Excise Tax Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15)

DIVISION VIIIAdministration and Enforcement

SUBDIVISION AAdministration

Marginal note:Minister’s duty

• 275 (1) The Minister shall administer and enforce this Part and the Commissioner may exercise all the powers and perform the duties of the Minister under this Part.

• Marginal note:Officers and employees

  (2) Such officers, agents and employees as are necessary to administer and enforce this Part shall be appointed or employed in the manner authorized by law.

• Marginal note:Delegation of powers

  (3) The Minister may authorize a designated officer or agent or a class of officers or agents to exercise powers or perform duties of the Minister under this Part.

• Marginal note:Administration of oaths

  (4) Any officer or employee employed in connection with the administration or enforcement of this Part, if designated by the Minister for the purpose, may administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and affirmations for the purposes of or incidental to the administration or enforcement of this Part or regulations made under this Part, and every officer or employee so designated has for those purposes all the powers of a commissioner for administering oaths or taking affidavits.

Marginal note:Inquiry

• 276 (1) The Minister may, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Part, authorize any person, whether or not the person is an officer of the Canada Revenue Agency, to make such inquiry as the Minister may deem necessary with reference to anything relating to the administration or enforcement of this Part.

• Marginal note:Appointment of hearing officer

  (2) Where the Minister, under subsection (1), authorizes a person to make an inquiry, the Minister shall forthwith apply to the Tax Court for an order appointing a hearing officer before whom the inquiry will be held.

• Marginal note:Powers of hearing officer

  (3) For the purposes of an inquiry authorized under subsection (1), a hearing officer appointed under subsection (2) in relation thereto has all the powers conferred on a commissioner by sections 4 and 5 of the Inquiries Act and that may be conferred on a commissioner under section 11 of that Act.

• Marginal note:When powers to be exercised

  (4) A hearing officer appointed under subsection (2) in relation to an inquiry shall exercise the powers conferred on a commissioner by section 4 of the Inquiries Act in relation to such persons as the person authorized to make the inquiry considers appropriate for the conduct thereof, but the hearing officer shall not exercise the power to punish any person unless, on application by the hearing officer, a judge of a superior or county court certifies that the power may be exercised in the matter disclosed in the application and the applicant has given to the person in respect of whom the power is proposed to be exercised twenty-four hours notice of the hearing of the application, or such shorter notice as the judge considers reasonable.

• Marginal note:Rights of witnesses

  (5) Any person who gives evidence in an inquiry authorized under subsection (1) is entitled to be represented by counsel and, on request made by the person to the Minister, to receive a transcript of that evidence.

• Marginal note:Rights of person investigated

  (6) Any person whose affairs are investigated in the course of an inquiry authorized under subsection (1) is entitled to be present and to be represented by counsel throughout the inquiry unless the hearing officer appointed under subsection (2), on application by the Minister or a person giving evidence, orders otherwise in relation to the whole or any part of the inquiry, on the ground that the presence of the person and the person’s counsel, or either of them, would be prejudicial to the effective conduct of the inquiry.

Marginal note:Regulations

• 277 (1) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) prescribing anything that, by this Part, is to be prescribed or is to be determined or regulated by regulation;

  • (b) requiring any class of persons to make returns respecting any class of information required in connection with the administration of this Part;

  • (c) requiring any person to provide any information, including the person’s name, address and registration number, to any class of persons required to make a return containing that information;

  • (d) requiring any person to provide the Minister with the person’s Social Insurance Number;

  • (e) requiring a person who is, by a regulation made under paragraph (b), required to make a return to supply a copy of the return or of a prescribed part thereof to the person to whom the return or part relates;

  • (f) providing for the retention by way of deduction or set-off of the amount of a person’s indebtedness under this Part out of any amount or amounts that may be or become payable by Her Majesty in right of Canada to the person in respect of salary or wages; and

  • (g) generally to carry out the purposes and provisions of this Part.

