On February 27, 2018, the Federal Minister of Finance,
Bill Morneau, tabled the current Liberal government's third
budget. Following the proposals announced last year, there was much
anticipation (and concern) that Budget 2018 would introduce
additional sweeping tax changes. As expected, Budget 2018 proposed
new tax rules applicable to passive investments held by private
corporations. However, in the end, the changes in the latest budget
proposals (the "Proposals") were much more targeted and
measured than some had feared.
Here are some of the highlights.
Passive Investment Income in a Private Corporation
On July 18, 2017, the government released a consultation paper
in which it proposed to
restrict the tax-deferral advantage currently available to private
corporations that reinvest after-tax profits in passive
investments. In October 2017, the government announced that the
proposals would be
targeted at private corporations with annual passive