The first step in an appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal is to file a notice of appeal with the Registry of the Federal Court. If the taxpayer (the “appellant”) appeals a final judgment, he has 30 days from the “pronouncement of the judgment” to file the notice of appeal. The date of the pronouncement of the judgment is the date on which the judgment was signed. When counting the 30-day period, the months of July and August need not be included. If the appellant needs more time to prepare and file the notice of appeal, he needs to ask for leave from the Federal Court of Appeal.
If the appellant is appealing an interlocutory judgment, he has 10 days after the pronouncement of the judgment to file his notice of appeal.
After filing, the Federal Court of Appeal will issue the notice of appeal. The appellant has 10 days from the issuance of the Notice of Appeal to serve it on the respondent and other interested parties (any person who is not a party but who participated in the first instance (Tax Court of Canada) or any other person directly affected by the appeal). The notice of appeal must be served “personally”. Personal service of an originating document (i.e. the notice of appeal) on the Crown is done by filing the document with the Registry. Note that, except for the notice of appeal, which is considered an originating document, other documents need to be served directly on the Crown.
What Should Be Included in the Notice of Appeal?
If the appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal is from a judgment of the Tax Court of Canada issued under the Informal Procedure Rules, the notice of appeal should be in Form 337.1.
Otherwise, the notice of appeal should be in Form 337.
Please refer to the forms to see what needs to be included.
Last updated: November 4, 2015
