If subsection 55(2) applies to a dividend, and the cash related to the dividend needs to be paid to an individual shareholder anyway, the shareholder will likely be better off compared to the situation obtained when the subsection does not…
Loans by a partnership to a partner
The CRA has generally held that a loan from a partnership to a partner will reduce the ACB of the partner’s partnership interest because of the “all-encompassing” language in subparagraph 53(2)(c)(v) of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The CRA has…
Directors of a dissolved corporation
In 2008, I wrote an article for the Hamilton Law Association Journal that, among other things, addressed the status of directors of a corporation that has been dissolved. I referred to Leger v R, 2007 TCC 322, which held that,…
DAC Investment
The authors discuss R v DAC Investment Holdings Inc., 2026 FCA 35, rev’g 2024 TCC 63. They conclude that, in a GAAR analysis, an overly-broad characterization of a provision or a mere description of its effect will not correctly express its object, spirit and purpose…
Limits on CRA demands for information
In Canada (National Revenue) v Cohen, 2025 FC 2012, the Court dismissed a Crown application for a compliance order because the taxpayer had demonstrated, on a balance of probabilities, that he had done everything reasonably possible to obtain the documents…
Post-mortem bumps and grandchildren
The bump under ITA paragraph 88(1)(d) could be denied if a “specified shareholder” receives bumped property unless the shareholder was also a “specified person” as defined in paragraph 88(1)(c.2). Grandchildren who receive bumped property could taint the bump if they…
Post-mortem bumps and capital dividends paid from life insurance
Bump room is determined by the ACB of the target corporation’s shares minus the net tax cost of the underlying assets and the amounts in ITA subparagraph 88(1)(d)(i.1), which include taxable dividends and capital dividends. Accordingly, a target corporation that…
IBTs and the 88(1)(d) bump
In an intergenerational business transfer (IBT), the purchaser does not generally acquire control of the targetco for the purposes of the rule in ITA paragraph 88(1)(d.2). As a result, the tax cost of the eligible assets of targetco likely cannot…
No obligation to correct past errors
The CRA believes that a tax adviser should takes steps to ensure their clients correct past errors (I01-1R2 (February 17, 2026), paras. 116-117), but neither the Income Tax Act nor the Excise Tax Act impose such a duty. Other statutes…
Timing of receipt of dividend on redemption
Under subsection 84(3) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Act”), where a corporation resident in Canada has redeemed, acquired or cancelled in any manner whatever … any of the shares of any class of its capital stock, (a) the…