B.C. Supreme Court Grants Federation Injunction Application

As previously reported, in September 2023, the Federation of Law Societies (“Federation”) launched a legal challenge to amendments to the Income Tax Act which expanded mandatory disclosure obligations and created a new category of notifiable transactions. The Federation’s application for an injunction suspending application of the provisions to legal professionals pending the outcome of the litigation was granted in late November 2023 and a recent decision has clarified the scope of that injunction, confirming that there should be no retroactive application of the contested provisions to legal professionals should the constitutional challenge fail. If the Court rules against the Federation on the merits of the challenge, legal professionals would be required to make disclosures only for transactions for which the reporting obligation arises after the date of the final decision. A copy of the Injunction Order is attached.

A date has not yet been set for a hearing on the merits of the Federation’s petition.