Estate Planning

Decorative pattern

Estate Planning

Income splitting: Assets, prescribed rates and personal loans

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently announced that the prescribed rate, the rate at which your clients can lend cash or other assets to family members in order to sidestep attribution rules, is 1% for the second quarter of 2009, effective April 1, 2009. The prescribed rate is set each quarter and is based on […]

April 13, 2009

4 min read

Decorative pattern

Estate Planning

U.S. pensions and RRSP transfers

In both Canada and the United States, many employers are reducing their workforce numbers. If you have clients who have left jobs in the U.S. to resettle in Canada, you may be able to help them amalgamate their cross-border retirement plans. Under the right circumstances, this can simplify retirement planning and reduce or eliminate the […]

By Carol Bezaire |March 9, 2009

4 min read

Decorative pattern

Estate Planning

Registered losses deductible to estate

A small change in last week’s budget promises a benefit during declining markets: RRSP and RRIF losses will be treated fairly in estate distributions. When an RRSP or RRIF annuitant dies, the taxable value to the estate includes gains made after the annuitant’s death, taxable in the hands of the estate’s beneficiaries. But until now, […]

By Scot Blythe |February 3, 2009

2 min read

Decorative pattern

Estate Planning

Cheap U.S. vacation property = big estate tax consequences

Lower United States property values and a stronger Canadian dollar have led many Canadians to consider purchasing their dream vacation properties in the southern U.S. However, while owning U.S. vacation property provides a great escape from the often harsh winters of the great white north, it also exposes Canadians to the U.S. estate regime that […]

By Beth Webel |January 23, 2009

5 min read