Toronto Maple Leaf Jonathan Tavares is taking the Canada Revenue Agency to court and a ruling against him could change the way the NHL signs players tarz signed a 7-year contract with Leafs in 2018 for $77 million with a $15.3 million signing bonus tovar's lawyers are arguing that under the Canada US tax treaty he should only be taxed at 15% because he was a US citizen performing in Canada for the first year of the contract despite being born in Canada the CRA is arguing that the signing bonus is not a bonus at all and should be considered regular income meaning it could be taxed at more than 50% everybody from players teams and agents are keeping a close eye on this one because a ruling in favor of the CRA could forever change the way the NHL signs up players in the future