Predictions of the demise of defined benefit pension plans are premature. The reality is DB is still alive and well in the public sector, with a growing number of multi-employer plans making the promise of financial certainty in retirement provided by DB pensions available to private sector employers of all sizes. What’s under threat is […]
Traditionally, Chinese workers have relied on two pillars of income in retirement — the basic state pension and employer-sponsored plans open to employees in certain sectors. However, in late 2022, the Chinese government poured some concrete into the mould of a third pillar, unveiling the details of a previously announced private pension scheme. Under the […]
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario has released its final pension deregistration guidance, which identifies the documents, information and timeframes that are required under exemptions from the Pension Benefits Act to avoid a plan’s deregistration under the Income Tax Act. Maintaining ITA registration will permit the pension plan and its members to continue to […]
The Department of Finance’s proposals relating to the Income Tax Act, sales tax and other legislation adds complexity where compliance is already extremely challenging for pension plan administrators, according to Greg Hurst, managing director of Greg Hurst & Associates. In the legislative proposals, published earlier this month, the government released explanatory notes in relation to […]
As the coronavirus pandemic recedes, employers planning a return to the office have several legal issues to consider. Hugh Christie, a Toronto-based managing partner at Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, suggests employers first ensure their offices are properly set up for each department, as well as the personal situations of employees, such as workers with […]
The Pension Investment Association of Canada is urging the federal government to allow for tax-free mergers of maturing target-date funds. In a letter to the Department of Finance Canada, the PIAC said current tax rules don’t permit tax-free mergers of a target-date fund series into a terminal fund — where a target-date fund provider will […]
The federal government is extending several coronavirus pandemic aid measures as the pandemic rages on. During the economic and fiscal update on Tuesday, the government announced it’s extending the simplified rules for deducting home office expenses and increasing the temporary flat rate from $400 to $500 annually. In 2020, the government set out a temporary flat-rate […]
Some four decades ago, parliamentarians voted to restrict pension funds’ ability to borrow money without losing their tax-exempt status, though their reasoning has been lost to time. “These rules have been around forever, but . . . their intended purpose [remains obscure],” said Matias Milet, a partner at Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP, during a […]
The 17 pension-qualified members of parliament who stood down or were ousted during last week’s federal election will receive $1.4 million per year in payments, according to a new report by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The think tank, which tracks government expenditure in Canada, says that, should the MPs each live to 90 years old, […]
For years, many employees had ad hoc, work-from-home arrangements with their employers. Then came the coronavirus pandemic, which kicked the shift to remote working into overdrive, forcing employers to spring into action to find ways to best use group benefits plans to support their employees through the change. As a result, employers came up with […]