Your Needs

Significant Tax Savings Opportunities for Businesses and their Owners

Business sales are often complex transactions and proper tax structuring can often produce significant savings for owners selling their businesses.

Our combined legal and tax competencies allow us to provide high quality legal tax structuring for owners selling their businesses, while respecting the commercial parameters of sales transactions.

Potential Tax Savings Opportunities

In past sales transactions, our tax planning and legal tax structuring has produced substantial tax savings, including through:

• purifying and availing uses of the $800,000 (2014; indexed thereafter) lifetime capital gains exemptions (including through trusts);
• combining asset and share sale components (a hybrid sale) for maximizing businesses’ sales price and owners’ tax savings;
• utilizing “safe income on hand” and other tax deferrals or reserves;
• securing capital gains and other lower preferential tax rate treatments;
• using losses and other valuable tax attributes within business groups.

Our strong reputation and positive relationships with accounting and legal advisors allow us to successfully work with other professionals in the course of providing high value tax structuring on behalf of selling business owners.

Corporate Reorganizations Tailored to the Needs of Your Businesses

Working with business owners and their professional advisors, our corporate reorganizations accomplish the commercial objectives of business owners in a tax efficient manner. We provide high quality legal tax structuring in a wide spectrum of corporate reorganization situations.

Dividing Corporate Assets Among Related or Unrelated Shareholders

Our structuring includes dividing corporate properties among related shareholders (related party ‘butterfly’ transactions) on a tax deferred basis, including in matrimonial property division contexts. We also provide similar structuring dividing corporate properties among unrelated shareholders (unrelated party ‘butterfly’ transactions).

Holding Corporation Structuring

Depending on the circumstances, structuring with holding corporations or other entities may produce for tax savings, creditor protection, or other commercial advantages for business owners.

Loss Utilization Structuring

In appropriate cases, our structuring will utilize losses in corporate groups of loss entities and properties against profits or appreciated properties in other entities in the group for tax savings for business owners.

Reorganizations of Share Capital

Our structuring for amending corporate share capital in connection with reorganizations of share capital, in connection with structuring to introduce new shareholders for income splitting or other purposes.

Business Successions with Family Members

Depending on the business succession objectives of the business owner, we may provide estate freeze structuring (with or without trusts) for family owned businesses.

Such structuring may also include the use of a shareholders agreement to solidify owners’ business succession objectives.

Business Successions with Employees

For business successions with employees, we provide share option or other share ownership structuring, along with shareholders agreements balancing and protecting the interests of founders and new owners in a commercial manner.

In these circumstances there are often opportunities to structure the introduction of new owners in a tax efficient manner for founder business owners.

Business Successions with Arm’s Length Owners

Carefully prepared shareholders agreements are often vitally important in these situations.

In addition, working with insurance professionals, our structuring may use life insurance to buy the shares of a deceased shareholder in a tax efficient manner to accomplish business succession objectives.

Business and Family Trusts

Jason is a designated trust and estate practitioner (T.E.P.) of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the leading international organization for trust and estate professionals.

Working together with successful business owners and their professional advisors, we draft and settle many family trusts in accordance with the unique client preferences and objectives.

Estate Freezes

Depending on the business succession objectives of the business owner, we may provide estate freeze structuring (with or without trusts) for family owned businesses.

Such estate freeze structuring may also include the use of a shareholders agreement to solidify owners’ business succession objectives.

Blended Families

Challenging estate planning issues can arise in ‘blended’ family situations.

Working with wills and matrimonial lawyers, we provide inter vivos and testamentary tax planning and structuring in furtherance of the estate planning objectives of business owners.

Farm Land Sale Transactions

Alberta has many successful farm businesses. Many of those businesses have valuable lands resulting in significant tax planning opportunities in respect of actual or anticipated sale transactions.

Farm Tax Planning

Working with farm owners and their accounting advisors, we provide legal tax structuring resulting in substantial tax savings, including through the use of corporate tax deferrals and the $750,000 lifetime capital gains exemption available on gains from qualified farm properties.

Successions of Farming Businesses

Utilizing tax rollover provisions relating to farm properties, we provide structuring for reorganizing farm properties among family members and for business succession purposes tailored to the requirements of farm owners.

Jason has lectured on farm succession and taxation matters to other professionals in conferences hosted by Federated Press and the Legal Education Society of Alberta.

Importance of Structuring New Business Ventures and Relationships Properly

Proper legal tax structuring of new business ventures and new business relationships can provide a solid foundation mitigating future tax issues and availing ongoing tax savings.

Important New Business Ventures and Relationships

Working with business owners and their advisors, we provide tax law advice and legal drafting support in respect of important business relationships, including:

• shareholder and partnership agreements,
• employee share ownership plans,
• private health services plans,
• independent contractor and employee agreements,
• professional practice structurings, and
• land developments.

Our Approach to Tax Disputes

We work in a co-operative manner with the CRA and the Department of Justice to reach fair and reasonable resolutions of tax reassessments of businesses in accordance with the law and accepted commercial practice.

Scope Limitation

In order to maintain our focus in providing high quality legal tax structuring and services, we do not accept engagements in respect of lower value tax reassessments or any tax collection matters.