Optimizing the tax treatment of stock options in employees’ hands has long been a staple of Canadian executive compensation design and tax planning. No less important from a corporate perspective, however, is the tax treatment for employers. In this regard, the Tax Court of Canada decision in Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited v. The Queen, released […]
Early on October 7, The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in the case of Burke v. Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), on the issues of transfer of assets between pension plans and use of pension plan assets for plan administration expenses. The Court ruled in favour of the sponsoring employer on both issues. The […]
On the afternoon of the last Friday in August, the federal Department of Finance quietly released 221 dense pages of draft income tax legislation. Because Parliament is not currently in session, this draft is not a “bill” per se. Rather, it has been labeled as a “consultation draft”, with comments welcomed by Finance’s Tax Policy […]
The success of the recent theatrical release Alice in Wonderland has brought renewed attention to one of the most famous lines in the 19th Century Lewis Carroll novel Through the Looking Glass. “When I use a word,” proclaims Humpty Dumpty to Alice at one point, “it means just what I choose it to mean […]
Late last month, Ottawa issued a news release outlining a package of proposed reforms to the rules governing federally-registered pension plans. The proposals are both numerous and substantive. However, a careful examination of the proposal list reveals that it may ultimately be more significant for what it omits than for what it includes. Many […]
On August 7, the Supreme Court of Canada released its long-awaited decision in the Elaine Nolan et al. v. Kerry (Canada) Inc., better known as the Kerry case. By a 5-2 majority, the Court held in favour of the employer on the issue of whether surplus assets accumulated in the original defined benefit (DB) component […]
Careful observers of the Canadian pension scene may have noticed that when the federal government issued the final version of its new solvency funding relief regulations on June 12, 2009, the principal change from the March 27, 2009 draft regulations had to do with the so-called “deemed trust” provisions. More particularly, the government backtracked […]
With the recent cascade of solvency deficits, funding relief measures, and bankruptcy protection filings by pension plan sponsors, it is becoming difficult to remember the era not too long ago when defined benefit plan stakeholders’ principal obsession was surplus, not shortfalls. Believe it or not, there are still a few pension surpluses out there, and […]
From its title all the way to the final recommendation, the Ontario Expert Commission on Pensions’ report strives to balance off the often-contradictory desires of defined benefit (DB) pension plan sponsors and members. Commissioner Harry Arthurs and his team of experts and advisors are to be congratulated for a willingness to think outside the box […]
The government taxes almost every form of executive compensation in Canada at full marginal rates. Combined federal and provincial marginal rates vary from province to province, but sit roughly in the range of 40% to 50%. The only material exception to this hefty tax burden on public company executives is for benefits with respect to […]