On May 29, 2019, TEI submitted a letter to the Canadian Department of Finance welcoming the government’s intention to expand the joint venture election under Section 273 of the Excise Tax Act. TEI supports expansion of the election to all joint ventures engaged in commercial activities where all participants of the joint venture are also engaged exclusively in commercial activities. The Institute's letter cautioned Finance against requiring all electing joint ventures to file a prescribed form with the government, arguing the administrative burden would outweigh any compliance benefits.
The letter was prepared under the aegis of TEI's Canadian Commodity Tax Committee, whose chair is Chantal Groulx. Pilar Mata of the Institute's legal staff coordinated the development of the Institute's comments.