Arif v. R. – TCC: Court rejects taxpayer’s evidence that source of bank deposits was casino winnings

Bill Innes on Current Tax Cases

http://decision.tcc-cci.gc.ca/tcc-cci/decisions/en/item/67152/index.do New Window

Arif v. The Queen[1] (February 24, 2014) involved an assessment of the taxpayer for income derived from a business of negotiating insurance claims.  Of the amount assessed by CRA the taxpayer asserted that $35,000 represented winnings from casino gambling and was therefore not taxable.  The court found both the oral and documentary evidence presented by the taxpayer unpersuasive and dismissed the appeal (apart from a $500 addition error conceded by the Crown):

[22]        The conclusion that I have reached based on the evidence as a whole is that the business income reported on Mr. Arif’s income tax return ($12,500) is an arbitrary figure. I am not satisfied that it bears any relation to reality.

[23]        I am also not satisfied that any of the bank deposits were sourced from casino wins. Even though there is a bank deposit of $2,200 that could possibly be sourced from a casino win, it is not appropriate to give Mr. Arif the benefit of the doubt with respect to this deposit given the weakness of Mr. Arif’s evidence overall.

[24]        The appeal will be allowed only with respect to the $500 error mentioned above.

[1] 2014 TCC 73.