The Young Tax Professionals (YTP) program offers students with an interest in a career in taxation the opportunity to closely interact with faculty, alumni, and other full-time tax professionals. Students like us can gain a deeper understanding of career options, develop key skills needed for tax practice, and network with tax professionals.
What exactly is the YTP Case Competition?
The YTP Case Competition was held for the first time in 2020, with formats that change every year, ranging from creating tax cases based on practical work experience to analyzing tax cases for clients. This year, nine student participants had to examine complex proposed tax legislation released in February of 2022 introducing a new earnings stripping regime to the Canadian Income Tax Act.
The competition was an amazing opportunity for our team of three, because it helped us hone our tax skills, and develop stronger analytical and communication skills. This year’s case competition was based on the new Excessive Interest and Financing Expenses Limit (EIFEL) regime which was put out by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) earlier this year. The EIFEL regime sets out to limit the deductibility of interest and financing expenses. The new rules weren’t easy to understand, and there is very little guidance from the CRA or other practitioners, so our team had to work hard and do a lot of research to fully understand the new rules and their impact. To do this, we looked at various articles that large accounting firms had published that broke down the rules. We also looked at the rules other countries have already implemented like the EIFEL to understand some of the gaps that the Canadian version had. We also did a bit of analysis and thinking into why these rules matter, and who they were going to affect.
Digging into the legislation was tough, but very interesting and rewarding and we ended up winning second place in the competition. Going from not knowing what EIFEL was to delivering a 30-minute presentation on the application and implications of the rules was an amazing process. Because of this, we would recommend participating in the YTP Case Competition to anyone interested in tax!