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This translation was prepared by Tax Interpretations Inc. The CRA did not issue this document in the language in which it now appears, and is not responsible for any errors in its translation that might impact a reader’s understanding of it or the position(s) taken therein. See also the general Disclaimer below.
Principal Issues: a) Whether an individual who died after 2015 may claim the tax credit for gifts with respect to the gift to a qualified donee of a capital interest in a charitable remainder trust (CRT) created by will? b) Whether the capital interest in the CRT was acquired by the GRE on and as a consequence of the death of the individual? c) When does the GRE make the gift?
Position: a) and b) No. c) When the CRT is created and the capital interest in the CRT has vested in the qualified donee, which means that all the conditions in paragraph 2 of IT-226R have to be met.
Reasons: a) and b) The subject of the gift is the equitable interest in the CRB and has not been acquired by the GRE on and as a consequence of the death of the deceased taxpayer as required under paragraph 118.1(5.1)(b). Nor is the interest a property substituted for such property. c)
FINANCIAL STRATEGIES AND FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS ROUNDTABLE, 7 OCTOBER 2022
2022 APFF CONFERENCE
9. Charitable remainder trust created by will and death after 2015
Technical Interpretations 2017-0734261E5 (footnote 1) and 2016-0625841E5 (footnote 2) addressed the gift to a qualified donee of a capital interest in a charitable remainder trust ("CRT") created by will. The Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) stated that it is of the view that the subject matter of the gift, the capital interest in a trust, cannot have been acquired by the graduated rate estate (“GRE”) on or as a consequence of the individual's death and, therefore, subsection 118.1(5.1) the Income Tax Act (footnote 3) does not apply.
It is our understanding that the consequence of these interpretations is that a deceased individual who has provided for a CRT in the individual’s will can no longer claim a donation tax credit on the individual’s T1 income tax and benefit returns for the year of death or the preceding year in respect of a gift of a capital interest in a CRT to a qualified donee. Only the GRE will be able to claim such a credit for the taxation year in which the gift is made or for any of the five subsequent taxation years.
Questions to the CRA
(a) Can the CRA confirm that our understanding of these technical interpretations is correct and that a deceased individual whose will provides for a gift of an interest in a CRT is no longer eligible for the donation tax credit to which the individual may have been entitled prior to 2016 so as to reduce the individual’s tax bill resulting from the deemed disposition of the individual’s property on death?
(b) Can the CRA explain its conclusion that the capital interest in the CRT cannot have been acquired by the estate, when in fact the assets that will be in the CRT necessarily flow through the GRE and only after the clearance certificate is obtained will the executor be able to pass on the assets that will form part of the capital of the CRT?
(c) When is the GRE considered to have made the gift? Is it at the time of the creation of the CRT or at the time the capital of the CRT is actually delivered to the qualified donee?
CRA Response to Question 9(a)
To determine whether an individual is eligible for the donation tax credit pursuant to subsection 118.1(3) for a taxation year, an individual must, inter alia, determine the individual's "total gifts" (footnote 4) for the particular taxation year, which include, inter alia, the individual's "total charitable gifts" (footnote 5) for the year.
Under subsections 118.1(4.1) and 118.1(5), for deaths after 2015, where a gift is made by a deceased individual's will, the gift is deemed to be made by the deceased individual's estate and not by any other taxpayer at the time that the property that is the subject of the gift is transferred to the qualified donee (footnote 6) and not at any other time.
The definition of "total charitable gifts" in subsection 118.1(1) (the "Definition") sets out the conditions under which the eligible amount of a gift may be included in the total charitable gifts of an individual other than a trust for a particular taxation year. Clause 118.1(1)(c)(i)(C) provides that, in the case of a gift from an individual's estate, the gift can only be included in the individual's total charitable gifts if subsection 118.1(5.1) applies to the gift.
Subsection 118.1(5.1) applies to a gift made by an individual’s graduated rate estate of an individual whose death occurs after 2015, provided that the gift is made within a period of not more than 60 months after the death, including where the subject matter of the gift is property that was acquired by the estate on and as a consequence of the individual's death or is property that was substituted for that property.
In the case of a gift of a capital interest in a CRT, the subject matter of the gift is that interest and not the property that is transferred to the CRT by the GRE. The CRA's position is that this capital interest in the CRT cannot have been acquired by the GRE on and as a consequence of the individual's death, nor can it be a substituted property for a property so acquired by the GRE. Consequently, subsection 118.1(5.1) does not apply to such a gift.
It follows that the requirement in clause 118.1(1)(c)(i)(C) of the Definition is not satisfied in the case of a gift of a capital interest in a CRT created by will. Thus, the amount of such a gift cannot be added to the deceased individual's total charitable gifts for either the taxation year of death or the preceding taxation year.
