When Poker Winnings Become Taxable

A Supreme Court of Canada decision not to hear an appeal.

Maybe, maybe, you know, if that's a good place to start, let us know, because I know coming out of last week at the ledge, there was some interest in the fact that the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal of a New Brunswick case related to Aboriginal title.

So the very fact of whether a, a, a court decides to hear an appeal or not is in itself significant.

That's right.

And so that was one of the things that I thought was worth commenting on about this case, as well as the, just some of the underlying, uh, issues that were dealt with in terms of, uh, taxation as it relates to people who are playing Texas Hold'em poker.

Uh, and so, uh, just like in the case you mentioned, uh, dealing with, uh, a leave application, this was a appeal, uh, in this case, uh, the one that we're talking about today, from the Federal Court of Appeal of Canada, and the Federal Court of Appeal hears appeals, uh, from a number of sources, including from the Tax Court.

Uh, and the way it works is that, like with, uh, appeals from other, uh, uh, provincial courts of appeal, you don't have the right to just go to the Supreme Court of Canada because you want another kick at the can.

Uh, in most cases, if you wish to get a case in front of the Supreme Court of Canada, you need to make what's called an application for leave or permission, uh, to bring, uh, the appeal there.

Uh, and ordinarily, the Supreme Court of Canada is very selective in terms of the cases that it can hear each year because it can only hear a limited number, and there would be hundreds of people who might, for a variety of reasons, wish to, uh, try on one more level of appeal.

And typically, the Supreme Court of Canada would pick cases on the basis of things like whether it's a matter of national interest or importance, or sometimes they'll pick cases where there's a, a, an interesting or important legal issue that needs to be settled.

Uh, or sometimes they'll pick cases where, for example, you've got courts of appeal in different parts of the country that have come to completely different conclusions.

Uh, and so those would be the sort of things they would take into account when deciding whether to grant leave.

Um, and in the case you mentioned in terms of, uh, whether, uh, land claims can include, uh, personal property, an issue that's, uh, live in BC, the Supreme Court of Canada, uh, in a different case where that was a, an issue, uh, declined, uh, to grant leave.

And one thing to be said about that is it's not necessarily an endorsement because there are a variety of reasons why the Supreme Court of Canada could choose not to hear something.

Uh, but, uh, at least it's, uh, their view that it's not of national importance or the, the, the particular case they want to hear to sort out that issue.

And so the decision that, uh, came out, one of the decisions that came out, uh, today from the Supreme Court of Canada was a decision denying a leave application, uh, to this case involving taxation of poker winnings.