Matt C. Altro and Jonah Z. Spiegelman were recently interviewed by Dean DiSpalatro from Advisor's Edge to analyze a case study about cross-border traps. The analysis was published in the June edition of the Advisor's Edge magazine and also appeared online on Advisor.ca. In the article, Matt and Jonah review what mistakes "Rob" has made as [...]
David A. Altro is a regular contributor to Paul Delean's business column in the Montreal Gazette, please scroll down to read David's answer to three reader questions. Tax strategy: Expert Tackles Cross-Border Queries PAUL DELEAN The Montreal Gazette Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Cross-border tax issues can be complex. We've had several raised recently by readers that [...]
David A. Altro was asked to write an article for the Good Life Connoisseur magazine, which appeared in the magazine's Spring 2014 Edition on page 32. In the article, David explains the key tax and legal developments for Snowbirds to be aware of for 2014 based on changes that occured in 2013 and scheduled changes for [...]
David A. Altro and Jonah Z. Spiegelman recently co-authored an article which appeared on Advisor.ca and is scheduled to appear in the April or May 2014 edition of Advisor’s Edge magazine. In the article, David and Jonah explain the considerations and opportunities that Canadians should keep front of mind if they have US-resident children who will [...]
The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, more commonly known as FATCA, was passed in 2010. FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (“FI”s) to report on the account information of U.S. citizens and residents (including dual citizens) to the IRS starting in July 2014. Although the requirement to report directly to the IRS violated Canadian privacy laws, there were withholding tax consequences for non-compliance with FATCA. The uproar in Canada over the privacy issue and the financial costs of implementing FATCA led to the signing of an intergovernmental agreement [“IGA”] between Canada and the U.S. on February 5, 2014. […]
David A. Altro was recently interviewed by Drew Hasselback for an article which appeared in the Financial Post section of the National Post. In the article, Drew asks David about the benefits of an estate freeze for family owned businesses, and what special considerations may be required when owners of a Canadian company, or those who [...]
Post-divorce, many Canadians are lucky enough to find second relationships, whether it is cohabiting leading to a common law partnership or another trip down the aisle. According to a 2011 census data release by Statistics Canada, blended families (where one or both spouses have children from previous relationships) have become a national norm, representing about one in eight couples’ families with children. This blog takes a closer look at the type of estate planning issues that blended families can face. As new relationships are formed with the new spouse’s family, estate planning becomes more complicated and steps must be taken to ensure that your intentions to protect your children from the prior marriage and/or for your new spouse to be protected upon your death, and that your estate will ultimately be distributed to the intended beneficiaries. […]
We have written a number of blogs on the topic of how many days you can spend in the US, but come June 30, 2014 a new initiative will be kicked into high gear in order to track your movement across the Canada/US border. Calculating Your Days in the United States Snowbirds have tried to get around this issue by pleading ignorance or simply believing that the US had no way of actually knowing how many days they were present within their borders, and maybe they were right. Under today’s system, both Canada and the US keep track of the day you enter the country, but not when you leave and neither country is in the habit of sharing this information with each other. However, none of this actually means that snowbirds are exempt from the rules. In fact, the implications of surpassing the number of days allowed in the US comes with dyer tax, estate, immigration and medical coverage issues. These issues have all been discussed in great detail in the past, however it is worth taking a brief moment to recap the rules. […]
Matt C. Altro was recently interviewed by Julius Melnitzer for an article which appeared in the Financial Post section of the National Post. In the article, Matt addresses the changes that will allow Canada and the US to accurately track the number of days spent by Canadians in each country, to ensure that the tax and immigration laws are being respected. The article can be found below or at this link and includes information on the number of days Canadians may spend in the US. […]
Planning for Disabled Beneficiaries in Ontario By Heela Donsky Walker February 18, 2014 Whether you own Cross-Border assets or not, when dealing with the transfer of assets to a disabled beneficiary who is resident in Ontario, special planning may be needed to preserve your disabled beneficiary’s entitlement to certain [...]
