Best Lawyers in Canada for Tax Law

Ray Adlington is an experienced lawyer well versed in all areas of tax law. He has a robust practice with particular focus on corporate tax, commodity tax, and tax dispute resolution with the Canada Revenue Agency on behalf of taxpayers. Ray is a past four-year member of the joint Canadian Bar Association – CPA Canada Joint Committee on Taxation tasked with advising the Department of Finance (Canada) on tax policy and legislative drafting matters. He acts as counsel to private and publi...

Mastering the business issues of the business leaders he advises, Pierre T. Allard has established himself over the years as one of the best tax lawyers of his generation and a national reference in his field. The unanimous recognition from his peers and our clients speaks for itself. As a member of BCF’s Executive Committee, he is the one to turn to for major transactions, including the sale or acquisition of a business, the incentive and retention of key employees or the transfer of a...

Peter is qualified as a CPA CA and a lawyer and has been practising as a tax lawyer/accountant for over 20 years. Prior to pursuing his law degree, Peter worked as a senior tax auditor at the CRA where he audited companies with up to $1 billion in revenue. His experience provides special insight and diverse skills for helping clients in tax planning and representation matters. Peter has assisted clients with a broad range of tax planning engagements involving domestic and international struct...

François Barette is recognized as a leading litigator and tax lawyer. He represents diversified clients including individuals, corporations and trusts both in Canada and internationally. François’ practice extends well beyond tax litigation and he is asked to intervene in a range of civil and administrative matters. François advises clients on issues concerning federal and provincial income tax, sales tax, goods and services tax, excise tax, payroll taxes and proper...

Terry’s practice focuses on the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), Goods and Services Tax (GST), Provincial Sales Tax, customs law, land transfer taxes, Speculation Tax and all other Canadian commodity and indirect taxes. Terry has practiced in the GST area since the inception of the tax in 1991 and writes extensively on GST/HST and other indirect tax matters in Canadian and international publications. Areas of particular experience include real estate development, financial services, cross-bo...

Andrew Bateman is Miller Thomson’s Leader of Corporate Tax. His practice covers a broad spectrum of taxation law, with a current focus on planning and dispute resolution for private corporations, trusts and other entities. Andrew has extensive experience in public and private corporate transactions and reorganizations, tax dispute resolution and litigation, trust and estate matters, First Nation taxation and goods and services tax. As a sought-after speaker and writer, Andrew provides i...

David Baxter received his law degree from the University of Toronto and earlier graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) degree from the University of British Columbia. He was admitted to the British Columbia Bar in 1994. David’s practice focuses on tax planning for individuals, trusts and corporations in both domestic and international matters, including divisive reorganizations, estate planning, business structuring and sales, life insurance matters, foreign affiliates and cros...

Marie-Andrée Beaudry is a partner and member of the Tax Group. She specializes in cross-border corporate taxation. She develops tax strategies for Canadian and international expansion, including merger and acquisition structures and strategic repatriation plans. Her main areas of practice include the following: mergers and acquisitions of businesses, corporate reorganization, debt restructuring, cross-border financing, national and international tax consolidation, and public offerings....

Dominic Belley is a tax litigator and co-chair of Norton Rose Fulbright's Canadian tax team. He has handled matters against federal and provincial tax authorities in civil, commercial, criminal and constitutional matters before the Court of Québec, the Québec Superior Court, the Québec Court of Appeal, the BC Supreme Court, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal....

Justine Benoit is a partner in the Tax Group of our Montréal office. She has extensive experience in corporate taxation, and her practice focuses primarily on transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate reorganization. Justine takes a modern and proactive approach on taxation, closely monitoring the most recent changes and emerging practices in tax law. She keeps close tabs on areas of concern in the business community and adjusts her practice in order to keep up with the eve...

Maureen Berry’s practice is focused on wills, estate planning, domestic and international trusts, private corporation taxation, and executive compensation. Maureen also advises charities and non-profit organizations. Working with Canadian and international families, firms, corporations and charitable organizations, she provides advice on all aspects of private client matters, including inter vivos trust and will planning, post-mortem planning, donation planning, as well as succession pl...

