- Parties: The appellant was Astro Consulting Inc. The respondent was His Majesty the King.

- Subject Matter: The appellant reported the income that it received from Lanmark Petroleum Holdings Ltd. and Lanmark Engineering Inc. as income from an active business. The Minister of National Revenue determined that this income was from a personal services business and thus made reassessments of the appellant’s 2012, 2013, and 2014 taxation years. The Tax Court of Canada dismissed the appellant’s appeal from the reassessments. The appellant challenged the Tax Court’s decision. The appellant argued that it was associated with Lanmark Petroleum Holdings and Lanmark Engineering based on s. 256(2.1) of the Income Tax Act, 1985.

- Ruling: The appeal court ruled in the respondent’s favour and dismissed the appeal with costs. The appeal court held that the Tax Court judge did not err in finding that s. 256(2.1) did not apply. The appeal court could infer from the record that the purpose of the transactions was to reduce the net income of both Lanmark Petroleum Holdings and Lanmark Engineering to zero by paying for services provided by various shareholders. Footnote 57 to paragraph 32 of the appellant’s memorandum confirmed this inference, the appeal court said.

- Date: The hearing was set on Dec. 19, 2023. The court released its decision on Dec. 19, 2023.

- Venue: This was a federal case before the Federal Court of Appeal.

- Amount: No financial award was specified.