An accurate and well written guide to estate planning, estate freeze, income splitting and post mortem tax planning.

The successful transfer of a family business from one generation to the next is notoriously difficult. In Tax and Family Business Succession Planning, authors David Louis, Samantha Prasad and new co-author Michael Goldberg, of Minden Gross LLP, provide an in-depth discussion of the myriad aspects of planning a successful transfer of a family business from one generation to the next.

Expert guidance on such complex income tax matters as:

• Implementing, adjusting and – if necessary – undoing an estate freeze
• Reversionary trust rules
• Crystallization of capital gains
• Life insurance
• Stop-loss rules
• Small business deduction
• Attribution rules
• Spin-outs
• Post-mortem issues

Non-tax matters integral to the succession planning process also considered include:

• Trustees’ powers and duties
• Shareholders’ agreements
• Buy-sell agreements
• Family law
• Creditor proofing
• RRSP, RRIF and life insurance designations

Updated and expanded:

The third edition of Tax and Family Business Succession Planning has been updated and expanded to reflect budgetary pronouncements, legislative changes and new case law, including:

• Control premium issues
• Valuation of discretionary trust
• Planning for 21st anniversary of a trust 
• Shareholder agreements relating to buy outs on death
• Association rules and trusts/choice of executor
• New developments in distributions to non-residents
• Estates and acquisition of control rules
• Structures to multiply the capital gains exemption
• Discussion of recent technical interpretations (including APFF and STEP Round Tables) and case law developments

Abbreviated Table of Contents

• Chapter 1 – Introduction to Tax and Family Business Succession
• Chapter 2 – Estate Freezes
• Chapter 3 – Trusts
• Chapter 4 – Capital Gains Exemption & Crystallization
• Chapter 5 – Income Splitting
• Chapter 6 – Tax and Treatment of Life Insurance
• Chapter 7 – Creditor Protection
• Chapter 8 – Wills and Will Substitutes
• Chapter 9 – Freezes: Alterations, Variations and Trust Distributions
• Chapter 10 – Spinouts
• Chapter 11 – Shareholders' Agreements
• Chapter 12 – Death of the First Generation: Post Mortem Planning

About the Authors:

David Louis is the Chair and senior member of the Minden Gross LLP Taxation Group. Both a lawyer and C.A., he has over 25 years of experience in income tax matters, including personal, corporate, international, and estate planning, focusing largely on entrepreneurs. Formerly a Partner in the National Tax Group at Ernst & Whinney (now part of KPMG) and Tax Counsel to Brascan Limited, he is a graduate of the University of Toronto Law School and also holds a Bachelor of Commerce from that university.

He is a prolific writer, author of Implementing Estate Freezes (CCH Canadian Limited), as well as Tax-Saving Strategies for the Canadian Investor, Compensation Strategies for the Canadian Executive, RRSP Strategies (Hume Publishing Limited). He has edited or contributed to various CCH services and other publications, including Tax Planning for Small Business, Canadian Small Business Financing and Tax Planning Guide, Canadian Estate Planning Guide, The Directors Manual, Revenue Canada Round Table Annotated, Canada Income Tax Guide, Canadian Wealth Management Guide, Tax Topics and Tax Notes, as well as Taxation of Private Corporations and Their Shareholders (1st Edition, Canadian Tax Foundation). He was formerly Contributing Editor of The MoneyLetter (for nearly 30 years), editor of The TaxLetter from 1983 to 2005, as well as tax columnist for The Globe and Mail, Report on Business.

Samantha Prasad is an associate with the Minden Gross LLP Tax Group. Her practice focuses mainly on corporate, estate and international tax planning. In addition to advising clients on various tax planning strategies, Samantha has particular experience in designing and implementing estate plans and corporate reorganizations.

Samantha's clients vary from the small family business owner/manager to multi-national corporations. As such, her practice is varied to include tax aspects of corporate finance, corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, as well as estate planning and offshore and international corporate structures.

Samantha is also an accomplished author. She is the author of "The Liability for Taxes" chapter of the CCH Directors' Manual, as well as co-editor of various other CCH Canadian Limited tax publications including the Canada Income Tax Guide, Wealth Management Guide, and Tax Planning for Small Business Guide. Samantha is a regular contributor to Tax Notes (CCH), The TaxLetter and The MoneyLetter (MPL Communications) newsletters. Samantha is also a frequent lecturer for professional and commercial organizations, businesses and conferences.

Samantha received her B.A. in International Relations, Political Science and French from the University of Toronto in 1995 and her LL.B. from Queen's University in 1998. 

Michael Goldberg is a partner with the Minden Gross LLP Tax Group and has been working with clients and their advisors to assist them with their corporate, estate, personal and international tax planning needs for over 10 years.  He has developed particular expertise in implementing complex corporate reorganizations, succession plans and creative wealth preservation and protection strategies. His clients are most often entrepreneurs and their corporate groups, but vary from small family businesses to multi-national corporations.

Michael speaks regularly at seminars and conferences and is a frequent contributor to a number of tax publications with CCH, including: Canadian Estate Planning Guide, Canadian Wealth Management Guide, Ontario Tax Reporter, Tax Notes, Tax Planning for Small Business, Tax Topics and Canadian Income Tax Act, Annotated.