Judgment of the Court
Kerwin CJ. and Taschereau, Locke, Fauteux and Abbott JJ. 1 [19591 Ex. C.R. 345, 119593 C.T.C. 291, 59 D.T.C. 1145. 53472-7-3
J.:-This is an appeal by the Minister of National Revenue from a judgment of the Exchequer Court' confirming a decision of the Income Tax Appeal H Board which had allowed respondent's appeal against its income tax assessment for 1955.
The facts are not in dispute. The respondent owns and operates a large apartment house property in Montreal which it acquired in 1948. The buildings had been constructed in 1924. Each year during the period 1950 to 1955, respondent incurred expenses for the replacement of stoves, refrigerators and window blinds which had become worn out, obsolete or unsatisfactory to its tenants.
Expenditures under this head in the year 1955 amounted to $11,675.95. In its Income Tax Return for 1955, respondent treated this amount as an operating expense and as such deductible from its gross income for that year. That deduction was disallowed by the Minister on the ground that it was a capital outlay within the meaning of s. 12(1) (b) of the Income Tax Act, 1948.
Section 12(1)(a) and (b) reads:
It is conceded by appellant that the expenditures in question were incurred by respondent for the purpose gaining or producing income. The sole matter in issue here is whether such expenditures were an income expense incurred to earn the income of the year 1955 and allowable as a deduction from gross income in that year under s. 12 (1) (a) of the Income Tax Act, or a capital outlay to be amortized or written off over a period of years under the capital cost allowance regulations made under of the said Act.
The general principles to be applied in determining whether a given expenditure is of a capital nature are fairly well established: Montreal Light Heat and Power of National Revenue'. Among the tests which may be used in order to determine whether an expenditure is an income expense or a capital outlay, it has been held that an expenditure made once and for all with a view to bringing into existence an asset or an advantage for the enduring benefit of a trade is of a capital nature.
Expenditures to replace capital assets which have become worn out or obsolete are something quite different from those ordinary annual expenditures for repairs which fall naturally into the category of income disbursements. Applying the test to which I have referred to the facts of the present case, the expenditures totalling $11,675.95, made by respondent in the year 1955 for replacing refrigerators, stoves and blinds in its apartment building were, in my opinion, clearly capital outlays within the provisions of s. 12(1) (b) of the Act.
The appeal should be allowed, the judgments of the
Exchequer Court and the Income Tax Appeal Board set aside and the assessment restored. It was agreed at the hearing that in this event there would be no costs to the appellant in this 'Court. The appellant is entitled to his costs in the Exchequer Court.
Appeal allowed.
Statutes and regulations cited
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Unresolved citations
- s. 12(1)