In Mac's Convenience Stores Inc. v. Canada (2015 QCCA 837), the Quebec Court of Appeal affirmed a lower court decision (2012 QCCS 2745) denying rectification of corporate resolutions that had declared a dividend that unintentionally put the company offside the "thin-cap" rules in subsections 18(4)-(8) of the Income Tax Act.

Facts

Mac's, an Ontario corporation, was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Couche-Tard Inc. ("CTI"). In April 2005, Mac's borrowed $185 million from Sidel Corporation, a related Delaware corporation.

In April 2006, Mac's participated in several transactions with various related entities, including the declaration of a $136 million dividend on the common shares held by CTI. A similar series of transactions had been undertaken in 2001. However, in 2006, Mac's professional advisors failed or forgot to take proper account of the $185 million owed by Mac's to Sidel.

While the $136 million dividend itself was generally without tax consequences, the dividend had the effect of putting Mac's offside the (then) 2:1 ratio in the "thin-cap" rules in the Income Tax Act. This resulted in the reduction of deductible interest paid by Mac's to Sidel in the years following the dividend payment (i.e., 2006, 2007 and 2008).

Rectification

After Mac's was reassessed by the CRA to disallow the interest deduction, Mac's sought rectification of the corporate resolution declaring the dividend, and additionally sought to substitute a reduction of its stated capital and the distribution of cash to CTI. This would have had the same effect of paying an amount to CTI while maintaining the proper ratio for interest deductibility.

The Quebec Superior Court dismissed the application on the basis that the Mac's directors never had any specific discussions regarding the deductibility of interest on the Sidel loan after the payment of the dividend. The various steps in the 2006 transactions reflected the intentions of the parties, and thus there was no divergence between the parties agreement and the documents carrying out the transactions.

Appeal

The taxpayer appealed to the Quebec Court of Appeal. The Court described the taxpayer's position as not invoking any error in the lower court judgment but simply alleging that, if the taxpayer's advisors had made a mistake, then the lower court decision must be reversed on the basis of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Quebec v. Services Environnementaux AES Inc. (2013 SCC 65) ("AES") (see our previous post on AES here).

The Court of Appeal stated that it understood the Supreme Court's decision in AES to stand for the proposition that parties who undertake legitimate corporate transactions for the purpose of avoiding, deferring or minimizing tax and who commit an error in carrying out such transactions may correct the error(s) in order to achieve the tax results as intended and agreed upon. The Court of Appeal cautioned that AES does not sanction retroactive tax planning.

In the present case, the Court of Appeal held there was no common intention regarding the "thin-cap" implications of the dividend payment, and thus there was no agreement that should be given effect by the courts.

The Court of Appeal held there was no error by the lower court and dismissed the taxpayer's appeal.

For more information, visit our Canadian Tax Litigation blog at www.canadiantaxlitigation.com

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