2018 Miller Thomson Federal Budget Review

With today's tabling of the 2018 Federal Budget (the "Budget"), the federal government followed through on its previously expressed commitments to reform the taxation of passive income earned by certain private Canadian corporations. It has also continued to "tighten" the Canadian tax system by closing perceived "loopholes" and by proposing enhanced reporting and disclosure obligations for trusts and beneficial ownership. Although the federal government has sought to remedy the perceived lack of fairness in the existing tax rules as they relate to certain private Canadian corporations, the measures proposed in the Budget represent a more tempered approach and, of the Federal Government's own admission, an "important departure" from the July 2017 proposals.