Date: 20001102
Docket: 1999-3115-IT-I
BETWEEN:
TERRY K. LAZENBY,
Appellant,
and
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN,
Respondent.
Reasonsfor Judgment
(delivered orally from the Bench at Calgary, Alberta on November 2, 2000)
Beaubier, J.T.C.C.
[1] This appeal pursuant to the informal procedure was heard at Calgary, Alberta on November 1, 2000. The Appellant and his physician, Dr. Alan Stanhope, testified.
[2] Mr. Lazenby has appealed the disallowance of a medical credit claimed for 1996 and 1997. Paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Reply to the Notice of Appeal read:
8. In assessing the Appellant for the 1996 and 1997 taxation years, the Minister of National Revenue (the "Minister") reduced the claim for medical expenses by $1,450.00, from $3,043.39 to $1,593.39 for 1996 and by $11,402.04, from $12,028.69 to $626.65 from 1997.
9. In so assessing the Appellant, the Minister made the following assumptions of fact:
(a) the facts admitted above;
(b) expenses disallowed in the amount of $405.00 for 1997 were in respect of Alberta Health Care Insurance premiums;
(c) due to his medical condition, the Appellant spends the winter months living in Phoenix, Arizona;
(d) expenses disallowed in the amount of $1,450.00 for 1996 and $3,166.50 for 1997 were in respect of travel between the Appellant's residence in Calgary, Alberta and Phoenix, Arizona;
(e) in respect of travel claimed in the amount of $3,166.50 for 1997, $1,583.25 of the amount claimed was in respect of travel for 1996;
(f) travel expenses claimed for each year were not proven;
(g) expenses disallowed in the amount of $7,830.54 for 1997 were in respect of rent while residing in Phoenix, Arizona during the winter months;
(h) in respect of rent claimed in the amount of $7,830.54 for 1997, $3,717.90 was in respect of rent for all twelve months of 1996, while $4,112.64 was in respect of rent for all twelve months of 1997;
(i) the expenses claimed in respect of travel and rent for 1996 and 1997 were not incurred by the Appellant in order to obtain medical services in Phoenix, Arizona and where substantially equivalent medical services were not available in or around Calgary, Alberta;
(j) the expenses disallowed in the amount of $1,450.00 for 1996 and $11,402.04 for 1997 were the personal or living expenses of the Appellant.
All of the assumptions are correct.
[3] The appeal is dismissed as a result of the particulars of the Income Tax Act for the following reasons:
1. The Appellant withdrew his claim for the Alberta Medical Care Insurance Premiums.
2. The travel costs -
(a) The Appellant did not prove that he paid or even incurred these costs of travel at all. He merely testified that he usually travelled with a friend.
(b) Commercial transportation from Calgary to Phoenix was readily available and he is taking that this year.
(c) His travel was not to obtain medical services as specified in Subsection 118.2(4) of the Income Tax Act. Rather, it was to go to a more suitable climate in the winter where he would not be confined indoors throughout the winter.
3. The rent -
(a) The rent was just that, rent for a trailer pad in Apache Junction, Arizona for ordinary living accommodations in his trailer.
(b) Paragraph 118.2(2)(e) grants a deduction for "care" ... "at a school, institution or other place" respecting which the Court adopts the reasoning of Teskey J. in Weeks v. The Queen, Number 262(IT)I 1996.
[4] The appeal is dismissed.
Signed at Ottawa, Canada, this 1st day of December, 2000.
"D. W. Beaubier"
J.T.C.C.
COURT FILE NO.: 1999-3115(IT)I
STYLE OF CAUSE: Terry K. Lazenby v. The Queen
PLACE OF HEARING: Calgary, Alberta
DATE OF HEARING: November 1, 2000
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT BY: The Honourable Judge D. W. Beaubier
DATE OF JUDGMENT: November 2, 2000
APPEARANCES:
For the Appellant: The Appellant himself
Counsel for the Respondent: Mark Heseltine
COUNSEL OF RECORD:
For the Appellant:
Name:
Firm:
For the Respondent: Morris Rosenberg
Deputy Attorney General of Canada
Ottawa, Canada