2015 Federal Budget - Selected Tax Measures

On April 21, 2015, the Minister of Finance presented Canada's long-awaited 2015 Federal Budget (the 2015 Budget). The 2015 Budget includes a number of taxpayer-friendly measures, including limited relief from Canadian source withholding requirements for some non-resident employers, extension of accelerated tax depreciation rates for machinery and equipment and a phased-in decrease in the small business tax rate. However, the 2015 Budget also includes two significant expansions of existing anti-avoidance rules applicable to intercorporate dividends, which appear to have broad-ranging consequences. Indeed, the principal takeaway from the 2015 Budget is that the applicability of the dividends-received deduction will need to be reconsidered in a broad range of situations.