FCA To Hear Atlas Tube Appeal

The case of Canada (National Revenue) v. Atlas Tube Canada ULC (2018 FC 1086) involves a number of interesting issues surrounding a tax diligence report prepared by an accounting rm for a potential purchaser of a target corporation. The report contained information on the tax prole and attributes of the Canadian target entities and an evaluation of their tax exposures drawn from their four most recent tax returns. The FC determined, inter alia, that the report was not protected from disclosure under solicitor-client privilege. The court's ndings on the privilege issue in particular are open to question on a number of fronts, all of which one hopes will be considered by the Federal Court of Appeal.