CRA Addresses Trust Reporting Questions Concerning Bare Trusts

The Canada Revenue Agency (the "CRA") released Document 2024-1005851C6 (the "Document"), addressing three questions concerning trust reporting involving bare trusts posed on May 7, 2024 at the 2024 Conference for Advanced Life Underwriting (CALU) Roundtable. By way of background, subsection 150(1.3) of the Income Tax Act ("ITA") provides that for the purposes of section 150, a trust includes "an arrangement under which a trust can reasonably be considered to act as agent for all the beneficiaries under the trust with respect to all dealings with all of the trust's property" (i.e. commonly referred to as a "bare trust"). However, the background forming the basis of the Document explains that pursuant to subsection 104(1), except for the purposes of certain provisions set out in that subsection, a trust is deemed not to include a bare trust unless the trust is described in any of paragraphs (a) to (e.1) of the definition of "trust" in subsection 108(1).