• Marginal note:Effect

  (2) A regulation made under this Part shall have effect from the date it is published in the Canada Gazette or at such time thereafter as may be specified in the regulation, unless the regulation provides otherwise and

  • (a) has a relieving effect only;

  • (b) corrects an ambiguous or deficient enactment that was not in accordance with the objects of this Part or the regulations made under this Part;

  • (c) is consequential on an amendment to this Part that is applicable before the date the regulation is published in the Canada Gazette; or

  • (d) gives effect to a budgetary or other public announcement, in which case the regulation shall not, except where paragraph (a), (b) or (c) applies, have effect before the date the announcement was made.

Definition of new harmonized value-added tax system

• 277.1 (1) In this section, new harmonized value-added tax system means the system under this Part and Schedules V to X providing for the payment, collection and remittance of tax imposed under any of subsection 165(2) and sections 212.1, 218.1 and 220.05 to 220.08 and of amounts paid as or on account of that tax and the provisions of this Part relating to tax under those provisions or to input tax credits, rebates or refunds in respect of any such tax, or any such amounts, paid or deemed to be paid.

• Marginal note:New harmonized value-added tax system regulations — transition

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations, in relation to the transition by a province to the new harmonized value-added tax system,

  • (a) prescribing rules in respect of whether, how and when that system applies and rules in respect of other aspects relating to the application of that system in relation to the province, including

    • (i) rules that apply for the purpose of determining the amount of instalment payments under section 237,

    • (ii) circumstances in which an election under this Part may be made or revoked at an earlier time than would otherwise be permitted under this Part, and

    • (iii) rules deeming, in specified circumstances and for specified purposes, the status of anything to be different than what it would otherwise be, including when tax or consideration became due or was paid or collected, when property was delivered or made available, when a service was performed and when tax is required to be reported and accounted for;

  • (b) respecting information that must be included by a specified person in a written agreement or other document in respect of a specified supply of real property and prescribing tax consequences in respect of such a supply, and penalties, for failing to do so or for providing incorrect information;

  • (c) deeming, in specified circumstances, a specified person to have collected a specified amount of tax, or to have paid a specified amount of tax, for specified purposes, as a consequence of making a supply by way of sale in respect of a residential complex;

  • (d) prescribing rules under which a person of a specified class that is the recipient of a specified supply in respect of real property is required to report and account for tax that is payable under subsection 165(2) in respect of that supply;

  • (e) prescribing compliance measures, including anti-avoidance rules; and

  • (f) generally to effect the transition to, and implementation of, that system in relation to the province.

• Marginal note:New harmonized value-added tax system regulations — provincial tax policy flexibility

  (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) prescribing rules in respect of whether, how and when a change in the tax rate for a participating province applies and rules in respect of a change to another parameter affecting the application of the new harmonized value-added tax system in relation to a participating province (in this subsection any such change in the tax rate or to another parameter is referred to as the “provincial tax policy flexibility”), including

    • (i) rules that apply for the purpose of determining the amount of instalment payments under section 237,

    • (ii) circumstances in which an election under this Part may be made or revoked at an earlier time than would otherwise be permitted under this Part, and

    • (iii) rules deeming, in specified circumstances and for specified purposes, the status of anything to be different than what it would otherwise be, including when tax or consideration became due or was paid or collected, when property was delivered or made available, when a service was performed and when tax is required to be reported and accounted for;

  • (b) if an amount is to be determined in prescribed manner in relation to the new harmonized value-added tax system, specifying the circumstances or conditions under which the manner applies;

  • (c) providing for rebates, refunds, adjustments or credits relating to the provincial tax policy flexibility;

  • (d) specifying circumstances and any terms or conditions that must be met for the payment of rebates in respect of the provincial tax policy flexibility;

  • (e) prescribing amounts and rates to be used to determine any rebate, refund, adjustment or credit that relates to, or is affected by, the new harmonized value-added tax system, excluding amounts that would otherwise be included in determining any such rebate, refund, adjustment or credit, and specifying circumstances under which any such rebate, refund, adjustment or credit shall not be paid or made;

  • (f) amending the definition basic tax content in subsection 123(1) to take into account the provincial tax policy flexibility or the addition of a province to the new harmonized value-added tax system; and

  • (g) prescribing compliance measures, including anti-avoidance rules, in respect of the provincial tax policy flexibility.

