Canada's highest court dismisses Uber appeal of Revenu Québec seizure
Tax agency searched company's Montreal offices in 2015 to search for evidence of tax evasion
Uber Canada has exhausted all avenues of legal recourse to stop Revenu Québec from perusing documents seized from the ride-hailing company's Montreal offices two years ago.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Uber's request for leave to appeal a 2016 decision by the Quebec Superior Court, which sided with the tax agency.
Investigators with the tax agency executed multiple search warrants at Uber's Montreal offices in May 2015 to search for evidence of tax evasion.
Thursday's decision means that Revenu Québec can now open and consult the documents its investigators seized. The agency said it will now continue with its investigation.
Uber now collecting provincial taxes
"We recognize the decision of the Supreme Court today and continue to collaborate with Revenu Québec, as we have since entering into an agreement [with the province] last September," said Uber Québec's spokesman, Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, in a statement.
De Le Rue went on to explain that under a pilot project with the province, Uber is now collecting provincial taxes for each ride, as required by law, and turning them over directly to the tax agency.
He said that the reason Uber challenged the seizure is because the computers contained data that belonged to its employees — for example, university work — and Uber had sought to protect the privacy of its workers.
With files from Radio-Canada