Welcome to the February 2017 edition of our wealth and trusts quarterly digest. The digest provides up to date commentary and analysis on key sector developments. Our tax, wealth and trusts teams are able to provide a wide ranging service to assist you and your clients in responding to market trends and legal developments. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss any concerns you may have and always welcome feedback on the content of our publications. Feature When can trustees exercise their right of retention?
Traduction en cours.
Proposed U.S. Treasury and IRS Regulations Limiting Use of NOLs
The Alberta Court of Appeal recently upheld an unreported decision of the Court of Queen’s Bench that unpaid taxes on linear property (which were pipelines and associated facilities in the case at bar) formed only unsecured claims against the debtors.
The Alberta Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal brought by three municipalities (the "Municipalities") seeking status as secured creditors entitled to special priority for payment of linear property taxes.
In Northern Sunrise County v Virginia Hills Oil Corp, 2019 ABCA 61, the primary issue was whether the Municipal Government Act ("MGA") grants to an Alberta municipality a special lien for linear property taxes, which lien ranks senior in priority to contractual security interests if the tax debtor is not bankrupt or subject to other insolvency proceedings.
Background
Background
Virginia Hills Oil Corp. was a small publicly traded oil producer with assets in north central Alberta. Some of its assets were held through its subsidiary Dolomite Energy Inc. (collectively the "Debtors"). The Debtors' main secured creditors were the Alberta Treasury Branches and the Bank of Nova Scotia (the "Banks"). The Debtors also owned a pipeline that passed through three municipalities (the "Municipalities").
On February 12, 2019, the Court of Appeal of Alberta (Court) released its long-anticipated decision in Northern Sunrise County v. Virginia Hills Oil Corp. (Virginia Hills).
In a recent Bennett Jones Update—Property Tax Priorities in Alberta Insolvency Proceedings: Current Uncertainty—we discussed three recent decisions of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta that had addressed the question of the priority of municipal property taxes in insolvency proceedings.
APPLICATIONS FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL DISMISSED
38144 Ronald Baldovi v. Her Majesty the Queen
(Man.)
Courts – Judges – Reasonable apprehension of bias
In Callidus Capital Corporation v. Her Majesty the Queen,[1] the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a troubling 2017 decision of the Federal Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court held unanimously that the bankruptcy of a debtor extinguishes the deemed trust for unremitted GST and HST created in favour of the Crown (“CRA”) by section 222 of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”).