On September 14, 2026, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue announced that the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) will now prioritize advance income tax ruling (“AITR”) requests relating to investments of $1 billion or more in Canada.
The AITR program allows taxpayers (or potential taxpayers) to request that CRA provide authoritative guidance on the Canadian income tax consequences of a proposed transaction. The AITR benefits investors as it allows them to obtain a binding decision from the CRA on how Canadian income tax law will apply to a proposed transaction before such investor undertakes the transaction and commits capital in Canada. This gives investors in Canada greater certainty and predictability on how their investments will be treated for Canadian tax purposes.
As explained in the Minister’s announcement, the goal of this new prioritization is to “reduce risks, inform financing decisions, and give investors the confidence they need to move major projects forward in Canada, supporting the government’s broader efforts to attract investment, build major projects and strengthen Canada’s long-term economic competitiveness.”
The CRA’s current service standard for issuing an AITR following receipt of all the relevant information is 90-business days, a target that CRA claims it met 91% of the time in its last fiscal year. Given that it often takes considerable time to provide CRA all the relevant information (especially in particularly complex proposed transactions involving large sums of money), the process of obtaining a favourable AITR is frequently a lengthy one. As a result, there may have been a trade-off for investors between tax certainty, on one hand, and proceeding with a project in a timely manner, on the other, which may have historically discouraged certain investments in Canada.
While the new AITR policy should be a welcome change for large investors in Canada, it is unclear how this will work in practice. Particularly, it is uncertain how much faster the CRA will issue a ruling in respect of large, complex transactions and whether there will be a corresponding negative impact on timelines for AITR requests involving sums under $1 billion.
Read the original article on GowlingWLG.com
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
[View Source]
