Bruce Goudy, CMA, Partner, Ernst & Young, Toronto
Bruce is a partner with Ernst & Young’s Canadian commodity tax practice in Toronto. He has 20 years of experience advising and assisting clients globally on issues involving GST/HST and provincial sales taxes. In addition, he develops ideas and leads projects to secure overpayments of taxes using Ernst & Young’s trademark electronic review processes, and assists clients with assessing, monitoring and mitigating tax risks. Bruce presents frequently to clients and audiences on sales tax harmonization, is co-author of Carswell’s GST Guide for Municipalities and is a contributing editor to Ernst & Young’s Complete Guide to the Goods and Services Tax. Bruce is editor of Ernst & Young’s new HST publication and he gave planning workshops on the Ontario HST prior to its implementation in July.
 
  Alison Pavlin, CMA, Executive Director, Ernst & Young, Toronto
Alison has worked in the commodity tax area for more than 18 years, and focuses on performing sales tax reviews to support compliance and to identify refund opportunities for growth-oriented companies. She works with clients in dealing with tax auditors, providing guidance throughout the assessment and appeal process. Alison primarily serves clients in the retail, distribution and manufacturing sectors, identifying the sales tax status of their products and transactions, implementing new enterprise systems, and carrying out full-scale opportunity reviews to obtain refunds. Alison is a frequent contributor to the CICA Commodity Tax News and speaks at various conferences, including the CICA Commodity Tax Symposium. She authored the transitional rules chapter in Ernst & Young’s new HST publication, and gave planning workshops on the Ontario HST prior to its implementation in July. Alison is currently working with companies to perform post implementation HST reviews.
 
  Jean-Hugues Chabot, Partner, Ernst & Young, Montreal
Jean-Hugues is the Leader of Ernst & Young’s Indirect Tax Practice for Canada which includes our Customs and International Trade Practice. He has experience serving both public and private companies in the retail, manufacturing, distribution, telecommunications, transportation and services sectors. He serves many public organizations both in the municipal and the health sectors. For a number of years, Jean-Hugues has been working on Indirect Tax effective supply chain management projects. Jean-Hugues represents Ernst & Young on committees of various professional organizations, including the Association de la planification fiscale et financiшre, the Canadian Tax Foundation, the tax law section of the Canadian Bar Association, the Canadian Insolvency Practitioners Association, the Canadian Importers Association and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. He has also been invited by the Department of Finance to analyze the impact of GST in Canada and has been a member of the Barreau du Quщbec’s committee set up to study the GST impact on the legal profession. Jean-Hugues is a frequent speaker on the subject of indirect tax and customs and was a lecturer in the Masters Program in Tax at the University of Sherbrooke. He is the author of a number of indirect tax articles.
 
  Sania Ilahi, Senior Manager, Ernst & Young, Toronto
Sania has specialized in the area of sales tax for over 18 years, focusing on the financial services sector. She is a frequent speaker on commodity tax matters at industry conferences and the CICA Commodity Tax Symposium, and was the 2005 recipient of the Normand Guerin Award for her presentation on asset securitization. Sania is a member of the GST/OST Harmonization Strategic Advisory Group of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada, providing advice in connection with technical issues affecting the investment industry and the impact of sales tax harmonization. She has provided advice on tax harmonization to the financial services industry, as well as to public sector bodies and retailers/manufacturers. She authored the financial services chapter in Ernst & Young’s new HST publication, and gave planning workshops on the Ontario HST prior to its implementation in July.