Later in the day Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told his Twitter followers that his government has no intention to "tax anyone's employee discounts." Tax ruling demanded new interpretation of employee benefitsWhile the minister has called for a review, the tax collector is still expected to address taxation on employee discounts. Let me be blunt: we are not going to tax anyone's employee discounts. Previously, merchandise discounts were only considered taxable if the price paid by the employee was below the actual cost of the good to the employer. For example, if an employee bought an $80 sweater for $40, then the employee would have to claim the $40 difference as income.

Source: CBC News October 11, 2017 17:40 UTC