The recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in Ozerdinc Family Trust provides a helpful reminder as to the steps lawyers should take when advising trustees of a Trust with respect to the twenty one year rule against perpetuities.
Under the provisions of the Income Tax Act, capital property is normally taxed upon its “disposition”. In the case of a Trust, according to section 104(4) of the Income Tax Act, there is a deemed disposition every twenty one years after the original settlement of the Trust as long as the Trust holds property that is subject to the rule.
Such property includes: shares of a qualified small business corporation, qualified farm property, and qualified fishing property; marketable securities (including mutual funds and portfolio investments); real and depreciable property; personal-use and listed-personal properties; Canadian and foreign resource properties; and, land held as inventory. At the same time, certain types of capital property are exempt or excluded from the operation of the rule depending on such factors as residency or the nature of the trust.
In order to avoid and/or mitigate any taxes owing as a result of the deemed disposition, there are numerous planning options available to trustees including changing the residency of the trust, or entering into a corporate freeze. Trustees may also simply decide to do nothing.
Therefore, at a minimum, trustees must consider the date of the impending deemed disposition, as well as available tax planning measures to avoid/mitigate any taxes resulting from the deemed disposition. An obligation to advise trustees of these issues often falls on the professional who assisted with the settling of a Trust.
In Ozerdinc Family Trust, Justice Marc R. Labrosse found that the defendant law firm was negligent in failing to advise the trustees of the impending deemed disposition date, as well as the available tax planning measures available to them. Although the facts in this case are nothing novel, it nonetheless acts as a helpful reminder as to the steps lawyers should take when advising trustees of a Trust.
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