We publish articles and helpful information bulletins to provide answers and commentary to frequently asked tax, financial, insurance, investment and estate planning questions. Our goal is to help educate you about the financial and insurance industry, to better understand what you need and want.
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- Is Pension Income-Splitting Available for Year of Death?In Canada, while many tax credits and benefits are available based on family income, a graduated tax bracket system applies to the individual when taxing income. This is the case even for married or common-law partners (CLPs) where each spouse is taxed on income based on his/her own set of graduated tax brackets and rates. Where family members can split taxable income for income tax purposes, it can result in less tax payable for the family. To protect tax revenues, there are attribution rules in place that prevent the simplest forms of income-splitting. However, despite these rules, there are a number of … Read more
- Death of an RRSP/RRIF Annuitant – Do tax-deferred rollovers make sense?When an RRSP1 or RRIF annuitant dies, the deceased is normally required to include the full value of the plan in income for the year of death where the amount is subject to tax on the deceased’s terminal tax return. Exceptions apply if a spouse, common-law partner or financially dependent disabled child or grandchild (qualified beneficiaries) inherit the assets. In this case, a tax-deferred transfer (“rollover”) is available if the proceeds are contributed to an RRSP, RRIF, PRPP2, SPP3 or qualifying annuity for the qualified beneficiary. When an RRSP annuitant dies, families quite often take advantage of the tax-deferred transfer where available … Read more
- Trustee Investment DutiesAs fiduciaries, executors and trustees owe numerous duties to both the estate and to its beneficiaries. This article addresses a particular trustee duty, namely the duty to invest the trust property. A trustee is required to obey the trust deed Often, a trust deed will contain a specific term limiting the trustee’s investment authority. Recently, the British Columbia court provided a clear message to settlors and testators to carefully consider the words chosen in a trust deed, as those words may greatly limit the trust investments. In Dunn v. TD Canada Trust (2016), a trust created upon the death of … Read more