Words and Phrases - "property of"

Does a taxpayer with a joint interest in specified foreign property but who did not contribute to its acquisition, e.g., a child who was added as joint owner for estate planning purposes, have a reporting obligation? In the joint ownership case, must the taxpayer be the beneficial owner or would strictly legal ownership require reporting? Are the attribution rules germane? CRA responded:

The term “specified foreign property” as defined in subsection 233.3(1)… refers to property of a person or partnership, which…means property owned by the person or the partnership. …

Legal owners are generally entitled to enforce their ownership rights against all other persons. By contrast, the term “beneficial ownership” is used to describe the type of ownership of a property by a person who is entitled to the use and benefit of the property whether or not that person has concurrent legal ownership. … In most cases, the same person has both legal and beneficial ownership of a property. …[See] S1-F3-C2….

[A] reporting entity would typically be the owner (including a beneficial owner) of the property whether such ownership is jointly with another person or otherwise and irrespective of the financial contribution made by the reporting entity towards the acquisition. In the case of joint ownership, each reporting entity would report their ownership interest in the specified foreign property (i.e., if the total cost amount of specified foreign property to the entity exceeds $100,000). …

[T]he application of the attribution rules… would have no bearing on whether that property represents “specified foreign property”….