout clothes and sneakers.

33. Check with your gym to find out if they have satellite locations in areas where you frequently travel.

34. Some hotels offer workout clothes and shoes that you can rent.

35. Keep your sneakers in your backpack, so you can take a walk and explore the city after work.

36. Keep hand sanitizer or baby wipes handy. Planes and airports are germy places.

37. Look under the mattress to  check for bedbugs .

38. Beach Body Workouts is super cheap for a year membership. Just log onto the app and choose a workout like yoga or T25, which is a super quick great workout.

39. Make sure someone has your contact information and also knows your travel plans. Make sure to give the airline an emergency contact number. This is especially important for single folks who aren’t necessarily checking in with anyone regularly.

40. When the hotel asks you how many keys you want, always tell them two so that no one overhears that you are traveling alone.

41. Do a safety check of the hotel room before settling in. Check behind doors and in closets where someone could be hiding and make sure windows and sliding glass doors are locked.

42. If you are traveling to a new place, try to arrive when it is still light outside.

Food & Entertainment

43. Headphones for the plane are a must. You can use them to listen to music or movies, and to drown out the noise of the plane (or unruly passengers).

44. Before you leave on your next trip, download movies, books, or audiobooks to entertain yourself on the plane or when you have some free time back at your room.

45. Learn to enjoy travel by exploring each place you go. There are a number of “Best of” apps that tell you the best sandwich, beer, dessert, etc. in each state. It can be fun to see how many you can collect.

46. Some restaurant and hotel chains have happy hours which can save you some money if you are traveling on a per diem reimbursement plan. In some cases, hotel happy hours provide free food that make for a decent light dinner.

47. Bring a bathing suit. If you have free time you can get some exercise in the pool or some relaxation time beside it.

48. Go see landmarks in new cities you visit—the Seattle Space Needle, Millennium Park in Chicago, Duck Tours in Boston, Riverwalk in San Antonio.

49. Baseball games are a great way to take in some local flavor at a reasonable cost.

50. Check out some local restaurants.

What are your best travel tips?

What’s new for travel deductions for northern residents?

March 1, 2022.

Do you live in a northern part of Canada? Northern residents have some good news for their 2021 tax returns! Travel deductions have been expanded so more residents can claim their expenses for trips to and from northern regions. Keep reading to learn more about the updated deductions for northern residents.

What are deductions for northern residents?

What’s new for the travel benefits deduction, what do i need to claim this deduction, what’s a designated city, how do i know if i live in a prescribed zone, what if i recently moved to a prescribed zone.

If you lived in the northern regions of Canada for at least 6 consecutive months , you might be able to claim a residency deduction and/or a deduction for travel benefits on your return. These deductions are designed to help offset the additional costs of living in a remote area by lowering the amount of taxes you owe.

You can claim these deductions on your return using the northern residents deduction (T2222) form . If you're a Québec resident, you can also claim the related provincial deductions with form TP-350.1-V . To learn more about northern residents deductions, visit the H&R Block Online Help Centre .

In previous years, you could only claim the travel benefits deduction (or travel deduction, if you’re a Québec resident) if you worked in a prescribed zone and paid for trips outside of your region for which you received a taxable travel allowance from your employer. Now, you can claim a deduction for personal trips on your 2021 return, even if you’re not employed.

If you or someone in your household travelled within Canada during the year, you can claim the cost of up to 2 trips for each family member . If you travelled for medical reasons, there’s no limit on the number of trips you can claim.

The amount you can claim is the lowest of the following amounts:

• The cost of your trip (including what you paid for transportation and accommodations)
• The lowest return airfare to the closest designated city when you took your trip
• Up to $1200 per family member

Keep in mind, if you received a taxable travel allowance from your employer, you can still claim your taxable travel benefits like last year. Visit the H&R Block Online Help Centre to learn more about claiming taxable travel benefits.

Note: If you get a non-taxable travel allowance or any other non-taxable travel assistance from your employer, you can’t claim the travel benefits deduction on your return.

