Canadian Online Poker Tax Thread - Page 19

Henry17 · #**181** 09-13-2007, 05:55 AM

"You also need to stop your canadian free medical insurance. "

I'm not sure if that makes sense. Obviously you shouldn't renew you health card (or you driver's licence or anything that would imply you intend to maintain residency) once you leave but why would anyone? There is no requirement that you actually take any active steps to cancel your provincial health care.

Anyone having questions about residence status can find all the information they need in Interpretation Bulletin IT-221. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it...onsolid-e.html

TorontoCFE · #**182** 09-20-2007, 08:19 AM

The issue can be argued successfully either way depending on how good the lawyer/accountant is. Because there are a list of several factors used to determine tax eligibility and most cases are not 100% in one way for every factor, an argument comes down to putting the greatest emphasis on those that support your side and minimize the ones that are against you.

The recent court cases against sports bettors that the CRA has lost is mainly due to poor arguments (placing the emphasis on the weaker factors) on their side in my opinion.
The courts have taken the approach that the CRA has to "really" prove that income is taxable before backing them up.
So far the government has used poor reasoning and lost all of the cases but that doesn't mean they won't change their approach and start to win.

Henry17 · #**183** 09-20-2007, 09:17 AM

That was why I asked about the contents of the article. It is very difficult for CRA to win a case. The exception to that would be if someone decided to go on record either via a blog or in a newspaper / magazine article. In a case like the player has pretty much done all the work for the government and screwed himself.

TorontoCFE · #**184** 09-21-2007, 07:40 AM

All the government really has to do is prove that you intend on relying on poker income as your source of support.
If you have no other means of support, you must be in the business of poker.
It can not be recreational or incidental to your lifestyle if it is the only way you get to eat.

Henry17 · #**185** 09-21-2007, 10:18 AM

That would be true if someone had no other source of income. If someone has a job and plays poker at night and on the weekends then it is much harder to establish that unless their poker income is so much larger then their employment income that a qualify of life issue kicks in.

For people who don't have actual employment then if they don't plan to pay tax on their poker income will simply not file a return. So long as they don't then start a blog or brag to someone who reports them they should just disappear.

The really stupid is a friend of mine who for the last 8 years has claimed less then $200 in income yet files his taxes so he can get his Ontario Tax credit on the $32k in rent he pays. So for what works out to less then $1000 he risks setting off a bunch of red flags. As a vote of confidence in the level of scrutiny tat the CRA there have been no issues to date.