During the summer, the Department of Finance issued sweeping tax
proposals ("Proposals") targeted at private businesses.
These Proposals received lots of criticisms and were analyzed at
length by tax practitioners and advisors (please see Torkin Manes
LLP's analysis of these Proposals delivered by webinar). After
months of lobbying by various industry groups and tax advisors, the
Department of Finance, at the 2017 Annual Tax Conference (November
21, 2017), clarified its position on these Proposals:
Multiplication of Capital Gains Exemption
The Department of Finance confirmed it will not proceed with the
Proposals dealing a common tax planning strategy of multiplying the
capital gains exemption among family members (Currently, each
individual is entitled to $835,716 for 2017 (indexed annually with
inflation)). It is a common strategy to have family trusts hold
shares of a qualifying small business corporation. When the shares
are sold to an arm's length purchaser,
