Excise Tax Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. E-15)

SUBDIVISION EFiscal Periods and Reporting Periods

Fiscal Periods

Marginal note:Determination of fiscal quarters

• 243 (1) For the purposes of this Part, the fiscal quarters in a fiscal year of a person shall be determined in accordance with the following rules:

  • (a) there shall not be more than four fiscal quarters in the year;

  • (b) the first fiscal quarter in the year shall begin on the first day of that year, and the last fiscal quarter in the year shall end on the last day of that year;

  • (c) each fiscal quarter shall be shorter than one hundred and twenty days; and

  • (d) except for the first and last fiscal quarters in the year, each fiscal quarter shall be longer than eighty-three days.

• Marginal note:Determination of fiscal months

  (2) For the purposes of this Part, the fiscal months in a fiscal year of a person shall be determined in accordance with the following rules:

  • (a) the first fiscal month in each fiscal quarter in the year shall begin on the first day of that fiscal quarter, and the last fiscal month in each fiscal quarter shall end on the last day of that fiscal quarter;

  • (b) each fiscal month shall be shorter than thirty-six days except that the Minister may, on request in writing made in prescribed form containing prescribed information and filed with the Minister in prescribed manner, allow the person to have one fiscal month that is longer than thirty-five days in a fiscal quarter; and

  • (c) each fiscal month shall be longer than twenty-seven days unless

    • (i) that fiscal month is the first or last fiscal month in a fiscal quarter, or

    • (ii) the Minister, on request in writing made in prescribed form containing prescribed information and filed with the Minister in prescribed manner, allows the person to have that fiscal month shorter than twenty-eight days.

• Marginal note:Notice by registrant

  (3) Where a person is a registrant at any time in a fiscal year of the person, the person shall specify the first and last day of each of the fiscal quarters and fiscal months in the year in prescribed form containing prescribed information and filed with the Minister in prescribed manner on or before the day that is

  • (a) where the person becomes a registrant in that fiscal year, the later of

    • (i) the day the person files an application for registration under section 240 or, where the person was required under subsection 240(2.1) to file that application on or before an earlier day, that earlier day, and

    • (ii) the effective date of the registration; and

  • (b) in any other case, the first day of that fiscal year.

• Marginal note:Determination by Minister

  (4) Where a person fails to determine the fiscal quarters or fiscal months in a fiscal year of the person in accordance with subsection (1) or (2), or fails to satisfy the requirements of subsection (3), for the purposes of this Part, the Minister may determine those fiscal quarters or fiscal months and shall notify the person in writing of the determination.

Marginal note:Election for fiscal year

• 244 (1) Where the taxation year of a person is not a calendar year, the person may elect to have fiscal years that are calendar years, effective on the first day of a calendar year.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Where the taxation year of an individual or a trust is not a period that is, for the purposes of the Income Tax Act, the fiscal period of a business carried on by the individual or trust, or by a partnership of which the individual or trust is a member, the individual or trust may elect to have the fiscal year of the individual or trust be that fiscal period, effective on the first day of one of those fiscal periods.

• Marginal note:Revocation of election

  (3) A person who has made an election under this section may revoke the election, effective on the first day of a taxation year of the person that begins more than one year after the day the election became effective.

• Marginal note:Form and contents of election, etc.

  (4) An election made under this section or a revocation of an election made under this section shall

  • (a) be made in prescribed form containing prescribed information;

  • (b) specify the day the election or revocation is to become effective; and

  • (c) be filed with the Minister not later than the day the election or revocation is to become effective.

Marginal note:Fiscal year — selected listed financial institution

• 244.1 (1) If a person is a financial institution described in subparagraph 149(1)(a)(vi) or (ix) that is a selected listed financial institution throughout a particular reporting period in a particular fiscal year of the person that begins in a particular calendar year and the person was not a selected listed financial institution throughout the reporting period immediately before the particular reporting period, the following rules apply:

  • (a) the particular fiscal year ends on the last day of the particular calendar year; and

  • (b) as of the beginning of the first day of the calendar year that is immediately after the particular calendar year, the fiscal years of the person are calendar years and any election made by the person under section 244 ceases to have effect.

• Marginal note:Fiscal year — selected listed financial institution

  (2) Despite subsection (1), if a person is a financial institution described in subparagraph 149(1)(a)(vi) or (ix) that is a selected listed financial institution throughout a particular reporting period in a particular fiscal year of the person, the following rules apply in prescribed circumstances to determine the fiscal year of the person:

  • (a) the particular fiscal year ends on the day immediately before the prescribed day referred to in paragraph (b); and

  • (b) the following fiscal year of the person begins on a prescribed day.

• Marginal note:Ceasing to be selected listed financial institution

  (3) If a person is a financial institution described in subparagraph 149(1)(a)(vi) or (ix) that is a selected listed financial institution throughout a reporting period in a particular fiscal year and the person is not a selected listed financial institution throughout a reporting period in the following fiscal year of the person, that following fiscal year ends on the day on which it would end in the absence of this section.

• Marginal note:Fiscal year — investment limited partnership

  (4) If a particular fiscal year of an investment limited partnership begins in 2018 and includes January 1, 2019 and the investment limited partnership would be a selected listed financial institution throughout a reporting period in the particular fiscal year if the particular fiscal year began on January 1, 2019 and ended on December 31, 2019, the following rules apply:

  • (a) the particular fiscal year ends on December 31, 2018;

  • (b) subject to subsection (2), the fiscal years of the investment limited partnership are calendar years as of January 1, 2019;

  • (c) any election made by the investment limited partnership under section 244 ceases to have effect as of January 1, 2019; and

  • (d) if the first taxation year of the investment limited partnership that begins after 2018 does not begin on January 1, 2019, for the purposes of this Part (other than section 149) the investment limited partnership is deemed, for the period beginning on January 1, 2019 and ending on the day preceding the first day of that taxation year, to be a financial institution, a listed financial institution and a person referred to in subparagraph 149(1)(a)(ix).

