Cangro Resources Ltd. v. MNR, 67 DTC 582 (TAB)

A payment received by the taxpayer that was stated to be made out of "paid-in capital and paid-in surplus" pursuant to the provisions of the Wisconsin Business Corporations Act was found to be a dividend for purposes of the Act. In finding that the payment did not qualify as a payment made "on the reduction of capital", Mr. Davis stated (at p. 585):

"As the funds distributed by Marine Capital Corporation admittedly represented nothing more than premiums paid into the treasury on the purchase of shares of prices in excess of their par value of $1 per share, the share capital is neither disturbed nor impaired by the distribution of these funds."

A payment received by the taxpayer that was stated to be made out of "paid-in capital and paid-in surplus" pursuant to the provisions of the Wisconsin Business Corporations Act was found to be a dividend for purposes of the Act. Mr. Davis stated (at p. 585) that:

As the funds distributed by Marine Capital Corporation admittedly represented nothing more than premiums paid into the treasury on the purchase of shares at prices in excess of their par value of $1 per share, the share capital was neither disturbed nor impaired by the distribution of these funds.

And (at p. 586) that:

There is no question but that the appellant received its proportionate share of the fund, it having been distributed on the basis of the number of shares of Marine Capital Corporation held by each shareholder. ...[T]herefore...the payment...was a dividend received by the appellant... . The accepted ordinary meaning is to be given to the word as it is used in the Income Tax Act. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary states that the word 'dividend' is derived from the Latin word dividendum and defines it as 'a sum of money to be divided among a number of persons; a portion or share of anything divided, especially the share that falls to each distributee'."

A payment received by the taxpayer that was stated to be made out of "paid-in capital and paid-in surplus" pursuant to the provisions of the Wisconsin Business Corporations Act was found to be a dividend for purposes of the Act. Mr. Davis stated (at p. 585) that:

As the funds distributed by Marine Capital Corporation admittedly represented nothing more than premiums paid into the treasury on the purchase of shares at prices in excess of their par value of $1 per share, the share capital was neither disturbed nor impaired by the distribution of these funds.

And (at p. 586) that:

There is no question but that the appellant received its proportionate share of the fund, it having been distributed on the basis of the number of shares of Marine Capital Corporation held by each shareholder. ...[T]herefore...the payment...was a dividend received by the appellant... . The accepted ordinary meaning is to be given to the word as it is used in the Income Tax Act. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary states that the word 'dividend' is derived from the Latin word dividendum and defines it as 'a sum of money to be divided among a number of persons; a portion or share of anything divided, especially the share that falls to each distributee'."