• Marginal note:New harmonized value-added tax system regulations — general

  (4) For the purpose of facilitating the implementation, application, administration and enforcement of the new harmonized value-added tax system or the transition by a province to the new harmonized value-added tax system, the Governor in Council may make regulations

  • (a) adapting any provision of this Part, of Schedules V to X or of the regulations made under this Part to the new harmonized value-added tax system or modifying any provision of this Part, Schedules V to X or those regulations to adapt it to the new harmonized value-added tax system;

  • (b) defining, for the purposes of this Part, Schedules V to X or the regulations made under this Part, or any provision of this Part, Schedules V to X or those regulations, in its application to the new harmonized value-added tax system, words or expressions used in this Part, Schedules V to X or those regulations including words or expressions defined in a provision of this Part, Schedules V to X or those regulations; and

  • (c) providing that a provision of this Part, of Schedules V to X or of the regulations made under this Part, or a part of such a provision, does not apply to the new harmonized value-added tax system.

• Marginal note:Conflict

  (5) If a regulation made under this Part in respect of the new harmonized value-added tax system states that it applies despite any provision of this Part, in the event of a conflict between the regulation and this Part, the regulation prevails to the extent of the conflict.

SUBDIVISION BReturns, Penalties and Interest

Marginal note:Definition of electronic payment

• 278 (0.1) In this section, electronic payment means any payment or remittance to the Receiver General that is made through electronic services offered by a person described in any of paragraphs (3)(a) to (d) or by any electronic means specified by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Place of filing

  (1) Every person who is required under this Part to file a return shall file the return with the Minister in the prescribed manner.

• Marginal note:Place of payment

  (2) Every person who is required under this Part to pay or remit an amount shall, except where the amount is required under section 221 to be collected by another person, pay or remit the amount to the Receiver General.

• Marginal note:Electronic payment

  (3) Every person that is required under this Part to pay or remit an amount to the Receiver General shall, if the amount is $10,000 or more, make the payment or remittance by way of electronic payment, unless the person cannot reasonably pay or remit the amount in that manner, to the account of the Receiver General at or through

  • (a) a bank, other than an authorized foreign bank that is subject to the restrictions and requirements referred to in subsection 524(2) of the Bank Act;

  • (b) a credit union;

  • (c) a corporation authorized under the laws of Canada or a province to carry on the business of offering its services as a trustee to the public; or

  • (d) a corporation authorized under the laws of Canada or a province to accept deposits from the public and that carries on the business of lending money on the security of real estate or investing in mortgages or hypothecary claims on real estate.

Meaning of electronic filing

• 278.1 (1) For the purposes of this section, electronic filing means using electronic media in a manner specified in writing by the Minister.

• Marginal note:Filing of return by electronic filing

  (2) A person who is required to file with the Minister a return under this Part, and who meets the criteria specified in writing by the Minister for the purposes of this section, may file the return by way of electronic filing.

• Marginal note:Mandatory filing of return by electronic transmission

  (2.1) If a person is, in respect of a reporting period of the person, a prescribed person or a person of a prescribed class, the person shall file its return for the reporting period by way of electronic filing in the manner specified by the Minister for the person.

• Marginal note:Deemed filing

  (3) For the purposes of this Part, where a person files a return by way of electronic filing, it is deemed to be a return in prescribed form filed with the Minister on the day the Minister acknowledges acceptance of it.

• (4) [Repealed, 2001, c. 15, s. 20]

• (5) [Renumbered as (3), 2001, c. 15, s. 20]