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…
Category: Canadian and US Tax Treaty
Total 13 Posts
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…
INCOME FROM A U.S. TRUST: CAN IT EVER BE TREATED AS DIVIDEND INCOME?
By Steven Frye •
June 14, 2016
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…
CAPITAL DIVIDENDS FROM A TRUST TO NON-RESIDENTS – TAX ISSUES
By Steven Frye •
March 8, 2016
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,…
More on Graduated Rate Estates
By Steven Frye •
November 16, 2015
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…
OWNERSHIP OF FOREIGN PROPERTY
By Corina Weigl •
October 28, 2015
The Huffington Post reports that over a third of foreign buyers of real estate in Florida are Canadians. Another article reports that Canadians are the leading buyers of US real estate. In earlier blogs I’ve talked about the specter of US estate taxes that arises when a Canadian dies owning US situs property, like real estate. Besides this complexity, the ownership of foreign property raises the potential for challenges in the administration of an estate. As a result, when developing an estate plan that includes foreign real estate it is important to consider a number of issues, some of which are…
ALTERNATIVES TO ‘SINGLE-PURPOSE’ CORPORATION FOR U.S. ESTATE TAX PLANNING
By Steven Frye •
May 24, 2011
If you have a “single-purpose” corporation for U.S. estate tax planning, this may be a good time to explore an alternative way of holding U.S. real estate.
Tax Reporting Obligations for Trustee and Executor Fees
By Steven Frye •
March 7, 2011
In general, the payment of amounts for services rendered triggers some form of tax reporting and often, an obligation on the payer to withhold and remit amounts on account of tax. Payments made to trustees and executors are no different.