-
Financial reporting and accounting advisory services
You trust your external auditor to deliver not only a high-quality, independent audit of your financial statements but to provide a range of support, including assessing material risks, evaluating internal controls and raising awareness around new and amended accounting standards.
-
Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises
Get the clear financial picture you need with the accounting standards team at Doane Grant Thornton LLP. Our experts have extensive experience with private enterprises of all sizes in all industries, an in-depth knowledge of today’s accounting standards, and are directly involved in the standard-setting process.
-
International Financial Reporting Standards
Whether you are already using IFRS or considering a transition to this global framework, Doane Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team is here to help.
-
Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations
From small, community organizations to large, national charities, you can count on Doane Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team for in-depth knowledge and trusted advice.
-
Public Sector Accounting Standards
Working for a public-sector organization comes with a unique set of requirements for accounting and financial reporting. Doane Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team has the practical, public-sector experience and in-depth knowledge you need.
-
Tax planning and compliance
Whether you are a private or public organization, your goal is to manage the critical aspects of tax compliance, and achieve the most effective results. At Doane Grant Thornton, we focus on delivering relevant advice, and providing an integrated planning approach to help you fulfill compliance obligations.
-
Research and development and government incentives
Are you developing innovative processes or products, undertaking experimentation or solving technological problems? If so, you may qualify to claim SR&ED tax credits. This Canadian federal government initiative is designed to encourage and support innovation in Canada. Our R&D professionals are a highly-trained, diverse team of practitioners that are engineers, scientists and specialized accountants.
-
Indirect tax
Keeping track of changes and developments in GST/HST, Quebec sales tax and other provincial sales taxes across Canada, can be a full-time job. The consequences for failing to adequately manage your organization’s sales tax obligations can be significant - from assessments, to forgone recoveries and cash flow implications, to customer or reputational risk.
-
US corporate tax
The United States has a very complex and regulated tax environment, that may undergo significant changes. Cross-border tax issues could become even more challenging for Canadian businesses looking for growth and prosperity in the biggest economy in the world.
-
Cross-border personal tax
In an increasingly flexible world, moving across the border may be more viable for Canadians and Americans; however, relocating may also have complex tax implications.
-
International tax
While there is great opportunity for businesses looking to expand globally, organizations are under increasing tax scrutiny. Regardless of your company’s size and level of international involvement—whether you’re working abroad, investing, buying and selling, borrowing or manufacturing—doing business beyond Canada’s borders comes with its fair share of tax risks.
-
Transfer pricing
Transfer pricing is a complex area of corporate taxation that is concerned with the intra-group pricing of goods, services, intangibles, and financial instruments. Transfer pricing has become a critical governance issue for companies, tax authorities and policy makers, and represents a principal risk area for multinationals.
-
Succession & estate planning
Like many private business owners today, you’ve spent your career building and running your business successfully. Now you’re faced with deciding on a successor—a successor who may or may not want your direct involvement and share your vision.
-
Tax Reporting & Advisory
The financial and tax reporting obligations of public markets and global tax authorities take significant resources and investment to manage. This requires calculating global tax provision estimates under US GAAP, IFRS, and other frameworks, and reconciling this reporting with tax compliance obligations.
-
Transactions
Our transactions group takes a client-centric, integrated approach, focused on helping you make and implement the best financial strategies. We offer meaningful, actionable and holistic advice to allow you to create value, manage risks and seize opportunities. It’s what we do best: help great organizations like yours grow and thrive.
-
Restructuring
We bring a wide range of services to both individuals and businesses – including shareholders, executives, directors, lenders, creditors and other advisors who are dealing with a corporation experiencing financial challenges.
-
Forensics
Market-driven expertise in investigation, dispute resolution and digital forensics
-
Consulting
Running a business is challenging and you need advice you can rely on at anytime you need it. Our team dives deep into your issues, looking holistically at your organization to understand your people, processes, and systems needs at the root of your pain points. The intersection of these three things is critical to develop the solutions you need today.
-
Creditor updates
Updates for creditors, limited partners, investors and shareholders.
-
Governance, risk and compliance
Effective, risk management—including governance and regulatory compliance—can lead to tangible, long-term business improvements. And be a source of significant competitive advantage.
-
Internal audit
Organizations thrive when they are constantly innovating, improving or creating new services and products and envisioning new markets and growth opportunities.
