Contributions to an estate or testamentary trust (in this article, an “estate” for short) by anyone other than the testator can vitiate the estate’s status as such. See paragraph 108(1) “testamentary trust” (b) of the Income Tax Act (Canada). Such…
Related siblings under section 55
At the 2025 APFF conference, the CRA stated that the sisters in the following scenario would be related as per subparagraph 55(5)(e)(i): Sister A and Sister B each owned 100 percent of the shares of their respective holding corporations, whose…
Harvard Properties
In Harvard Properties Inc. v R, 2024 TCC 139, the taxpayer, as a co-owner of a shopping mall, rolled its interest in the mall to Newco and then sold the Newco shares for a “premium” over the value of the…
Fraudulent conveyances
In Ontario Securities Commission v Camerlengo Holdings Inc., 2023 ONCA 93, the OSC brought a claim under s 2 of the Fraudulent Conveyances Act (Ontario) (the “FCA”) against a husband and wife. The husband and wife convinced a judge to…
Making Trust Amounts Payable
The CRA has taken the position that a trust cannot deduct an amount made payable to a beneficiary under ITA subsection 104(6) unless, among other things, the trust was legally entitled to make the payment under the terms of its…
Section 160 Liability for Indirect Transfers
In Panneton c. R, 2024 CCI 24, the tax debtor husband caused corporations that he owned to pay for renovations on the wife’s residence. The Court held that the payments constituted indirect transfers from the husband to the wife that…
Late-filed elections
The CRA can permit the filing of a late-filed election only if it is one of those listed in Reg 600. An election is different from a designation, which Nassau Walnut addressed. See Banff Caribou Properties Ltd. v. Canada (Attorney…
164(6) carry back procedure
An estate that wishes to carry back a loss to the terminal return of the deceased under subsection 164(6) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) must file an amended T1 for the terminal year. A T1ADJ will not suffice. See…
The CRA and ‘reasonableness’
The taxpayer in Howard v Canada (Attorney General), 2022 FC 1673, over-contributed to her TFSA. The CRA denied her request for relief on the basis that she had not made a “reasonable error” when she relied on advice from her…
GAAR and 55(2)
3295940 Canada Inc. v R, 2022 TCC 68 considered a taxpayer who had wanted to sell shares of 329, which had a high tax cost, to an arm’s length purchaser. The purchaser would not buy the shares for commercial reasons.…