In Symes v. R., 1993 CanLII 55 (SCC), [1993] 4 S.C.R. 695 (S.C.C.) the issue was whether the taxpayer could deduct child care expenses from a business income. The SCC outlined several factors that may be taken into consideration in determining whether expenses are incurred for the purposes of producing or gaining income, which may be summarized as follows: 1. Whether the expense is deductible according to accounting principles; 2. Whether the expense is normally incurred by other taxpayers carrying on similar businesses; 3. Whether the expense would have been incurred were the taxpayer not engaged in pursuit of business or property income; 4. Whether the taxpayer could have avoided the expense without affecting gross income; 5. Whether the expense is of the trader of the trade. In the latter case, the expense might be considered an income earning expense. 6. Whether a particular expense was incurred in order to approach the income producing circle or was it incurred within the circle itself.
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