You’ll claim this deduction when you prepare and file the northern residents deduction (T2222) form with your 2021 return. You’ll need:

• The date your trip began (to calculate the lowest return airfare between where you travelled and a designated city)
• Receipts for your transportation (for example, air, train, bus fare or vehicle expenses)
• Receipts for your accommodations (for example, the cost of your motel or hotel)

If you don’t have your receipts, there’s a simplified method you can use to calculate your meal and vehicle expenses, but there is no simplified method for other expenses.

If you chose to go with the simplified method to claim your meals, you can claim $22 per meal for up to three meals a day (tax included). When it comes to claiming your vehicle expenses, you can claim a per-kilometer rate for how far you traveled. Keep in mind, the rate you can claim will depend on which province and territory you started your travel from. Even though you don’t have to hold onto your receipts, you should still hang onto documentation that can support your claim(s).

​​A designated city is the city closest to where you live. You can’t claim more than the cost of the lowest return airfare to that city on the day you took your trip (even though you may not have travelled to that city or even travelled by air). The designated cities are:

• Vancouver, BC
• Calgary, AB
• Edmonton, AB
• Saskatoon, SK
• Winnipeg, MB
• North Bay, ON
• Toronto, ON
• Montréal, QC
• Moncton, NB
• Halifax, NS
• St. John's, NL

For all northern residents deductions, where you live determines how much you can claim. For example, you can claim the deduction amounts in full if you live in a prescribed northern zone (Zone A) . If you live in a prescribed intermediate zone (Zone B) , you’re only eligible for half of the deduction amounts.

To find out if you live in a prescribed zone, check the following list from the CRA and Revenu Québec:

• Northern zone (Zone A)
• Intermediate zone (Zone B)
• Northern zone (Zone A) – Québec only
• Intermediate zone (Zone B) – Québec only

If you recently moved but haven’t lived in a prescribed zone for at least 6 months, you can file your 2021 return without claiming your deductions. Once you qualify, you can request to change your return and claim your deductions retroactively. If you filed your return using H&R Block’s Do It Yourself tax software , adjusting your return is even easier with our ReFILE feature .

Ready to file? H&R Block makes sure you get the maximum refund*. Get help from the largest network of reliable Tax Experts by choosing one of four convenient ways to file: File in an Office , Drop-off at an Office , Remote Tax Expert , or Do It Yourself Tax Software .

Share this article

Related articles, the 3 best tax tips to help you prepare for this tax season., january 4, 2022, weirdest things canadians have tried to claim on their taxes., december 12, 2018, can i claim this top tax myths debunked., may 28, 2021, can you claim the canada caregiver amount, may 17, 2021, subscribe to our tax tips newsletter..

Get the latest tax news to your email.

Don’t fill this out if you’re human:

By clicking the Subscribe button, you consent to receiving electronic messages from H&R Block Canada regarding product offerings, tax tips, and promotional materials. You can withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us at [email protected]

Your cart is empty

Have an account?

Log in to check out faster.

Earn 0 points for this purchase and other great rewards. Create an account at checkout or register now

Headphones.com

• The Audio Files

CCA CRA+ vs. CRA Comparative Review: More than Less

Review written by @Fc-Construct

Review unit provided by KZ

Introduction

A few months ago, I wrote a review on the CCA CRA . A dirt-cheap IEM at $15 – 20, the single dynamic driver CCA CRA represents the bass heavy sound signature that the ChiFi had been chasing for years but with the necessary tonal balance and sufficient technical prowess to round it all out. The CCA CRA is the IEM that has surprised me the most in past few years and the one that deserves the “hidden gem” moniker. In fact, the moment I heard it I told the KZ rep that sent me the CRA to never change its sound.

Well, lo and behold, after the success of the CCA CRA, KZ decided to release a successor, the CCA CRA+ . I say successor in loose terms because it has a different dynamic driver to the original CRA. As far as I’m concerned, that makes the CRA+ a different IEM and KZ’s marketing strategy is to ride on the CRA hype train. For its asking price of about $30, is there any substance to the CRA+ or is KZ trying to pull a fast one on the market once again?

