Tax Issues

Total 356 Posts

GIFTS – Some Additional Thougths

Recently, I wrote about the gifting of cash or assets during one’s lifetime as an alternative method of distributing your wealth (beyond what you need to live on comfortably) and possibly avoid taxes (probate, income etc.) at time of death. I suggested that your heirs could use the funds in a manner that will likely cost less tax: For example pay down some personal debt, apply it as a deposit….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Charitable Giving, Estate Litigation, Estate Planning, Family Conflict, Investments, Joint Tenancy, Loans, Philanthropy/Charitable Giving, Probate Tax, Property, Real Estate, Tax Issues, Trusts, Uncategorized

Principal residence exemption and fire loss

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked to comment on the availability of the principal residence exemption (PRE) when a previously occupied property is destroyed by fire and a decision is made to sell the property in a later year. The taxpayer purchased a house in 2010 which was ordinarily inhabited as a principal residence.  In 2016, the house was completely destroyed by a fire and the taxpayer decided to move….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Cottage, Executors, Property, Real Estate, Tax Issues, Uncategorized

Valuators – 2018 Might be a Very Good Year

I mentioned in my last blog that the government is proposing measures to limit the application of the lifetime capital gains exemption (“LCGE”) to owners of eligible small business corporations, based on age and “reasonableness”. Subject to certain exceptions, the proposals ensure that property held by a trust will no longer be eligible for the LCGE. Under the current proposals, there are transition rules which will permit a one-time multiplication….

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

Fair Tax Plan is Not Fair

When I was a child I would get together with kids in the neighborhood and we would play games like racing toy cars. Someone would call out the rules and the games would go for hours to the delight of our parents. On occasion one of the kids would do something that appeared to others as outside the rules which would be greeted with howls of protest “… not fair”…..

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Estate Planning, Executors, Succession Planning, Tax Issues, Uncategorized

For Whom the Bells Toll: It Tolls for Family Trusts?

As we continue to absorb the draft legislation (together with explanatory notes and consultation paper) introduced by the Department of Finance to overhaul the system of taxation for private companies, some things have are becoming clear. If essentially enacted as currently drafted, the legislation will likely spell the end of family trusts for tax planning arrangements, particularly in the private company setting. Traditionally, for tax planning purposes, family trusts are….

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

Government Targets Tax Planning for Private Companies

July 18, 2017 was a relatively quiet day in my office. That is until I received a flurry of emails regarding a release by the Department of Finance.  In particular, the Department of Finance issued draft legislation which, if passed, will significantly change the nature of tax planning for Canadian private companies and their shareholders.  The proposed changes will impact both current structures that many Canadian private companies have in….

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Canada Revenue Agency, Succession Planning, Tax Issues
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