Décision De La Cour De L'imp't Infirmée - Visa Effectue Des Fournitures Exonérées De ' Services Financiers ' En TPS/TVH

• Published date: 01 February 2021
• Subject Matter: Finance and Banking, Tax, Financial Services, Sales Taxes: VAT, GST
• Law Firm: Stikeman Elliott LLP
• Author: Mr Jean-Guillaume Shooner and Vanessa Clusiau

Le 22 janvier 2021, la Cour d'appel fédérale (la ' CAF ') a infirmé la décision de la Cour canadienne de l'imp't qui rejetait les appels des cotisations d'une banque canadienne (la ' Banque ') relativement aux demandes de remboursement de TPS/TVH pour de la taxe payée par erreur. Alors que la Cour de l'imp't avait initialement conclu que les services de traitement des opérations fournis par Visa Canada (' Visa ') pour les cartes de crédit émises par la Banque constituaient des fournitures taxables, la CAF a plut't statué que cette fourniture constituait un ' service financier ' exonéré en TPS/TVH qui n'était pas par ailleurs visé par les exclusions spécifiques prévues aux différents alinéas de la définition de ce terme dans la Loi sur la taxe d'accise (Canada) (la ' LTA ').

Une traduction de ce billet sera disponible prochainement.

On January 22, 2021, the Federal Court of Appeal (the "FCA") overturned the Tax Court of Canada's dismissal¹ of a Canadian bank's (the "Bank") appeal in connection with the Bank's claim for GST/HST rebates for tax paid in error.² While the Tax Court had originally found that the transaction processing services provided by Visa Canada ("Visa") for the credit cards issued by the Bank constituted a taxable supply, the FCA was of the view that such supply was an exempt "financial service" that was not otherwise excluded pursuant to the specific exclusionary paragraphs in the definition of that term in the Excise Tax Act (Canada) (the "ETA").

Background

As part of its retail banking business, the Bank issues Visa-branded credit cards to its customers. Customers are granted credit by the Bank so as to facilitate the payment system managed and operated by Visa.

Visa develops, operates, manages, and promotes a proprietary global retail electronic payments network. Its participants, including the Bank, use its Visa-branded payment instruments and are charged fees by Visa pursuant to a services agreement. Indeed, it was precisely the fees charged to the Bank by Visa, in exchange for the bundle of rights and services supplied to the Bank (the "Visa Supply"), that formed the subject of this case.

Between September 1 and November 30, 2013, the Bank paid to Visa amounts that included GST/HST (as calculated on the fees invoiced for the Visa Supply). The Bank then filed tax rebate claims under section 261 of the ETA on the basis that the Visa Supply was a GST/HST-exempt supply for a "financial service", as defined in subsection 123(1) of the...