From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   CRA may have duty to warn taxpayers of tax schemes, Federal Court rules: CRA   
   SOTW   
      
   Julius Melnitzer | February 9, 2015 4:46 PM ET   
      
   There's a new wrinkle in the Canada Revenue Agency's war on charities and tax   
   shelters. But this time, the bombardment is coming straight at the tax   
   collector.   
      
   The Federal Court ruled in early January that the CRA may be negligent in   
   failing to warn taxpayers of schemes of which the Agency was aware.   
      
   The ruling came after the Agency assessed a large group of taxpayers in   
   connection with charitable donations made to Global Learning Gift Initiative.   
   A CRA audit had concluded that the charity was a sham. CRA then denied all   
   related charitable donation    
   claims by taxpayers between 2004 and 2008. Some 28,000 taxpayers filed   
   objections regarding the 2004-2006 tax years alone,   
   The taxpayers responded with a negligence action against the Crown. They   
   assert that CRA was aware of the dangers related to the scheme and could have   
   but failed to warn the taxpayers.   
      
   The government moved to strike the taxpayers' action, but the Federal Court   
   dismissed the appeal, saying it was not "plain and obvious" that the claim   
   would fail.   
      
   "Scheuer is a new chapter in the evolving saga of negligence claims against   
   CRA and the Crown for failure to fulfill duties of care owed to taxpayers,"   
   writes Bill Innes of Reuters Scargall Bennett in Bill Innes on Current Tax   
   Cases.   
      
   This is not the first time that CRA has lost out in court battles relating to   
   GLGI donations. As reported here earlier, the Federal Court ruled in 2014 that   
   CRA had intentionally and improperly delayed audits of taxpayers who made GLGI   
   donations in order    
   to avoid issuing tax refunds.   
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