The CRA is hiring 100 new auditors, increasing its audits of high-risk taxpayers fivefold to 3,000 annually from 600, and ramping up its review of tax shelters to include 200 promoters a year, a tenfold increase over the current rate.Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Lexpert Roundup on the Business of Law
Lexpert identifies and reports on emerging business issues and practice areas in the business of law. Whether online, in our magazine or in the DealsWire e-newsletter, we chronicle deals and lawsuits of interest, and cover issues of broad concern to the legal profession and those who purchase legal services. We hope you enjoy this sample of our latest content.
From the DealsWire: Lowe's-Rona players, Meridian buys Roynat
The Lexpert DealsWire (subscribe here) documents facts, figures and key legal players behind recent deals. This week's announced deal spotlight features the key players and figures in Teranga Gold's acquisition of Gryphon Minerals.
In our closed deals section, we look at the legal teams on Lowe's acquisition of Rona, as well as Westport Innovations merging with Fuel Systems.
We also look at the players behind the sale of Scotiabank's Roynat lease finance business to Meridian Credit Union. Finally, we give you the legal teams on Fyffes of Ireland buying Canada's largest mushroom business, Highline Produce.
Tax litigators expect a fight as CRA boosts budgetThe CRA is hiring 100 new auditors, increasing its audits of high-risk taxpayers fivefold to 3,000 annually from 600, and ramping up its review of tax shelters to include 200 promoters a year, a tenfold increase over the current rate. The major full-service firms are also beefing up in anticipation of an increased workload.
Competition Bureau approves 'efficiencies defence'
The demise of Superior Plus Corp.'s $982-million deal to acquire Canexus Corp. is not without its upside for M&A stakeholders subject to the Competition Act. It is the first time Canada's Competition Bureau has ever approved a transaction based upon the efficiencies defence.
A win for anti-corruption
The Supreme Court of Canada has issued a resounding endorsement of international anti-corruption efforts by upholding the archival and personal immunities of the World Bank Group and its anti-corruption investigators. It also appears to be the first judicial discussion of the subject anywhere.
Leave test for class actions affirmed
If a recent Ontario Superior Court decision is any indication, the test for leave to commence a secondary-market securities application as enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada in December will have real teeth in its practical application.
Congratulations to our Zenith Award winners
Winners were recognized, at a gala event in Toronto on June 20, 2016, for demonstrating excellence, action and thought leadership in ways that advanced diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and society. Deirdre Stanley, executive vice-president and general counsel of Thomson Reuters, was the keynote speaker.
Celebrating diversity and inclusion
We've wanted to celebrate Diversity and Inclusion since the Zenith Awards began about six years ago. But we were concerned there weren't enough actions to celebrate. This year we took the plunge, and there were many, many actions worth celebrating.
Funding legal innovation in Canada
Has innovation been sitting on its hands while Ontario's law society decides whether to bless non-lawyer minority ownership of innovative structures? In-house lawyers are increasingly insistent legal fees be reined in and law firms are increasingly desperate to find ways to do that. Is that all on hold?
Data-driven legal
Some in the legal profession argue that what they do is so reliant on human judgment that being replaced by computers would be unimaginable. Presumably, the world's best chess and GO players said the same, until computer systems recently beat human world champions in both pursuits. Putting one's head in the sand is no way to deal with the threat, George Takach writes in this month's Legal Tech column.
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