The so-called “anti-surplus stripping rule” in section 84.1 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) can apply where an individual taxpayer transfers shares of a corporation to another corporation with which the taxpayer does not deal at arm’s length. If the…
Almost since Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) were first introduced in 2009, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been intent on clamping down on what it views as inappropriate activities undertaken within TFSAs. One area in particular has raised the ire…
Last week, the Canadian Department of Finance released proposed technical amendments to the Income Tax Act to deal with perceived deficiencies related to the housing market. Buried within those (very short, by technical amendment standards) changes is a suspension of…
It used to be that the favorite topic of conversation in Vancouver, and then more recently in Toronto was the cost of real estate. There was unending speculation on how high the prices might go and whether the party would…
The battle against perceived rampant real estate speculation continued when, on October 3, 2016, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau released income tax amendments designed to “close loopholes” in the Income Tax Act related to the housing market. A relatively innocuous…
On January 1, 2016, new rules relating to the taxation of trusts came into force in the form of subsections 104(13.3) and (13.4) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Act”). We have previously discussed the effect of…
I have had many hours of spirited conversation with my friend and colleague, Craig Sturrock Q.C., over the extent to which, or the way in which the Charter of Rights applies in tax law. In broad strokes, his position has…
By now you might have heard that Budget 2016 proposes to repeal the existing eligible capital property (“ECP”) regime in favour of a new class of depreciable capital property in respect of which capital cost allowance (“CCA”) may be claimed. …
The Honourable Marshall Rothstein, Q.C., who served on the Supreme Court of Canada from March 2006 to April 2015, spoke at a special meeting of the CBA Tax Section (BC Branch) on April 14, 2016. During his time on the…
As part of Budget 2016 the government announced that it is “committed to preventing underground economic activity, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning.” To achieve this, the budget proposes to allocate $444.4 million over five years to enable CRA to…