An irrevocable life insurance trust (ILIT) is an estate planning vehicle worth some consideration for U.S. citizens living in Canada. Many estate advisors are unaware that U.S. citizens subscribing to life insurance on their life will have the death benefits included in the value of their taxable estate for U.S….
This blog has been written by Rahul Sharma, Partner, Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Toronto My blog posts so far this year have focused on the significant volume of new residents to Canada and the associated tax and legal considerations, particularly where new residents are entering the Canadian tax system with…
Today’s Blog was written by Rahul Sharma, Partner, Fasken LLP, Toronto My last blog post was very early in the year. In that post, I outlined — and generally responded to — certain common questions posed by newcomers to Canada. As the year progresses, Canada continues to draw in large…
Today’s blog is written by Jessica J. Butler, Law Clerk at Fasken LLP. As today’s world continues to grow increasingly interconnected, more estate professionals find themselves dealing with a web of cross-border assets and jurisdictional issues. This post considers certain issues that you might face when administering a Canadian estate…
January is kickstarting what seems to be the “Year of the Hats” for me. In addition to my usual winter hat and estate planner hat, this month I’m also fashioning my wedding planner hat, COVID style. As it turns out, planning a February wedding during a COVID lockdown actually means…
Business owners-managers put money in and take money out on a regular basis during the year, and at the same time often use the business bank account for what may appear to be personal expenditures. This often leads to shareholder advance balances at year end and some major bookkeeping challenges…
Just I am completing my personal income tax return and assisting many others with theirs, I continue to cling to the belief that most Canadians pay their fair shares of taxes. However, it appears many do not by “hiding” their money in offshore tax havens, sometimes under the guise of…
Sometime ago, a relative of a Canadian taxpayer died in the US and she left her money in a charitable trust, with some of the income bequeathed to the Canadian taxpayer annually. The trust income is derived mostly from US dividends. With a series of proposed adjustments to her personal…
Subject to the relevant sections of the Income Tax Act, a Canadian private corporation has a special corporate tax account known as a capital dividend account (“CDA”) which gives shareholders designated capital dividends, tax free. The CDA of a corporation may include the non-taxable portion of the company’s capital gains,…
At a recent conference of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) was asked to respond to certain questions regarding Graduated Rate Estates (GRE’s), in particular around the actual definition of a GRE and its application to a situation where the deceased has more than…
