Tax Court of Canada Rules (General Procedure) (SOR/90-688a)

General Duty to the Court

• 1 An expert witness has an overriding duty to assist the Court impartially on matters relevant to his or her area of expertise.

• 2 This duty overrides any duty to a party to the proceeding, including the person retaining the expert witness. An expert witness must be independent and objective and must not be an advocate for a party.

Expert Reports

• 3 An expert report referred to in subsection 145(1) of the Rules shall include

  • (a) a statement of the issues addressed;

  • (b) a description of the qualifications of the expert on the issues addressed;

  • (c) the expert’s current curriculum vitae attached as a schedule;

  • (d) the facts and assumptions on which the opinions in the report are based;

  • (e) a summary of the opinions expressed;

  • (f) in the case of a report that is provided in response to another expert’s report, an indication of the points of agreement and disagreement with the other expert’s opinions;

  • (g) the reasons for each opinion expressed;

  • (h) any literature or other materials specifically relied on in support of the opinions;

  • (i) a summary of the methodology used, including any examinations, tests or other investigations on which the expert has relied, including details of the qualifications of the person who carried them out, and whether a representative of any other party was present; and

  • (j) any caveats or qualifications necessary to render the report complete and accurate, including those relating to any insufficiency of data or research and an indication of any matters that fall outside the expert’s field of expertise.

• 4 An expert witness must report without delay to persons in receipt of the expert report any material changes affecting the expert’s qualifications or the opinions expressed or the data contained in the expert report.

Expert Conferences

• 5 An expert witness who is ordered by the Court to confer with another expert witness shall

  • (a) exercise independent, impartial and objective judgment on the issues addressed;

  • (b) endeavour to clarify with the other expert witness the points on which they agree and those on which their views differ; and

  • (c) not act on any instruction or request to withhold or avoid agreement with another expert witness.