Donald G.H. Bowman National Tax Moot
2014 – MOOT PROBLEM
Issued: NOVEMBER 6, 2013
Johnson v. The Queen (2012 FCA 253)
Johnson v. The Queen (2011 TCC 540)
1. The reasons and judgment of the Federal Court of Appeal in Johnson v. The Queen (2012 FCA 253, rev’g 2011 TCC 540) are appealed to the Bowman Supreme Moot Court for Tax Appeals.
2. The questions in issue on appeal are:
A. Were the payments out of the Ponzi scheme taxable as income from a source or were the payments non-taxable receipts?
B. Were the reassessments of the taxpayer’s 2002 and 2003 tax years invalid because they were made outside the “normal reassessment period”?
3. Of all of the issues raised in the reasons given by the Federal Court of Appeal, only those with respect to the (i) the tax treatment of Ponzi scheme gains/losses under the Income Tax Act and (ii) whether the reassessments are statute-barred are to be addressed by counsel for the parties in their written and oral submissions. Arguments not referenced in the reasons of the lower courts may be advanced by counsel in their submissions but only as they relate to the above-noted issues.
4. The lower courts have jurisdiction over all issues raised in the decisions.
5. The moot problem is an actual case, and therefore the parties’ factums are to be original works, as opposed to any copy or mere imitation of existing filed court materials.