Colleen Ma, in Canadian Tax Focus 4:3 (August, 2014) summarizes some issues with spousal trusts:
Trusts in family law
Thanks to Joel Campagna at Manulife Financial for drawing my attention to Spencer v Riesberry, 2012 ONCA 418, in which the Court of Appeal held that a wife did not have an “interest” in a family home for the purposes of the Family Law Act (Ontario) because the home was held in a trust settled by the wife’s mother of which the wife was merely a contingent beneficiary and co-trustee.
Garron dismissed
Goodwill and estate planning
Mark Brohman at Durward Jones Barkwell was kind enough to send to me a reminder in the form of a technical interpretation of a very important fact about goodwill and estate planning.
Garron leave granted
159(5) election
The Initiative
The following article appeared in the February, 2011, edition of the Hamilton Law Association Law Journal.
The CRA likes to stir things up every now and then with this project or that initiative to ensure compliance among various groups of taxpayers. The latest stirring relates to trusts and their administration, and it serves as a sharp reminder to lawyers that tax compliance is not only the province of accountants.
CRA Trusts Initiative
I spoke at an Ontario Bar Association conference on October 2 along with David Louis from Minden Gross (among others). David’s presentation included some discussion of the CRA trust audit initiative about which we’ve heard so much. David had contacted the CRA’s Toronto TSO about the initiative, and it told him the following:
Death Benefits or Not
When is a ‘death benefit’ not a ‘death benefit’? Apparently, when it is a benefit received under the Canada Pension Plan.
Trusts and capital dividends
Is a trust required to file a tax return where the trust’s only ‘income’ is a capital dividend?