On November 26th, 2013, the Canada Revenue Agency
("CRA") participated in a Roundtable session at the 65th Annual Tax Conference of the
Canadian Tax Foundation held in Toronto, Ontario. The panelists
announced a one-year pilot project for Pre-Ruling
Consultations.
Taxpayers may now approach the Income Tax Rulings Directorate
("ITRD") on a formal, written basis to obtain a
preliminary 'pre-ruling' on a particular issue in
order to determine whether the ITRD will issue a full ruling on the
same issue in the future. A fee will be charged for taxpayers
who use this service.
As noted on the CRA website "the purpose of the
pre-ruling consultation is to reduce the likelihood of the taxpayer
incurring significant costs as a result of submitting a request for
a ruling that ITRD will be unable to provide."