Canada Revenue Agency (Re), 2021 OIC 3

Date: 2021-02-03
OIC file number: 5819-01344
Institution file number: A-2018-103174

Summary

The complainant alleged that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had improperly withheld information under subsection 24(1) of the Access to Information Act in response to a request for information regarding business ownership for a specific individual. The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) is satisfied that the information requested is information about an identifiable taxpayer that is not the complainant, which was obtained by the CRA for the purposes of administering the Income Tax Act. The OIC is satisfied that the information meets the requirement of the exemption in subsection 24(1) because section 241 of the Income Tax Act restricts the disclosure of the requested information. 

The complaint is not well founded.

Complaint

[1]      The complainant alleged that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had improperly withheld information under subsection 24(1) (disclosure restricted by another law) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request for all income related information regarding business ownership for a specific individual. 

Investigation

Subsection 24(1): disclosure restricted by another law

[2]      Subsection 24(1) requires institutions to refuse to release information the disclosure of which is restricted by a provision set out in Schedule II of the Act.

Does the information meet the requirements of the exemption?

[3]      In the present instance, the schedule II provision claimed by the CRA is section 241 of the Income Tax Act (ITA).

[4]      Section 241 of the ITA, contains a general prohibition of the disclosure of taxpayer information, subject to certain limited exceptions.

[5]      The term taxpayer information is defined at subsection 241(10) of the ITA as information of any kind and in any form relating to an identifiable taxpayer which is obtained by or on behalf of the Minister of National Revenue for the purposes of the ITA, or prepared from such information.

[6]      The Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) is satisfied that the information requested is information about an identifiable taxpayer that is not the complainant, which was obtained by the CRA for the purposes of administering the ITA or prepared by the CRA from such information.

[7]      The OIC concludes that the information meets the requirement of the exemption in subsection 24(1) because section 241 of the ITA restricts the disclosure of the requested information.

Result

[8]      The complaint is not well founded.

Section 41 of the Act provides a right to the complainant who receives this report to apply to the Federal Court for a review. The complainant must apply for this review within 35 business days after the date of this report and must serve a copy of the application for review to the relevant parties, as per section 43.