Tax Issues

Total 358 Posts

Is a Sale for $1 the Same as a Gift?

Most transactions between parties not at arm’s length with each other (often described as related parties, such as family members), the parties to the transaction are subject to a one-sided adjustment where the transaction proceeds does not equal fair market value (“FMV”). If the price exceeds FMV, then the cost to the purchaser is limited to the FMV while the vendor is taxed based on price. If FMV exceeds price,….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Costs, Estate Planning, Investments, Property, Tax Issues, Wills

Individual Pension Plans Revisited (Again) – What about Pension Transfers?

When a member of an employer sponsored pension plan ceases employment, the member may receive a lump sum payment for the commuted value of their pension rights, exposing that member to a significant tax bill, as only a limited amount of the payment can be transferred to an RRSP. There exists the possibility of using the pension payout to fund an IPP. Under the right circumstances this may permit the….

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Business Succession Planning, Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Planning, In the News, Property, Small Business, Tax Issues, Uncategorized

Significant Tax Re-Assessment Due to An Estate Valuation Gone Wrong

I have been writing about valuations for estate plan agreements, highlighting that they should be based on fair and reasonable methods, prepared in good faith, properly supported and documented at the time of valuation. In Lewin v. the Queen 2019 TCC 21, The Lewin Estate was appealing a significant tax reassessment of the deceased’s terminal return issued some five years after the original assessment. The issue to be decided is….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, Estate Litigation, Executors, Investments, Tax Issues, Trustee, Uncategorized

SPOUSAL TRUSTS : COUPLE OF UPDATES

Life insurance policy – rollover at cost? In a recent technical interpretation, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) confirmed that where a spousal trust is required to pay the life insurance premiums on a policy it owns and is the beneficiary of the policy, a rollover at cost pursuant to the relevant section of the Income tax Act (“ITA”) is not available on the original transfer of assets to the trust…..

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, Insurance, Interest, Investments, Spouse, Tax Issues, Trustee, Trusts, Uncategorized

Pipelines and non-resident beneficiaries

Without proper tax planning, private company shareholders face the prospect of a double tax on the value of shares – once at the time of death and again when the successor beneficiaries extract the share value from the company.  Post mortem “pipeline” planning solves this problem by allowing the estate to extract the share value without additional tax paid in the deceased shareholder’s final return, that is, before a recently….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Estate Administration, Estate Planning, Executors, Tax Issues

Disability Tax credits and Bankruptcy

In general, unpaid and to be paid disability tax credits can form part of a bankrupt’s estate in the form of property and income. If they are “property of the bankrupt” within the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, (the “BIA”), then they are 100% distributable amongst estate creditors in accordance with the priority scheme set out in the BIA. If they are “income” within the BIA, they are subject to contribution….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Disability, Estate Administration, Tax Issues, Uncategorized
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