On the other hand, a gift of a capital interest in a CRT created by will to a qualified donee may qualify for the donation tax credit to the deceased individual's estate, which is deemed to have made the gift by virtue of subsections 118.1(4.1) and 118.1(5). As stated in Technical Interpretations 2016-0625841E5 and 2017-0734261E5, the eligible amount of such a gift could be included, pursuant to clause 118.1(1)(c)(ii)(A), in computing the total charitable gifts of the GRE for the taxation year in which the gift is made or for the five subsequent taxation years.
This conclusion, which follows from the amendments made by the Economic Action Plan Act, 2014, No. 2 (footnote 7) differs from the one that prevailed under the previous rules. For deaths before 2016, former subsection 118.1(5) provided that an individual who made a gift by will was deemed to have made the gift immediately before death (footnote 8). The eligible amount of a gift of a capital interest in a CRT could therefore be considered a charitable gift of the deceased individual (and not of the individual’s estate) for the purposes of subsection 118.1(3). The gift tax credit could be claimed for the taxation year of death or, as the case may be, for the preceding taxation year, provided that the gift to the qualified donee qualified as a gift made by will under the terms of the will (footnote 9).
It is therefore correct that for deaths after 2015, the deceased individual is no longer eligible for the charitable donations tax credit under subsection 118.1(3) where the subject of the gift is a capital interest in a CRT created by will.
CRA Response to Question 9(b)
Paragraph 118.1(5.1)(b) applies to a gift made by the GRE of an individual whose death occurs after 2015 if, inter alia, the subject of the gift is property that was acquired by the estate on and as a consequence of the death or is property that was substituted for that property, and the gift is made no more than 60 months after the death.
As noted in the answer to Question 9(a), the property that is the subject of the gift is the capital interest in the CRT and not the property transferred to the GRE or CRT. A capital interest in a CRT provided by will is created after the taxpayer's death, and after the GRE has acquired the deceased's property as a consequence of the death. The CRT acquires the property from the GRE while the subject of the gift to the qualified donee is a capital interest in the CRT.
The capital interest in the CRT is not an asset acquired by the GRE, nor is it an asset substituted for one or more assets acquired by the GRE. Indeed, the GRE does not acquire anything in return for the assets it transfers to the CRT. Since the GRE does not acquire the capital interest in the CRT, the capital interest is not substituted for property that was acquired by the GRE on and as a consequence of the death.
CRA Response to Question 9(c)
By virtue of paragraph 118.1(5)(b), a gift by will is deemed to have been made at the time the property that is the subject of the gift is transferred to the donee and not at any other time. Interpretation Bulletin IT-226R [39] states in paragraph 4 that a gift of a capital interest in a trust is made when the transfer of the property to the trust has been completed and the equitable interest in the trust has vested in the qualified donee. Paragraph 2 of this Bulletin sets out all of the conditions that must be satisfied in order to consider that a gift of a capital interest in a trust has been made. In particular, it states that a gift is vested where, among other conditions, the size of the qualified donee's interest can be ascertained and it is clear that the qualified donee will eventually receive full ownership of the transferred property.
Consequently, the GRE could be considered to have made a gift of the capital interest in the CRT to the qualified donee at the time the CRT is created by GRE and the capital interest vests in the qualified donee, provided that all of the conditions set out in paragraph 2 of IT-226R are satisfied.
Isabelle Brulotte
October 7, 2022
2022-094095
FOOTNOTES
Due to our system requirements, footnotes contained in the original document are reproduced below:
1 Canada Revenue Agency, Technical Interpretation 2017-0734261E5, December 2, 2020.
2 Canada Revenue Agency, Technical Interpretation 2016-0625841E5, April 19, 2017.
3 R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) (the "I.T.A.").
4 Within the meaning of subsection 118.1(1).
5 Within the meaning of subsection 118.1(1).
6 Within the meaning of subsection 248(1).
7 Economic Action Plan 2014 Act, No.2, S.C. 2014, c. 39.
8 Or in the preceding taxation year, pursuant to subsection 118.1(4), if an amount in respect of that gift was not deducted in computing tax payable for the year of death.
9 Existing subsection 118.1(4) applies to deaths that occur before 2016. It provides that if subsection 118.1(4) or 118.1(5), as they read for the taxation year in which the death occurred, applied to deem the individual to have made a gift at a time before death, then the gift is deemed to have been made by the deceased individual at that time and not by any other taxpayer or at any other time.
10 Canada Revenue Agency, Interpretation Bulletin IT-226R (archived), "Gift to a charity of a residual interest in real property or an equitable interest in a trust," November 29, 1991.
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