Reporting Periods

Marginal note:Reporting period of non-registrant

• 245 (1) Subject to section 251, the reporting period of a person who is not a registrant is a calendar month.

• Marginal note:Reporting period of registrant

  (2) Subject to subsection 248(3) and sections 251, 265 to 267 and 322.1, the reporting period of a registrant at a particular time in a fiscal year of the registrant is

  • (a) where

    • (i) the registrant has made an election under section 248 that is effective at that time,

    • (ii) the registrant has not made an election under section 246 or 247 that is effective at that time, an election under section 248 by the registrant would be effective at that time if the registrant had made such an election at the beginning of the fiscal year of the registrant that includes that time and, except where the reporting period of the registrant that includes that time is deemed under subsection 251(1) or any of sections 265 to 267 to be a separate reporting period, the last reporting period of the registrant ending before that time was a fiscal year of the registrant,

    • (iii) the registrant is a charity and has not made an election under section 246 or 247 that is effective at that time, or

    • (iv) the registrant is a listed financial institution described in any of subparagraphs 149(1)(a)(i) to (x) and has not made an election under section 246 or 247 that is effective at that time,

    the fiscal year of the registrant that includes that time;

  • (b) where

    • (i) the threshold amount of the registrant for the fiscal year or fiscal quarter of the registrant that includes that time exceeds $6,000,000 and the registrant is neither a listed financial institution described in any of subparagraphs 149(1)(a)(i) to (x) nor a charity,

    • (ii) the last reporting period of the registrant ending before that time was the fiscal month of the registrant and the registrant has not made an election under section 247 or 248 that is effective at that time, or

    • (iii) the registrant has made an election under section 246 that is effective at that time,

    the fiscal month of the registrant that includes that time; and

  • (c) in all other cases, the fiscal quarter of the registrant that includes that time.

  • (d) [Repealed, 1997, c. 10, s. 55]

Marginal note:Election for fiscal months

• 246 (1) Any person may make an election to have reporting periods that are fiscal months of the person, to take effect

  • (a) where the person is a registrant, on the first day of a fiscal year of the person; or

  • (b) on the day the person becomes a registrant.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Where a person has made an election under section 248 and the election ceases to have effect on the beginning of a fiscal quarter of the person specified in paragraph 248(2)(b), the person may make an election, to take effect on the first day of that fiscal quarter, to have reporting periods that are fiscal months of the person.

• Marginal note:Duration of election

  (3) An election made under this section by a person is to remain in effect until the earlier of

  • (a) the beginning of the day on which an election by the person under section 247 or 248 takes effect, and

  • (b) the day on which a revocation of the election by the person under subsection (4) becomes effective.

• Marginal note:Revocation of election

  (4) A listed financial institution that has made an election under this section may revoke the election, effective on the first day of a fiscal year of the financial institution, by filing in prescribed manner with the Minister a notice of revocation in prescribed form containing prescribed information not later than the day on which the revocation is to become effective or any later day that the Minister may allow.

Marginal note:Election for fiscal quarters

• 247 (1) A person that is a charity on the first day of a fiscal year of the person or whose threshold amount for a fiscal year does not exceed $6,000,000 may make an election to have reporting periods that are fiscal quarters of the person, to take effect

  • (a) where the person is a registrant on the first day of that fiscal year, that day; or

  • (b) on the day in that fiscal year that the person becomes a registrant.

• Marginal note:Duration of election

  (2) An election made under this section by a person shall remain in effect until the earliest of

  • (a) the beginning of the day an election by the person under section 246 or 248 takes effect,

  • (b) where the person is not a charity, the beginning of the first fiscal quarter of the person for which the threshold amount of the person exceeds $6,000,000,

  • (c) where the person is not a charity, the beginning of the first fiscal year of the person for which the threshold amount of the person exceeds $6,000,000, and

  • (d) the day on which a revocation of the election by the person under subsection (3) becomes effective.

• Marginal note:Revocation of election

  (3) A listed financial institution that has made an election under this section may revoke the election, effective on the first day of a fiscal year of the financial institution, by filing in prescribed manner with the Minister a notice of revocation in prescribed form containing prescribed information not later than the day on which the revocation is to become effective or any later day that the Minister may allow.

Marginal note:Election for fiscal years

• 248 (1) A registrant that is a charity on the first day of a fiscal year of the registrant or whose threshold amount for a fiscal year does not exceed $1,500,000 may make an election to have reporting periods that are fiscal years of the registrant, to take effect on the first day of that fiscal year.

• Marginal note:Duration of election

  (2) An election made under this section by a person shall remain in effect until the earliest of

  • (a) the beginning of the day an election by the person under section 246 or 247 takes effect,

  • (b) if the person is not a charity and the threshold amount of the person for the second or third fiscal quarter of the person in a fiscal year of the person exceeds $1,500,000, the beginning of the first fiscal quarter of the person for which the threshold amount exceeds that amount, and

  • (c) if the person is not a charity and the threshold amount of the person for a fiscal year of the person exceeds $1,500,000, the beginning of that fiscal year.

• Marginal note:New reporting period

  (3) For the purposes of this Part, if a person ceases to have reporting periods that are fiscal years with effect from the beginning of a fiscal month in a fiscal year of the person and that fiscal month is not the first fiscal month in that fiscal year, the period beginning on the first day of that fiscal year and ending immediately before the beginning of that fiscal month is deemed to be a reporting period of the person.