For this comparative review, please read my CCA CRA review first as I will reference it heavily.

What’s in the Box?

The unboxing experience is identical to the CCA CRA. It’s the modern KZ standard accessory set. Aesthetically, the only difference is CRA+’s gold faceplate instead of a silver one on the CRA. The included cable is silver instead of copper but otherwise shares the same build quality. Interestingly, the CRA+ comes with a different set of silicon tips. It’s slightly less bulky with the classic KZ star-shaped ribbing at the tip.

Oh boy. I won’t mince words here. The CRA+ is better. Better in almost every way. Primarily, it has a cleaner presentation and a stronger tonal balance while retaining a weighty bass response. Like the original CRA, the CRA+ is engaging and exciting. But where the CRA’s bass can be overly dominant, especially if you haven’t been accustomed to its sound signature, the CRA+ essentially opens up and lightens the sound to increase nuance and clarity. It also resolves some of the CRA’s issues in the treble by taming the lower treble peak and improves treble coherency with crisp hats/cymbal notes. Where the CRA feels like cheap and dirty fun firmly in the realm of beater IEMs, the CRA+ steps up into the bigger stage and competes against the likes of the MoonDrop Aria and DUNU Titan S.

Frequency response of the CCA CRA+ vs. the CRA. Measurement taken with an IEC-711 clone microphone. Comparisons can only be made relative to other measurements taken by this specific microphone. A peak at about 8 – 10 kHz is likely an artifact of the measurement rig and may not exist as depicted here. Measurements above 8 kHz are not accurate. If possible, reference multiple measurements.

Let’s see if some frequency response analysis can help me explain what I’m hearing. Looking at the graph, there are four major differences.

The first is in the subbass. The CRA+ has noticeably less subbass, diverging at the 100 Hz mark and plateauing around 60 Hz. While this means the CRA+ doesn’t have as much subbass grit compared to the CRA, it helps the CRA+ sound a little cleaner by de-emphasizing subbass rumble and decay and instead leans just a little more on the punchy side. Don’t get me wrong though; the CRA+ is still plenty bassy. Bass quality is still very good on the CRA+ with satisfying impact.

The second is its upper mids, specifically the crucial vocal region of 2 – 3 kHz. The CRA+ has a small hump here that makes a significant difference in vocal clarity and timbre. While the CRA’s vocals aren’t necessarily buried, the CRA+ pulls them appreciably forward. The centering of the pinna peak at 2.5 kHz also makes it sound more natural than the CRA’s which has an odd upwards skew into the lower treble. Together, these two effects help the CRA+’s midrange become more balanced and stand up against the bass heavy emphasis of this tuning.

The third difference is in the lower treble where the CRA+ has a deeper dip than the CRA. While I don’t think the additional dip is as significant as the other differences, the important thing here is the decreased 5 kHz peak which is now in-line with the pinna peak. This has the effect of making the CRA+ less harsh in it’s lower treble, which was one of the biggest challenges the original CRA had.

Finally, the upper treble at about 13 kHz. Generally, reading into the peaks and dips for graphs above 8 kHz should be taken with a grain of salt but with the CRA+, the additional upper treble presence does add a good amount of air and sparkle to complement the dip in the lower treble. I think it also contributes to the sharper and more coherent sound that the CRA+ has over the original CRA. While I suspect some might find it a little intense at times, this extension is what gives the CRA+ its energetic quality.

Altogether, these differences make the CRA+ sound lighter and more open than its predecessor and it carries on into its technical performance. The original CRA’s small soundstage was acceptable given its low price of $15 and the overall value it represented. The CRA+ finally brings staging to a respectable level. It also gains a bump in resolution, going beyond the lo-res, beater sound that the CRA had. Perhaps the only complaint here is layering where the CRA+ can sometimes sound like everything is being thrown at you at once. For energetic genres like rock, it works splendidly. But for mellower songs, the CRA+ does lack a delicate touch that conveys an additional emotional depth.