Serving a wide range of business clients, Matthew Bilmes is an authority on tax and estate planning matters. Matthew Bilmes proudly assists business owners plan for tax efficiency throughout their company’s life cycle. He works with commercial clients and owner-operators across generations to effectively minimize tax while helping to propel growth for a future sale or family succession. He is also involved in numerous cross-border tax planning files, assisting clients with interests in ...

Myles is an experienced tax planning lawyer. He brings more than a decade of experience in tax planning for small and medium sized businesses, with a focus on optimizing tax structures for owner managers. He is dedicated to working with growth-focused business owners to ensure their business objectives are met in the most tax effective manner. He has a particular interest in helping owner managers design tax structures that both minimize tax and enhance creditor protection. Myles believes in ...

Paul Cabana’s practice focuses on tax law and covers both income tax and commodity taxes, including customs law. Paul advises both Canadian and foreign businesses in the course of their various transactions and current operations, as well as in the context of disputes with the tax authorities. He is regularly involved in mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, real estate transactions, audits, objections and appeals. Paul also helps employers navigate their tax obligations,...

John Campbell practises taxation law, advising clients on domestic and international income tax issues, with a focus on advising Canadian clients with international interests and non-Canadian clients with Canadian interests. John has extensive experience with respect to the tax implications and structuring of corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, international tax planning and tax planning using trusts. He provides his clients with effective, practical tax advice based on his e...

Brian R. Carr, LLB is of Counsel in Thorsteinssons’ Toronto office. He holds a B.Sc. (1970) and an LL.B. (1973) from the University of Toronto. Mr. Carr is a former Chair of the Canadian Tax Foundation, a Past-Chair of the National Taxation Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association and former Co-Chair and Member of the CBA/CICA Joint Committee on Taxation. He is a Past-Chair of the legislative subcommittee of the Taxation Section of the Ontario Bar Association. He is currently Co-Chai...

Robert Carvalho received his Bachelor of Science in 1985 and LLB in 1991 from UBC and has been a member of the Law Society of BC since 1992. Mr. Carvalho specializes in high-value tax avoidance and GAAR cases and cases involving real estate. Robert was General Counsel at the Department of Justice and handled numerous significant cases at the Tax Court and Federal Court of Appeal. He has presented at the Canadian Tax Foundation, Canada Revenue Agency conferences and other conferences over the ...

Paul Casuccio is the Leader of the firm’s Global Commodity Tax & VAT practice group. He works exclusively in this area, providing practical solutions to client’s indirect tax questions, issues, problems and structures. Paul is a sought after expert in Canada's goods and services tax and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST), provincial sales taxes, employer health tax, land transfer taxes, as well as fuel, carbon, alcohol, tobacco and other indirect taxes. Assisting clients with indi...

Jules Charette practises tax law. He regularly advises businesses, developers, public bodies and financial institutions on the tax aspects of financings, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, executive compensation and international transactions. Mr. Charette also represents taxpayers in disputes with the tax authorities. In addition, he advises individuals on estate planning, which has led him to develop expertise in trusts and estates. Mr. Charette is co-chair of our Canadian tax team ...

Derek Chiasson is a partner in our tax team. His principal focus is on domestic and international tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate reorganizations, for public and private corporations. He also regularly advises on tax disputes, commodity taxes and executive compensation. Derek leverages his broad experience to bridge tax, finance and legal aspects of the transactions and reorganizations he works on, while maintaining strong technical skills, attention t...

David W. Chodikoff, B.A. (Spec. Hons), M.A., LL.B., is a partner and specializes in civil and criminal tax litigation at Miller Thomson. David was a former counsel and a Crown Prosecutor at the Department of Justice. He has over 100 reported decisions. David has appeared in over 565 cases before the courts. David has been recognized by Canadian, American and European authorities as one of the leading tax controversy leaders in the world. He has edited and contributed to 9 tax books including ...

David Christian is a graduate of Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia Law School and a partner of Thorsteinssons, Tax Lawyers. David’s practice covers all taxation matters, with a particular focus on corporate reorganizations and taxation of owner-managed businesses. David was for eight years an adjunct professor of corporate tax law at Allard Hall, the law school at the University of British Columbia. He was for many years a contributor to the tax materials fo...

Mark's practice encompasses all areas of Canadian taxation, including mergers and acquisitions, financings, initial public offerings, corporate reorganizations and dispute resolution. He also has experience in corporate governance, secured project financing, public offerings, and mergers and acquisitions as in house counsel. Mark was a partner at Farris from May 2009 to March 2012, and rejoined in September 2018. From March 2012 to August 2018 Mark was general counsel of Seaspan Corporation, ...

