Underused Housing Tax Act (S.C. 2022, c. 5, s. 10)

Marginal note:Cancellation of penalties and interest

27 If at any time a person pays all amounts under section 6 payable by the person under this Act for a calendar year of the person and, immediately before that time, the total, for the calendar year, of all interest payable by the person under section 23 and penalties payable under section 47 is not more than $25, the Minister may cancel the total of the penalties and interest.

Marginal note:Dishonoured instruments

28 For the purposes of this Act and section 155.1 of the Financial Administration Act, any charge that is payable at any time by a person under the Financial Administration Act in respect of an instrument tendered in payment or settlement of an amount that is payable under this Act is deemed to be an amount that is payable by the person at that time under this Act. In addition, Part II of the Interest and Administrative Charges Regulations does not apply to the charge and any debt under subsection 155.1(3) of the Financial Administration Act in respect of the charge is deemed to be extinguished at the time the total of the amount and any applicable interest under this Act is paid.

DIVISION 4Records and Information

Marginal note:Keeping records

• 29 (1) Every person that pays or is required to pay an amount of tax and every person that is required under this Act to file a return must keep all records that are necessary to enable the determination of the person’s liabilities and obligations under this Act and whether the person has complied with this Act.

• Marginal note:Minister may specify information

  (2) The Minister may specify the form a record is to take and any information that the record must contain.

• Marginal note:Language and location of record

  (3) Unless otherwise authorized by the Minister, a record must be kept in Canada in English or in French.

• Marginal note:Electronic records

  (4) Every person required under this Act to keep a record that does so electronically must ensure that all equipment and software necessary to make the record intelligible are available during the retention period required for the record.

• Marginal note:Exemptions

  (5) The Minister may, on any terms and conditions that are acceptable to the Minister, exempt a person or a class of persons from the requirement in subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Inadequate records

  (6) If a person fails to keep adequate records for the purposes of this Act, the Minister may, in writing, require the person to keep any records that the Minister may specify, and the person must keep the records specified by the Minister.

• Marginal note:General period for retention

  (7) Every person that is required to keep records must retain them until the expiry of six years after the end of the year to which they relate or for any other period that may be prescribed.

• Marginal note:Objection or appeal

  (8) If a person that is required under this Act to keep records serves a notice of objection or is a party to an appeal or reference under this Act, the person must retain every record that pertains to the subject-matter of the objection, appeal or reference until the objection, appeal or reference is finally disposed of.

• Marginal note:Demand by Minister

  (9) If the Minister is of the opinion that it is necessary for the administration or enforcement of this Act, the Minister may, by a demand served personally or confirmed delivery service, require any person required under this Act to keep records to retain those records for any period that is specified in the demand, and the person must comply with the demand.

• Marginal note:Permission for earlier disposal

  (10) A person that is required under this Act to keep records may dispose of them before the expiry of the period during which they are required to be kept if written permission for their disposal is given by the Minister.

Marginal note:Electronic funds transfer

30 For greater certainty, information obtained by the Minister under Part XV.1 of the Income Tax Act may be used for the purposes of this Act.

Marginal note:Requirement to provide information or record

• 31 (1) Despite any other provision of this Act, the Minister may, subject to subsection (3), for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of this Act, by a notice served or sent in accordance with subsection (2), require any person to provide any information or record.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (2) A notice referred to in subsection (1) may be

  • (a) served personally;

  • (b) sent by confirmed delivery service; or

  • (c) sent electronically to a bank or credit union that has provided written consent to receive notices under subsection (1) electronically.

• Marginal note:Unnamed persons

  (3) The Minister must not impose on any person (in this section referred to as a “third party”) a requirement to provide information or any record relating to one or more unnamed persons unless the Minister first obtains the authorization of a judge under subsection (4).

• Marginal note:Judicial authorization

  (4) A judge of the Federal Court may, on application by the Minister and subject to any conditions that the judge considers appropriate, authorize the Minister to impose on a third party a requirement under subsection (1) relating to an unnamed person or more than one unnamed person (in this subsection referred to as the “group”) if the judge is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the person or group is ascertainable; and

  • (b) the requirement is made to verify compliance by the person or persons in the group with any obligation under this Act.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 32 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  authorized person

  authorized person means a person who is engaged or employed, or who was formerly engaged or employed, by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada to assist in carrying out the provisions of this Act. (personne autorisée)

  confidential information

  confidential information means information of any kind and in any form that relates to one or more persons and that is

  • (a) obtained by or on behalf of the Minister for the purposes of this Act, or

  • (b) prepared from information referred to in paragraph (a),

  but does not include information that does not directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the person to whom it relates and, for the purposes of applying subsections (3), (13) and (14) to a representative of a government entity that is not an official, includes only the information described in paragraph 211(6)(j) of the Excise Act, 2001. (renseignement confidentiel)

  court of appeal

  court of appeal has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code. (cour d’appel)

  government entity

  government entity means

  • (a) a department or agency of the government of Canada or of a province;

  • (b) a municipality;

  • (c) an aboriginal government as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act;

  • (d) a corporation all of the shares (except directors’ qualifying shares) of the capital stock of which are owned by one or more persons each of which is

