This newsletter addresses an often-overlooked area in tax planning—the ability to transfer dividend income between spouses

For many Ontario families, the cottage is not just real estate. It is the place where children grew up, grandchildren learned to swim, and family routines became family memories. That emotional value is exactly why cottage planning is often more difficult than ordinary estate planning.

Critical illness insurance (“CII”), first introduced in Canada in the mid-1990s, has continued to evolve over the past three decades. What began as a relatively simple product designed to provide financial support on the diagnosis of a serious illness has developed into a flexible planning tool with applications in business structuring, shareholder agreements and family planning. As discussed below, its role has expanded significantly, particularly in situations where traditi

The article below was written by my colleague, Sébastien Desmarais, an Ottawa tax and estate practitioner, and shared with his permission. Since most countries, except the U.S., tax based on residence and not citizenship, giving up the non-U.S. citizenship will almost always be preferable to giving up the U.S. citizenship. However, it is important for all dual citizens to get professional advice in the next year. -Chuck Dual U.S.-Canadian citizens residing in Canada may wan

A Quiet Budget Season… for Once In more than 40 years of publishing client newsletters, this is only the third or fourth time that I did not circulate a Federal Budget newsletter, simply because there were not enough meaningful measures to warrant one. It is now looking increasingly likely that the 2024 Federal Budget may not be passed before the House of Commons rises for the year. As a result, a number of proposed measures remain uncertain as we approach December 31. Capita

These are challenging times for business owners. Companies are facing uncertainty, and market values are down. While tax planning might not be your top priority right now, if you believe conditions will eventually improve, this could be an excellent opportunity to make strategic financial decisions for the future. One powerful strategy to consider is an Estate Freeze. What is an Estate Freeze? An estate freeze is a tax planning strategy that allows you to "lock in" the curren

Every professional has encountered it: a client eager to “sell” a property to a spouse, child, or business partner for $1.00—often with...

As of January 1, 2023, the Canadian government introduced a new tax rule to prevent quick property flipping. If you buy and sell a home...

A Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) exists for “qualified small business corporation shares” (QSBC Shares) and for farming and fishing businesses. The exemption is currently $1,250,000.00 for gains realized after June 24, 2024. For those who own their own companies, this can mean tens of thousands of dollars in tax savings. The effect of the LCGE is that upon a sale of the shares of the corporation, either an arm’s length sale, or a transfer to the next generation, the

Ensure Your Business Qualifies as a Qualified Small Business Corporation As a business owner, protecting your financial future is a...

What is a Trust? A trust is not, strictly speaking, a separate legal or tax entity. It is a relationship among three parties: The Settlor: The person establishing the trust. The Trustees: Those who manage the trust and make decisions about its property. The Beneficiaries: Those on whose behalf the trust property is managed. A trust can have different beneficiaries entitled to income versus the ultimate distribution of trust property (capital). There are two kinds of trusts: I

Much time and effort in recent years has been devoted to avoiding the need for probate. Probate is a court process whereby the Court...

Another year has flown by, and it is time to consider year-end tax planning. In most years the basics don’t change but this year we are faced with some new considerations and large challenges. Capital Gains Inclusion Rate This is the big wild card. In its Budget 2024, the Government proposed to raise the capital gains inclusion rate from 50% to 66.67% for any gains realized after June 24th, 2024. A great amount of time and money has been spent planning to deal with the in

On April 16, 2024, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, presented Budget 2024 – Fairness for...

This afternoon, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2023 Budget. There has been a lot of talk in recent days about help for...

We hear a lot these days about the housing crisis. There is no question that there is an affordable housing crisis, but, as usual,...

Another tax year has flown by, and it is time to consider some year-end tax planning. The good news is that the Government has not raised the inclusion rate in respect of capital gains. Currently, only 50% of a capital gain is taxable. There has been much speculation that this would increase to 75%, a rate that we have not seen since February 2000. But it is a possibility in the new year and may affect some of your year-end planning. My humble opinion is that we won’t see an

This afternoon, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the Fall Economic and Fiscal Statement. Although there have been times that the...

Many of you have been reading my newsletters for years and have read many postings from me about family income splitting using low rate...

This afternoon Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the 2022 Federal Budget. This is the first Budget since the last election and the first since the Liberal’s deal with the NDP. As expected, the Budget was big on spending, among housing, defence and healthcare. We have already heard that the Government was going to levy a surtax on big banks and insurance companies, and we have seen the draft legislation for the new “Luxury Tax”. We have also heard about the draconia

Just as the days and weeks seem to have flown by since the lockdowns started in March 2020, another tax year has flown by as well, and it is time to consider some year-end tax planning. The good news is that the Government has not yet raised the inclusion rate in respect of capital gains. Currently, only 50% of a capital gain is taxable. There has been much speculation that this would increase to 75%, a rate that we have not seen since February 2000. But it is a very real pos

This is really just an update to a newsletter that I sent out in May, 2020. The Good News Many of you have read my numerous articles over...

This quote from Sir Humphrey Appleby, the fictional Permanent Secretary and then Cabinet Secretary in the British series Yes Minister and...

Two weeks ago there was much excitement over a private member’s bill to make it reasonable for small business owners to keep their...

It isn’t a true anniversary, but close enough. On July 17th, 2017, a day that will go down in infamy, Morneau and Trudeau began their outrageous assault on small business, all the while claiming that they were there to support the middle class. I, and many tax professionals, wrote extensively about this topic. For more information, see this link. At the time, the Liberals promised to consult with farmers, fishers and small business owners to ensure that the rules for transfer