TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The world’s largest precious metals streaming firm Silver Wheaton is set to challenge the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) over the agency’s decision to reassess the company’s 2005 to 2010 tax years and collect taxes on income earned by Silver Wheaton’s offshore subsidiaries. The TSX- and NYSE-listed company, which provided financing to miners in exchange for the right to buy a share of their future metal output, reported late on Thursday that it had received notices of reassessment from the CRA, in line with the CRA proposal Silver Wheaton said it had received early in July. According to the notices of reassessment, the CRA was looking to increase Silver Wheaton’s income subject to tax in Canada for the relevant tax years by about C$715-million, which would result in federal and provincial tax of C$201-million. The CRA was also seeking to impose transfer pricing penalties of about C$72-million and interest and other penalties of C$81-million for the period. The total tax, interest and penalties sought by the CRA for the relevant taxation years amounted to C$353-million. Management held that Silver Wheaton had filed its tax returns and paid applicable taxes in compliance with Canadian tax law and the company intended to “vigorously and expeditiously defend its tax filing position”.
more