WeirFoulds Estates & Trusts Newsletter
Estate Administration Tax — The Issue Is Back!
You may recall that in May 2011 (Issue 11-4) we posted an article with respect to Bill 173, and in particular, Schedule 14 to that Bill. Schedule 14 proposed an amendment to the
Estate Administration Tax Act. On Friday, November 7th at 5:14 p.m., the Ministry of Finance posted the draft regulation that we have long been waiting for, setting out the estate information return that will be required to be filed on an Application for a Certificate of Appointment of Estate Trustee. The release states that this will become effective on or after January 1, 2015, and have invited comments to be made to them by November 28, 2014. See the draft regulation at the end of this issue.
Section 3 of the proposed regulation provides a list of items that must be provided to the Minister no later than 30 days after an "Estate Certificate" is issued to the estate representative. Subsection (2)7 states that a complete list of the assets of the deceased person used to determine the value of the estate must be provided, including specific information with respect to each asset. For example, with respect to real property you will be required to provide the full address, postal code, value of any encumbrances on the real property, the assessment roll number, and the Property Identifier of such property. This will require additional searches to be done to obtain this information at a cost to the estate. They refer to a "Complete List", but does this include the old TV with an estimated value of $20.00?
Section (2)7(iii) provides that if the asset is cash, a GIC, a loan receivable, or a form of security, among other things, then you must provide very specific details about the asset, such as the number of units held, the particular series of bonds or class of shares, and in addition, the name and contact information of the deceased person's advisor, dealer, financial institution or other person holding the asset on behalf of the deceased person. You must also provide the specific account number in relation to the asset.
If the deceased died owning a car, you will be required to provide the Vehicle Identification Number. In addition, if any asset is owned with a deceased person as tenant-in-common, you must state the percentage owned by the deceased person at death. If you are unable to determine the actual value of the estate, and therefore filed an undertaking with the Court, you must provide a copy of that undertaking with this return.
If an estate representative becomes aware that any information described in paragraphs 7, 8 or 16 of subsection 3(2) of the regulation is incorrect or incomplete, they then have 30 days from the date that they become aware of the issue to file the revised return. This will not be required if the estate representative becomes aware of the incorrect or incomplete information after the 4th anniversary of the day the tax became payable. Not sure how you ascertain when the tax became payable.
I encourage you to read this legislation carefully as this is only touching on the highlights and I have not given any detailed consideration to the implications of the both the legislation and this proposed regulation.
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