Mike Coburn is a tax Partner in Vancouver. His practice includes advising Canadian and international clients on a broad range of tax matters. Clients look to Mike for his extensive experience with a myriad of tax issues including tax implications and structuring of mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financings and other business transactions.

Brian Cohen is a partner and lawyer in Gowling WLG’s global Private Client Services Group. Based in Toronto, he assists clients in the areas of estate planning, trusts and personal taxation, with a focus on advising high net worth individuals on succession planning alternatives. Brian also advises donors, charitable organizations, public and private foundations, and not-for-profit organizations regarding the tax implications of formation, registration, governance and planned giving stra...

Wendi Crowe’s practice focuses on tax, business succession planning, trusts and estate planning, to address the complexities of today’s families. She uses a practical, holistic and collaborative approach to assist owner-managers in achieving their business succession goals. Wendi advises clients at all stages of the business life cycle, including incorporation and ownership structure, partnership and shareholder agreements, employee profit-sharing plans and stock options, acquisit...

Stephanie is a tax and estate planning lawyer in the Tax and Private Wealth Group at Farris. Since her call to the bar in 2004, Stephanie has practised in the areas of taxation, wealth management, and trust and estate planning. Stephanie creates tax-effective estate plans and corporate structures for families and high-net-worth individuals, including wills, estate freezes, all types of trusts and corporate reorganizations. She also assists not-for-profit and charitable organizations in respec...

Julie D’Avignon is a partner and head of the Tax Group in Calgary. Her practice focuses on providing tax advice in connection with mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, equity investments, flow-through share transactions and financings. Julie has extensive experience working with Canadian and international clients, public and private entities, tax-exempt entities, and private equity firms. Julie has particular expertise in resource and energy taxation, including with resp...

Taxation no longer holds any secrets for Martin Delisle. As a member of the Board of Directors and head of the Business Law group, Martin's expertise extends to all matters relating to civil and criminal tax litigation. This expertise includes tax audits of businesses, trusts or individuals relating to income tax, consumption taxes (GST, HST and QST), corporate reorganizations, estates, tax avoidance (GAAR, anti-avoidance rules), tax investigations (fraud or tax evasion) as well as scientific...

Antoine Desroches is a partner in our tax team. He regularly advises public and private businesses regarding the Canadian and international tax consequences of their operations, particularly in regard to corporate finance, reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, as well as on their commercial activities and internal affairs in general. He also represents insurers with respect to representations, warranties and tax insurance policies. In addition, Mr. Desroches provides consultation and pla...

Nancy's practice focuses primarily on the tax aspects of mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations, including cross-border transactions or financings and intragroup restructuring. She has worked on a wide variety of transactions for multinationals, private companies, senior, intermediate and junior resource issuers, income and royalty trusts, and private equity groups. SELECT EXPERIENCE Select recent experience includes: Apollo Global Management LLC-backed Jupiter Resources on its C$2-billion...

Adam Drori is a partner in the Tax Group. He specializes in the income tax aspects of mergers & acquisitions, growth equity investments, capital markets transactions and corporate reorganizations in a domestic and cross-border context. Adam regularly advises foreign private equity funds regarding Canadian investments.

Catherine Dubé is a member of the Montreal tax team. As part of her tax litigation practice, she represents clients at all stages of the tax dispute process with Revenu Québec and the Canada Revenue Agency, including audits, objections and appeals. She also intervenes regularly before the Quebec and Canadian courts. Catherine uses her tax skills, both in the areas of income tax and consumption taxes, and advises clients on legal issues related to tax litigation and negotiations....

Andrew Etcovitch specializes in corporate tax, particularly in domestic and cross-border corporate financing, corporate reorganizations and mergers and acquisitions. Andrew also has broad experience in designing tax-efficient ownership structures for owner- managed businesses and his experience includes advising companies within the real estate, video gaming and automotive industries as well as a wide variety of other businesses. Also within the scope of his practice, Andrew has represented c...

Mark Firman is a partner in the Montréal office’s Tax Group. His practice focuses on pensions, benefits and executive compensation issues in corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, insolvencies, reorganizations and financings. Mark advises on all aspects of pensions, benefits and executive compensation law, including: the taxation of equity incentives; retirement and health and welfare benefits; pension plan and trust fund administration; pension fund investme...

