Summary

Keywords

Administrative law — Judicial Review — Jurisdiction of Federal Court — Minister of National Revenue assessing taxpayer — Taxpayer applying for judicial review and seeking declarations it was denied procedural fairness, there was no evidentiary foundation upon which an assessment could be issued, and assessments were issued for improper purpose — Whether Federal Court has authority and jurisdiction to review conduct of Minister of National Revenue — If the only jurisdiction to review conduct of the Minister is in the determination of the correctness of the assessment in the Tax Court of Canada, who supervises the Minister?

Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Canada Revenue Agency completed an audit of monthly GST/HST returns of Iris Technologies Inc. Two days later, it commenced a second audit of certain reporting periods. The Minister of National Revenue withheld GST/HST refunds for the reporting periods under examination and denied Iris Technologies Inc.’s requests to have those funds released. Iris Technologies Inc. applied for judicial review seeking to compel the release of the refunds and seeking declarations that it was denied procedural fairness, that the Minister failed to follow policy with respect to the administration of the Excise Tax Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15, that there was no evidentiary foundation upon which an assessment could be issued, and that the assessments were issued for an improper purpose. The Minister of National Revenue assessed and reassessed the reporting periods, and imposed penalties and interest, resulting in Iris Technologies Inc. owing $52,191,893.01. The Attorney General filed a motion to dismiss Iris Technologies Inc.’s application for judicial review. The Case Management Judge dismissed the motion. The Federal Court dismissed an appeal. The Federal Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and dismissed Iris Technologies Inc.’s application for judicial review.

Lower Court Rulings