Tag Archive for Foreign Accrual Property Income

International FAQ #29 – Foreign Accrual Property Income

Grant Gilmour

What is Foreign Accrual Property Income (FAPI) and what affect does it have on my corporate taxes?

If you are a Canadian resident and own a foreign corporation that earns passive income, the income needs to be reported on your Canadian tax return even if you never received the funds. However, if the foreign corporation has a loss, the loss is not allowed to offset any other income you have for the year. Instead, the loss can be carried back three years against previous FAPI or forward 20 years against future FAPI.

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Written by | Posted in International

CRA Forms Overlooked By Canadians Investing In U.S. Real Estate

Larry Stolberg

The T1134 and T1135 are a sample of Canadian foreign information returns such as the U.S. 8938, 5471, or 8865.

A number of Canadians are investing in the U.S. real estate market with a U.S. limited partnership, whose limited partners are solely Canadian residents and the general partner is a U.S. C corporation, whose shareholders are also Canadian residents.

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Written by | Posted in Canada • Corporate • Real Estate

How Wealthy Immigrants To Canada Can Use A Holding Company To Create A Tax-Free “Pipeline”

There is a little-known method by which wealthy immigrants to Canada can use a holding company (“Holdco”), either in Canada or offshore, to receive, otherwise taxable, money tax-free in Canada.

This will be applicable in situations where that immigrant holds a significant interest in foreign a corporation (“Forco”), either alone, or with family members.

This technique will be even more attractive now that “immigrant trusts” will no longer be available as a tax planning tool for wealthy immigrants (see my blog posting A Sudden Death For The Canadian “Immigrant Trust”!). Read More

Written by | Posted in Estate Planning Tax • International

Canadian Corporations Can Repatriate Profits of Offshore Subsidiaries Tax-Free

Many Canadian corporations form a foreign subsidiary (“Forco”) in zero or low-tax jurisdictions in order to reduce their tax liabilities.

This is a strategy that can work as long as the following four elements are present:

1) Forco is not resident in Canada, having regard to common law concepts of corporate residency (“mind and management”).

2) The income of Forco is considered to be income from an “active business”, as opposed to “foreign accrual property income” (“FAPI”).

3) Forco’s business is not carried on in Canada, and Read More

Written by | Posted in Corporate

United States LLCs And Canadian Residents – A Bad Combination!

There is a big problem for Canadian residents who use U.S. LLCs- the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) considers them to be corporations, even if they are considered disregarded entities (if only one shareholder) or partnerships (with two or more shareholders) for US tax purposes.

Furthermore, the CRA does not consider the LLC itself to be a resident of the US for the purposes of the Canada-U.S. Income Tax Convention (“the Treaty), since the LLC is not liable to tax (assuming it has not elected to be treated as a corporation under the US “check the box rules”).

In fact, in many cases, US LLCs that are controlled by Canadians will be considered Read More

Written by | Posted in Income Tax • International