-
Certification – SOX
The corporate governance landscape is challenging at the best of times for public companies and their subsidiaries in Canada, the United States and around the world.
-
Third party assurance
Naturally, clients and stakeholders want reassurance that there are appropriate controls and safeguards over the data and processes being used to service their business. It’s critical.
-
ASPE Sec. 3041 Agriculture Understanding and applying the new ASPE Section 3041 AgricultureThe Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) has released new guidance on recognizing, measuring and disclosing biological assets and the harvested products of bio assets.
-
Tax alert Agricultural Clean Technology ProgramThe Agricultural Clean Technology Program will provide financial assistance to farmers and agri-businesses to help them reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
-
Tax alert ACT Program – Research and Innovation Stream explainedThe ACT Research and Innovation Stream provides financial support to organizations engaged in pre-market innovation.
-
Tax alert ACT Program – Adoption Stream explainedThe ACT Adoption Stream provides non-repayable funding to help farmers and agri-business with the purchase and installation of clean technologies.
-
Builders And Developers
Every real estate project starts with a vision. We help builders and developers solidify that vision, transform it into reality, and create value.
-
Rental Property Owners And Occupiers
In today’s economic climate, it’s more important than ever to have a strong advisory partner on your side.
-
Real Estate Service Providers
Your company plays a key role in the success of landlords, investors and owners, but who is doing the same for you?
-
Mining
There’s no business quite like mining. It’s volatile, risky and complex – but the potential pay-off is huge. You’re not afraid of a challenge: the key is finding the right balance between risk and reward. Whether you’re a junior prospector, a senior producer, or somewhere in between, we’ll work with you to explore, discover and extract value at every stage of the mining process.
-
Oil & gas
The oil and gas industry is facing many complex challenges, beyond the price of oil. These include environmental issues, access to markets, growing competition from alternative energy sources and international markets, and a rapidly changing regulatory landscape, to name but a few.
Updated: September 11, 2024
If you have a trust, you may now be required to annually report additional information on the trust’s stakeholders—including beneficiaries, settlors, trustees, and certain other parties. Specifically, you may need to file T3 Schedule 15 “Beneficial ownership information of a trust” as part of your trust’s T3 return, for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2023. Note that Schedule 15 requires detailed information which can take time to gather and update each year.
In its last update on August 12, 2024, the Department of Finance (Finance) released draft legislation that proposes changes to these rules, which were originally enacted on December 15, 2022. It’s critical that you determine your trust’s reporting requirements each tax year as the non-compliance penalties are significant.
Some reporting relief
As part of the recent proposed changes, fewer trusts may be subject to these additional reporting requirements. Specifically, Finance is proposing to broaden the list of exemptions from filing Schedule 15. Finance also proposes an additional year of relief for bare trusts to exempt them from filing T3 returns for the 2024 tax year. In addition, certain types of bare trusts are proposed to be exempt from the trust reporting requirements starting with the 2025 tax year.
Previously, the CRA announced that bare trusts aren’t required to file a 2023 T3 return, unless the CRA requests it, as one-time administrative relief. The CRA announced this relief on March 28, 2024.
For more details on the proposed relief for bare trusts, please refer to our article, Bare trusts: What are they and who has to report?.
What are the current reporting requirements on beneficial ownership?
Who must file Schedule 15?
Many trusts are required to file Schedule 15 annually as part of the T3 return, subject to certain exceptions. Specifically, the trust reporting rules require express trusts resident in Canada, as well as non-resident trusts deemed resident in Canada to report information on their beneficial ownership.
Generally, an express trust is a trust created with the settlor’s express intent, either formally or informally. As this definition is very broad, most types of trusts are express trusts.
Certain trusts that were previously not required to file T3 returns, including bare trusts, are now required to file T3 returns including Schedule 15, beginning with December 31, 2023 tax years. However, as previously mentioned, the CRA announced one-time administrative relief for 2023 bare trust returns.
What are the exceptions?