    • (i) Her Majesty in right of Canada,

    • (ii) Her Majesty in right of a province,

    • (iii) a municipality, or

    • (iv) a corporation described in this paragraph; or

  • (e) a board or commission, established by Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province, that performs an administrative or regulatory function of government, or by a municipality, that performs an administrative or regulatory function of a municipality. (entité gouvernementale)

  municipality

  municipality means an incorporated city, town, village, metropolitan authority, township, district, county or rural municipality or other incorporated municipal body however designated. (municipalité)

  official

  official means a person that is employed in the service of, that occupies a position of responsibility in the service of, or that is engaged by or on behalf of Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province, or a person that was formerly so employed, that formerly occupied such a position or that formerly was so engaged. (fonctionnaire)

  representative

  representative of a government entity means a person that is employed in the service of, that occupies a position of responsibility in the service of, or that is engaged by or on behalf of, a government entity, and includes, for the purposes of subsections (2), (3), (13) and (14), a person that was formerly so employed, that formerly occupied such a position or that formerly was so engaged. (représentant)

• Marginal note:Provision of confidential information

  (2) Except as authorized under this section, an official or other representative of a government entity must not knowingly

  • (a) provide, or allow to be provided, to any person any confidential information;

  • (b) allow any person to have access to any confidential information; or

  • (c) use any confidential information other than in the course of the administration or enforcement of this Act.

• Marginal note:Confidential information evidence not compellable

  (3) Despite any other Act of Parliament or other law, no official or other representative of a government entity is required, in connection with any legal proceedings, to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information.

• Marginal note:Communications — proceedings have been commenced

  (4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply in respect of

  • (a) criminal proceedings, either by indictment or on summary conviction, that have been commenced by the laying of an information or the preferring of an indictment, under an Act of Parliament; or

  • (b) any legal proceedings relating to the administration or enforcement of this Act, any other Act of Parliament or law of a province that provides for the imposition of a duty or tax, the Canada Pension Plan, the Employment Insurance Act or Part 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.

• Marginal note:Authorized provision of confidential information

  (5) The Minister may provide appropriate persons with any confidential information that may reasonably be regarded as necessary solely for a purpose relating to the life, health or safety of an individual or to the environment in Canada or any other country.

• Marginal note:Disclosure of confidential information

  (6) Subsections 211(6) and (6.1) of the Excise Act, 2001 apply in this Act, with any modifications that the circumstances require, as if

  • (a) the references in those subsections to the Excise Act, 2001 were references to this Act;

  • (b) confidential information for the purposes of this Act were confidential information for the purposes of the Excise Act, 2001;

  • (c) an authorized person for the purposes of this Act were an authorized person for the purposes of the Excise Act, 2001; and

  • (d) a business number for the purposes of this Act were a business number for the purposes of the Excise Act, 2001.

• (7) [Repealed, 2024, c. 17, s. 140]

• Marginal note:Public disclosure

  (8) The Minister may, in connection with a program, activity or service provided or undertaken by the Minister, make available to the public the business number of, and the name of (including any trade name or other name used by), the holder of a business number.

• Marginal note:Public disclosure by representative of government entity

  (9) A representative of a government entity may, in connection with a program, activity or service provided or undertaken by the government entity, make available to the public the business number of, and the name of (including any trade name or other name used by), the holder of a business number, if

  • (a) a representative of the government entity was provided with that information under subsection (6); and

  • (b) the government entity uses the business number as an identifier in connection with the program, activity or service.

• Marginal note:Serious offences

  (10) An official may provide information to a law enforcement officer of an appropriate police organization in the circumstances described in subsection 211(6.4) of the Excise Act, 2001.

• Marginal note:Threats to security

  (11) An official may provide information to the head, or their delegate, of a recipient Government of Canada institution listed in Schedule 3 to the Security of Canada Information Sharing Act in the circumstances described in subsection 211(6.5) of the Excise Act, 2001.

• Marginal note:Measures to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure

  (12) The person presiding at a legal proceeding relating to the supervision, evaluation or discipline of an authorized person may order any measures that are necessary to ensure that confidential information is not used or provided to any person for any purpose not relating to that proceeding, including

  • (a) holding a hearing in camera;

  • (b) banning the publication of the information;

  • (c) concealing the identity of the person to whom the information relates; and

  • (d) sealing the records of the proceeding.

• Marginal note:Disclosure to person or on consent

  (13) An official or other representative of a government entity may provide confidential information relating to a person

  • (a) to that person; and

  • (b) with the consent of that person, to any other person.

• Marginal note:Appeal from order or direction

  (14) An order or direction that is made in the course of or in connection with any legal proceedings and that requires an official or other representative of a government entity to give or produce evidence relating to any confidential information may, by notice served on all interested parties, be appealed forthwith by the Minister or by the person against whom the order or direction is made to

  • (a) the court of appeal of the province in which the order or direction is made, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of the province, whether that court or tribunal is exercising a jurisdiction conferred by the laws of Canada; and

  • (b) the Federal Court of Appeal, in the case of an order or direction made by a court or other tribunal established under the laws of Canada.

• Marginal note:Disposition of appeal

  (15) The court to which an appeal is taken under subsection (14) may allow the appeal and quash the order or direction appealed from or may dismiss the appeal, and the rules of practice and procedure from time to time governing appeals to the courts must apply, with any modifications that the circumstances require, in respect of an appeal instituted under subsection (14).

• Marginal note:Stay

  (16) An appeal instituted under subsection (14) must stay the operation of the order or direction appealed from until judgment is pronounced.