Mr. Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, traveled to the space in September & October 2009. The trip isn’t cheap; its price tag is 42 million dollars, paid by his company. He believed that this trip can be claimed as business expenses due to its promotional effect on a charity and a new circus show.
A judge ruled on Sep 14, 2018 that this is not the case. Only 10% of the trip qualifies as business expenses; the remainder is considered personal enjoyment paid by his company – in other words, benefit subject to income tax.
As a result, Mr. Laliberté is considered to have received income of 37.6 million in 2009 and has to pay roughly 20 million for income tax. Nice try, Mr. Laliberté!
Source: CTV NEWS