Précis: M. Laliberté, the Appellant, is the founder of Cirque du Soleil and in 2009 (the relevant tax year) was its controlling shareholder. In 2009 Cirque paid for M. Laliberté spending 12 days on a trip to and from the International Space Station. While in space he participated in a fund-raising drive for One Drop Foundation/Fondation One Drop (“One Drop”), a charity in support of the availability of clean pure water that is closely allied with Cirque. M. Laliberté reported a $4,000,000 shareholder benefit. CRA was not amused and assessed M. Laliberté for a $41.8 million shareholder benefit representing the entire cost of the space trip. M. Laliberté appealed to the Tax Court arguing that none of the cost should be taxable in his hands. Justice Boyle held that on the very limited evidence before him the most he could allocate to a business portion of the cost of the trip (and therefore not taxable) was 10%. He held that the balance was taxable in the hands of M. Laliberté and awarded costs to the Crown.
Laliberté v. R. – TCC: Cirque du Soleil sends its boss over the moon (almost) but CRA is not amused – a reassessment darkens his re-entryREAD MORE »