A partner in Fasken's Toronto office, Timothy Fitzsimmons brings extensive experience in Canadian and international income tax and commodity tax, with areas of focus in audit defence, objections, litigation, appeals and dispute resolution. His practice supports a variety of industries including financial services, cryptocurrency, real estate, aviation, natural resources, transportation, health care, communications and manufacturing. Timothy helps clients identify and manage domestic and globa...

Olivier leads the Tax Controversy and Litigation practice of Deloitte Legal Canada LLP. Olivier practices tax law with a focus on tax litigation and tax controversy, from the audit and objection stages to tax appeals before the courts. He regularly assists clients in resolving tax disputes, both in and out of Court, and engages in managing complex tax audits, ensuring that the tax authorities operate within the lawful parameters regarding demands for information and documents and correcting n...

William (Bill) Fowlis, KC, FCPA, FCA, TEP is a lawyer, a Chartered Professional Accountant/Chartered Accountant, and a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP). With this complementary professional background, Bill focuses on taxation, corporate, trust, succession, and estate planning law for privately owned businesses, corporations, family enterprises and high net worth individuals. Bill is considered to be one of the top legal professionals practicing in these areas of law in Canada. His practic...

With over 25 years of tax experience, John specializes in tax planning, estate planning and dispute resolution for private corporations and family farm organizations. He holds his Bachelor of Laws, along with his Fellow Chartered Professional Accountant (FCPA, FCA), Family Enterprise Advisor (FEA) and Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) designations. John lends his wealth of knowledge and specialized relational “soft” skills as a regular presenter at various tax related forums. He...

Ian Gamble is tax counsel in Canada. He represents public and private clients in the mining, forestry, telecommunications, oil & gas, energy, real estate, and marine sectors. His extensive corporate, business, and international tax experience of over 30 years includes cross-border structures and financing arrangements, foreign affiliates, mergers and acquisitions, flow-through shares, partnership and trust structures, tax opinions, executive compensation, cross-border withholding taxes, n...

Paul Gibney is a partner and practices in the firm’s Toronto office. Paul’s practice focuses on personal, corporate and trust planning for high net worth individuals, family offices, executives, owner-managers and their businesses, both domestic and international, including: corporate reorganizations; estate planning; purchases and sales of businesses; immigration and emigration; non-profit organizations and charities. Paul also represents taxpayers in their dealings with the CRA ...

Joseph (Joe) is a partner in the Saskatoon office. Joe is a technology, capital raising, and tax partner with a particular focus on high growth technology startups, IT contracting for companies managing digital transformation, and tax structuring for private enterprises and professionals. Joe is Saskatchewan’s technology and startup lawyer, having assisted hundreds of prairie technology, innovation, and scientific startups through their critical formation stage and beyond. He works with...

Sébastien Gingras has extensive experience as a legal and tax advisor. Throughout his career, his tax practice has led him to be involved in various transactions and operations where his involvement has extended well beyond the field of taxation. He advises investment funds, corporations, partnerships, public bodies, pension plans, commercial trusts, mutual funds and other businesses in their transactions and dealings, including investments, mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations an...

Len’s practice focuses on taxation including both income and commodity taxation. He advises both private and public clients primarily on transactional and corporate reorganization matters. A large part of Len’s practice involves working for clients that carry on business outside of Canada. For these clients, Len designs tax efficient structures including utilizing appropriate vehicles and transfer pricing methodologies. He also provides advice to Canadian pension plans in connecti...

A partner in charge of the Taxation group at BCF, Marc-André Godard specializes in the tax aspects of corporate mergers and acquisitions, national and international restructurings, and tax planning for both public and private corporations. His understanding of the business world, his ability to explain tax implications in plain language, and his wide availability help him advise executives on making the best commercial decisions. Marc-André is recognized for his approach and his...

John Gregory practices principally out of our Vancouver office. John’s practice focuses on personal and corporate taxation, estate planning, corporate reorganizations, and international tax planning. John advises a number of private business groups and high net worth families on tax matters. Their businesses are involved in various sectors including real estate development and investment, hospitality, agriculture and entertainment. John has served as a senior rulings officer with the Ca...