The following types of trusts aren’t required to file Schedule 15 (however, a T3 return is generally still required):
- Graduated rate estates
- Trusts that have been in existence for less than three months
- Trusts that hold a total fair market value (FMV) of $50,000 or less in assets throughout the tax year (provided their holdings are limited to deposits, government debt obligation, and listed securities)
- Mutual fund trusts, segregated funds, and master trusts
- Trusts governed by certain registered plans (e.g., registered retirement savings plans)
- Lawyers’ and other professionals’ general trust accounts where the funds are required to be held in trust under the relevant rules of professional conduct or federal or provincial law
- Qualified disability trusts, employee life and health trusts, and certain government-funded trusts
- Trusts that are registered charities (including internal trusts held by charities under CRA administrative relief)
- Trusts that qualify as non-profit organizations (NPOs). However, internal trusts held by NPOs must still file Schedule 15 unless they meet another exception on this list.
- Trusts whose units are all listed on a designated stock exchange
- Cemetery care trusts and trusts governed by eligible funeral arrangements
- Trusts under an employee profit sharing plan
Determining whether your trust qualifies for an exception from filing Schedule 15 can be complex. Reach out to your advisor for help.
What information is reported on Schedule 15?
If your trust has to file Schedule 15, you must provide additional information on the trust’s stakeholders, including their name, address, date of birth (where applicable), jurisdiction of tax residence, and tax information number. Such stakeholders include trustees, beneficiaries, and settlors of the trust, and anyone who has the ability (through the trust terms or a related agreement) to exert control or override trustee decisions over the appointment of income or capital of the trust (i.e., a protector).
For Schedule 15, a settlor includes an individual or entity that loaned or transferred property directly or indirectly to (or for the benefit of) the trust. There’s an exclusion available for arm’s length lenders where a reasonable rate of interest is charged. Similarly, there’s an exclusion for arm’s length transferors, provided the transfer was at FMV.
The meaning of “beneficiary” is expanded to include contingent beneficiaries, as well as unknown beneficiaries in certain cases (e.g., future children).
What are the non-compliance penalties?
T3 returns (including Schedule 15 where required) are due within 90 days of a trust’s tax year end.
Failure to comply with these requirements will result in significant penalties. If a trust fails to meet the filing deadline, it will be subject to a penalty of $25 per day, with a minimum penalty of $100 and a maximum of $2,500. Moreover, if a trust fails to file—either knowingly or due to gross negligence—the additional penalty will be the greater of $2,500 or 5% of the maximum value of property held during the year.
More details on the proposed relief
Expanded exemptions
Finance proposes to broaden the list of exemptions from having to file Schedule 15. Types of trust that won’t be required to file if the changes are enacted include:
1. Trusts whose assets have a total FMV of $50,000 or less throughout the tax year (without restrictions on asset type). This would replace the current $50,000 exemption that limits the types of assets that can be held to qualify.
2. Trusts that meet all the following conditions:
- All trustees and beneficiaries are individuals.
- Each beneficiary is related to each trustee.
- The total FMV of the trust property is $250,000 or less throughout the tax year, provided the trust’s holdings are limited to certain types of assets (such as deposits, listed securities, guaranteed investment certificates issued by Canadian banks, personal-use property, and debt obligations issued by the government or a publicly listed entity).
3. Lawyers’ and other professionals’ client-specific trust accounts that meet both of the following conditions:
- The funds are required to be held in trust under the relevant rules of professional conduct or federal or provincial law, and
- The only assets held within the trust throughout the year is cash of $250,000 or less.
4. Certain statutorily-created trusts requiring the trustee to hold the property for a specific purpose.
If enacted, these changes would be effective starting with December 31, 2024 tax years.
Narrowing of the definition of settlor
Finance proposes to narrow the definition of a settlor for Schedule 15 to exclude lenders. Specifically, a settlor would only include direct or indirect transferors of property to the trust. A new exception is proposed for transfers at FMV or pursuant to a legal obligation, regardless of whether the transferor is non-arm’s length or arm’s length.
If enacted, this change would apply for taxation years ending December 31, 2024 and onwards.
For help navigating the trust reporting rules and how the proposed changes may impact your trust, contact your local advisor or reach out to us here.
Disclaimer
The information contained herein is general in nature and is based on proposals that are subject to change. It is not, and should not be construed as, accounting, legal or tax advice or an opinion provided by Doane Grant Thornton LLP to the reader. This material may not be applicable to, or suitable for, specific circumstances or needs and may require consideration of other factors not described herein.
Get the latest insights in your inbox.
Subscribe to receive relevant and timely insights and event invitations.