Tariff costs are the fixed schedule of amounts a court may award to a successful party for each step in litigation — filing, discovery, preparation, and hearing days. At the Tax Court of Canada the tariff was set long ago and bears little relationship to what modern tax litigation actually costs, so a successful taxpayer awarded tariff costs recovers only a fraction of the legal fees paid.
Because of this gap, the Tax Court increasingly departs from the tariff and awards a lump sum — a percentage of actual fees — in substantial general-procedure appeals. Tariff costs remain the default starting point, but the lump-sum approach has become the more meaningful remedy where the amounts justify it.