In Dreger et al v the Queen (2020 TCC25), the beneficiaries of an estate bequest appealed assessments for unpaid taxes by the deceased. In this case, the deceased was an annuitant of a life income fund (“LIF”) and prior to his death, he designated to each of his daughters as…
Steven Frye
Baker Tilly WM LLP is a leading, independent audit, tax, and business advisory firm based in Vancouver and Toronto, serving clients across Canada. Drawing on well-trained teams across a variety of disciplines, we ensure the alignment of our professional’s skills and experience with client requirements, resulting in exceptional service and business outcomes.
A lot has been written about how should choose an executor, and some of it in this blog place. A couple of years ago, fellow boggler Emily Hubling wrote eloquently about the risk and rewards of appointing a professional advisor as executor. I would like to revisit some of the…
A bare trust, also referred to as a naked trust, exists where a person, the trustee, is merely vested with the legal title to property and has no other duty to perform or responsibilities to carry out as trustee, in relation to the property vested in the trust. The sole…
As someone who has been around the life insurance industry in a professional and personal capacity for several decades, I am always curious about what motivates people to buy or not buy life insurance. I understand that few people spend time thinking about the consequences of low-probability events and are…
In this space, sometime ago, a fellow blogger wrote about how survivor payments made out of a deceased’s tax free savings account (TFSA) to the deceased’s spouse TFSA would qualify as an “exempt contribution” (i.e. the contribution room in the surviving spouse’s TFSA would not be affected by the addition…
The Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan was recently asked (in the case of Gust vs. Langan et al., 2020 SKQB 42) whether a will handwritten on a paper napkin created by the deceased sometime before his death met the requirements of being a valid will under the relevant Act to permit…
In past blogs, we discussed income splitting arrangements available to individuals who wish to loan funds to his/her lower income spouse or adult child, or in the case of minor children, a discretionary family trust. Such loans would be used to invest in income producing properties such as marketable securities,…
In a recent blog, I wrote about the availability of Home Buyer’s Plan (HBP) to an individual after the death of her spouse who purchased the matrimonial home. In a recent Technical Interpretation (2019-0819671E5, D. Odubella), the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was asked by a taxpayer to review the availability…
Individuals can apply for support through government disability programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (“ODSP”) subject to maximums for levels of assets and income. For a single adult with no dependents applying under the ODSP the asset limit is currently $40,000. The OSDP regulations prescribe how assets are…
As many of you know the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) is a credit to income tax otherwise payable, available for those with a severe or prolonged impairment. It is meant to provide some relief from the additional costs and expenses incurred associated with the impairment. I have written in the…