Comparisons to MoonDrop Aria

The MoonDrop Aria is probably the most reviewed budget IEM in recent times and for good reason – it’s a great balanced sounding budget option for those looking to get started with hi-fi. Similar IEMs like the DUNU Titan S and Tin HiFi T3 Plus provide flavour variants to the Aria. I’ve written about these three IEMs here , here , and here . So how does the CRA+ stack up?

As you can see from the graph, the CRA+ has more bass and upper treble presence. The biggest difference is in the quality of the bass. In my initial review, I noted the Aria’s bass has a slight softness to it. The CRA+’s bass response hits harder in comparison. The Aria’s bass is fine. The CRA+’s is fun. And that essentially sums up the difference between the CRA+ and the Aria/Titan S/T3 Plus. They’re milder with a cleaner tuning while the CRA+ is brash and lively. Are you looking for something to bang your head along with while on commute or something with better tonal balance?

Currently, I would take the CRA+. I don’t think its technical performance is much behind the Aria, if at all. But the tipping point for me is that there are very very few good bass heavy IEMs while there are an increasing number of well-tuned budget IEMs in the same vein of the Aria. It checks all the boxes for me in a bassy IEM: a good quality bass response, decent midrange without sibilance, lively upper treble extension, and reasonable technical performance all at a price that’s simply hard to fault. I’d take the Aria if I didn’t already own multiple reference-level IEMs.

Should You Buy It?

Yes. At $15 – 20, I previously gave the CCA CRA a strong recommendation. At $30, I will give the CRA+ an even stronger recommendation. If you don’t care about IEMs at all and are just Googling around for the best bang for your buck so you can go on with your day, the CCA CRA+ is it. Maybe grab an aftermarket cable while you’re at it. The CRA+ deserves it.

I really did not think KZ would be able to top the CRA anytime soon, if ever. Yet here I am proven wrong in less than 6 months. Diminishing returns are stronger than ever and my prediction is that the IEM market will soon be split into two camps: budget and luxury. With the brutal level of price-performance competition present, I’m not sure mid-fi will have a place in the near future.

Support more content like this by shopping on Headphones.com

• Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
• Opens in a new window.

Language selection

• Français fr

Don’t miss out on tax benefits for northern residents

February 6, 2024

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada Revenue Agency

If you lived in a northern or remote area for six months or more in 2023, you may qualify for the northern residents deductions. These deductions recognize the unique challenges northern residents face, such as higher living costs and limited access to services. Find out if you lived in a prescribed northern zone (Zone A) or a prescribed intermediate zone (Zone B) at canada.ca/cra-line-25500 .

The deductions include a residency deduction and a travel deduction . These can provide relief for both your daily living expenses and eligible travel. If you are eligible, these deductions will reduce your taxable income.

Residency deduction

You may be able to claim up to $11 a day for Zone A and $5.50 a day for Zone B for the basic residency amount. You may also be able to claim an additional residency amount if you are the only person in the household claiming the basic residency amount for the period and you were responsible for maintaining the dwelling you live in.

Find out if you’re eligible at Calculate your residency deduction .

Travel deduction

You can claim the travel deduction for medical or personal trips originating from a prescribed zone, using various modes of transportation. You can claim up to two personal trips that you took and up to two personal trips taken by each eligible family member. It doesn’t matter who claims the trips, but only two personal trips for each individual can be claimed in a tax year. There is no limit on the number of claims for medical trips.

To claim, you must provide receipts or records for the total travel expenses. You also need to provide the lowest return airfare (LRA) available at the time of the trip between the airport closest to your residence and the nearest designated city.

Learn how to simply identify the LRA at canada.ca/lowest-return-airfare .

