Section 166.1 — Income Tax Act: Extension of time by Minister

Where no notice of objection to an assessment has been served under section 165, nor any request under subsection 245(6) made, within the time limited by those provisions for doing so, the taxpayer may apply to the Minister to extend the time for serving the notice of objection or making the request. An application made under subsection 166.1(1) shall set out the reasons why the notice of objection or the request was not served or made, as the case may be, within the time otherwise limited by this Act for doing so. An application under subsection 166.1(1) shall be made by being addressed to the Chief of Appeals in a District Office or a Taxation Centre of the Canada Revenue Agency and delivered or mailed to that Office or Centre, accompanied by a copy of the notice of objection or a copy of the request, as the case may be. The Minister may accept an application under this section that was not made in the manner required by subsection 166.1(3). On receipt of an application made under subsection 166.1(1), the Minister shall, with all due dispatch, consider the application and grant or refuse it, and shall thereupon notify the taxpayer in writing of the Minister’s decision. If an application made under subsection (1) is granted, the notice of objection or the request, as the case may be, is deemed to have been served or made on the day on which the decision of the Minister is sent to the taxpayer. No application shall be granted under this section unless the application is made within one year after the expiration of the time otherwise limited by this Act for serving a notice of objection or making a request, as the case may be; and the taxpayer demonstrates that within the time otherwise limited by this Act for serving such a notice or making such a request, as the case may be, the taxpayer was unable to act or to instruct another to act in the taxpayer’s name, or had a bona fide intention to object to the assessment or make the request, given the reasons set out in the application and the circumstances of the case, it would be just and equitable to grant the application, and the application was made as soon as circumstances permitted.