We heard you

Last year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) launched the Simplified Northern Residents Travel Deduction as a pilot project to help northern residents claim the travel deduction. The main component of the pilot was the airfare tables . These tables give taxpayers the option to use an amount provided in the table as the LRA for their travel deduction claims.

To maintain our ongoing commitment to northern residents, we held a consultation process from July to September 2023. This gave them opportunities to provide input through in-person and virtual roundtables, email submissions, and an online questionnaire.

Thank you to all those who participated. We are carefully reviewing the feedback received in an effort to making it easier for you to claim the travel deduction. Read the full consultation report to find out what we heard.

Don't miss out on the support you’re entitled to. Explore canada.ca/taxes-northern-residents for comprehensive details on northern residents deductions today!

Key dates for this tax season

• February 19, 2024 – This is the first day you can start filing your 2023 tax return online . If you file on paper , you should receive your income tax package in the mail by this date.
• April 30, 2024 – This is the deadline for most Canadians to file a tax return. By filing your tax return on time, you’ll avoid delays to any refund, benefit, or credit payments you may be entitled to. If you owe money to the CRA, this is also the payment deadline. You’ll avoid late-filing penalties and interest by filing and paying on time.
• June 15, 2024 – If you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed, this is the deadline to file your tax returns. As this date falls on a Saturday, your return will be considered filed on time if the CRA receives it or it is postmarked on or before June 17, 2024 . If you owe money to the CRA, you'll still need to pay by April 30, 2024 , to avoid interest.

Media Relations Canada Revenue Agency 613-948-8366 [email protected]

Page details

Jet-Setters’ Wisdom: 12 Essential Travel Tips for the Experienced Adventurer

CRA, courts clamp down on siblings who spent company funds on personal travel

Disallow nearly $500,000 in write-offs put through family's Ontario dairy business

You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account.

Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.

Article content

One of the benefits often cited by small-business owners is the ability to write off various expenses for tax purposes. The misconception about what can be legitimately written off brings to mind one of my favourite Seinfeld episodes, The Package , in which Kramer convinces Jerry to say his stereo was broken during shipping to collect a $400 insurance payment from the post office.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.
• Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.
• Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.
• National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.
• Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.
• Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account.
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
• Enjoy additional articles per month.
• Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Sign In or Create an Account

Cra, courts clamp down on siblings who spent company funds on personal travel back to video.

Kramer: “Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything.” Jerry: “You don’t even know what a write-off is.” Kramer: “Do you?” Jerry: “No, I don’t.” Kramer: “But they do, and they’re the ones writing it off.”

The problem with write-offs is that in order for a business expense to be properly deductible for tax purposes, it must be legitimately incurred for the purpose of earning income. Otherwise, the Canada Revenue Agency can deny the deduction as well as assess an employee or shareholder benefit, resulting in double taxation. Once, because the expense is disallowed as a deduction, and a second time when the value of the benefit becomes taxable to the shareholder or employee.

BMO ZAG Fund. Solidly dependable.

Bmo fixed income funds. designed with flexibility., gain more control over the yield curve., give fixed income a bigger role..

That’s exactly what happened in a Federal Court of Appeal case decided earlier this month.

The case involved four siblings in Ontario who operate a large dairy farm business that manufactures a variety of products, including cheese and yogurt, that are sold throughout North America. The business is incorporated, and each sibling is a shareholder and an employee of the business.

For the Dec. 31, 2015, taxation year, the CRA reassessed the corporation to disallow nearly $500,000 of business expenses. Of these expenses, nearly $355,000 of them related to travel expenses (including meals). In addition, the CRA reassessed each of the siblings to include various amounts relating to the non-deductible travel in their income that it deemed personal, saying each of them had received either a shareholder or employment benefit.

Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.

• There was an error, please provide a valid email address.

By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

The amounts were significant. One sibling, the president, was reassessed to include $211,621 in his income for 2014 and $156,696 for 2015 as shareholder benefits, which represented part of the denied travel expenses paid by the corporation for himself, his wife and his mother. Similarly, another sibling, who acted as treasurer and director of human resources, had to include $237,647 and $181,737, respectively, as shareholder benefits. The third sibling’s shareholder benefits totalled nearly $27,000 over the two years under review, while the fourth’s were almost $50,000.

In tax court, the taxpayers said all travel expenses paid by the company were incurred for the purpose of gaining or producing business income, such as meeting suppliers worldwide or developing the company’s business market. They said the travel expenses “were not of a personal nature” and should not have been included in the computation of their income. They also argued that shareholder benefits shouldn’t apply to two of the four siblings since they only owned preferred shares in the company, not common shares.

The CRA disagreed, saying that the disallowed travel expenses were not incurred by the company for the purpose of gaining or producing income from a business.

During the initial trial, the company’s financial controller testified, but her testimony was “vague and inconsistent.” As the judge said: “Since she was assigned to deal with the audit, it is not credible that, as (the corporation’s) financial controller, she did not know which expenses were personal and which expenses were business-related.”

The company president’s testimony was also found to not be credible. He stated that all disallowed travel expenses paid by the company were incurred for business purposes, but he was unable to provide any reasonable explanation nor any documentary evidence to justify the deductibility of the travel expenses by the corporation.

Among the total travel expenses deducted by the company, the CRA auditor was prepared to allow approximately $200,000 of travel expenses without any other supporting documents other than credit-card statements for trips to Dubai for an annual trade show, and trips to Chicago, New York, Vancouver, San Diego and Washington.

Other travel expenses for trips to Paris, Aruba, Nassau and Mont-Tremblant were not allowed, nor were expenses paid to Sunwing Vacations, as the auditor concluded these were personal expenses paid by the corporation for the benefit of the siblings and various other family members.

Other disallowed travel expenses included: credit-card charges incurred in Sint Maarten, including various restaurant meals; expenses at the Fairmont Tremblant in Quebec, Ritz-Carlton in Aruba and Ritz-Carlton in Grand Cayman; and some expenses incurred by a sibling’s spouse at Holt Renfrew in Montreal.

To justify any of the disallowed travel expenses, the judge said “it would have been reasonable to expect that some supporting documentation — namely emails, invitations to meetings, agendas of meetings, etc. — would have been adduced at the hearing indicating the purposes of the various travel expenses.”

Without such evidence or documentation, the judge concluded the expenses were simply not deductible and the personal expenses were included in each of the sibling’s incomes as either shareholder or employee benefits.

The siblings and corporation appealed the lower court decision, and a new trial was held at the Federal Court of Appeal on June 17, 2024. In a short, six-page decision delivered orally from the bench, the three-judge panel of the appellate court unanimously upheld the lower court’s decision.

The panel said the tax court judge properly weighed the evidence before her, noting the “total absence of documentary evidence” to back up the taxpayers’ claims that expenses were incurred for the purpose of earning business income.

The panel also addressed the argument of two siblings who held only preferred shares and felt they could not be assessed as shareholders in this case. The panel noted, however, that the Tax Act “does not make a distinction between common shareholders and preferred shareholders” when assessing shareholder benefits.

As a result, “There is … no matter here to intervene,” the panel said.

Jamie Golombek , FCPA, FCA, CFP, CLU, TEP, is the managing director, Tax & Estate Planning with CIBC Private Wealth in Toronto. [email protected] .

If you liked this story, sign up for more in the FP Investor newsletter.

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the business news you need to know — add financialpost.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here .

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

TD CEO Bharat Masrani to retire, bank names successor

Faster cuts and slower cuts both on table for bank of canada, deliberations show, trans mountain pipeline has the tanks at cushing, oklahoma running dry, bank of canada to cut deeper and faster, predicts desjardins' jimmy jean, the best mortgage rates in canada right now.

This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here . By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy .

You've reached the 20 article limit.

You can manage saved articles in your account.

and save up to 100 articles!

Looks like you've reached your saved article limit!

You can manage your saved articles in your account and clicking the X located at the bottom right of the article.