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Corporate Trust: protect your business and your estate.

Strategies for incorporated business owners to protect the company, use corporate money tax-efficiently and pass on wealth to the next generation.

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Small business owner in his workshop

Questions we answer

What business owners ask us.

  • If something happened to my partner, could I afford to buy out their share?

  • My corporation holds a lot of cash. How do I stop passive income rules from raising my taxes?

  • How do I pass the business and my estate on without a large tax bill?

  • Could my company survive if I became seriously ill?

Solutions

Corporate strategies, explained simply.

  • Buy-sell agreements

    A buy-sell provision in your shareholder agreement sets out what happens if an owner dies, becomes disabled or leaves. Life and critical illness insurance can fund the buyout, so the family is paid fairly and the business carries on.

  • Executive Health Plan

    You and your corporation jointly own a critical illness policy. The company receives a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a covered illness. If you stay healthy, you can get back up to 100% of the premiums paid.

  • Corporate investment income

    Since 2019, the $500,000 small business deduction is reduced by $5 for every $1 of passive income over $50,000, and disappears at $150,000. Corporate-owned permanent insurance can grow money without adding to that income.

  • Corporate-owned life insurance

    Retained earnings pay the premiums with corporate dollars. At death, the benefit can flow to shareholders largely tax-free through the capital dividend account.

  • Insured Retirement Plan

    Use your permanent policy as collateral for a line of credit that supplements retirement income. The loan is repaid from the death benefit.

  • Estate and wealth transfer

    At death you are deemed to sell your assets, and registered plans become taxable. We estimate those taxes and probate costs, then plan how to cover them, for example with a Wealth Escalator Plan that moves taxable investments into a participating policy.

Business owners reviewing a plan

Planning for the next generation

Your business, your legacy.

Corporate Trust brings together the insurance strategies that support your shareholder agreement, your corporation and your estate plan. We work alongside your accountant and lawyer, who prepare the legal agreements and confirm the tax treatment.

  • Business owner needs analysisWe review your corporation, partners, debts, trusts and succession goals.
  • Funding the planInsurance funds buyouts, debts and estate taxes when they come due.
  • Tax efficiencyStrategies built around current Canadian tax rules for private corporations.
  • One advisorWe coordinate with your professional team and review the plan as the business grows.
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Getting started.

  1. Business review

    We complete a financial needs analysis for you and your business.

  2. Run the numbers

    We project taxes, buyout values and estate costs for your situation.

  3. Put it in place

    We set up the coverage and work with your accountant and lawyer on the agreements.

Start with a conversation

Corporate Trust questions.

Plain answers. If yours isn't here, ask us directly.

Ask an advisor

If you have business partners, a shareholder agreement with buy-sell provisions is strongly recommended. Your lawyer drafts it; we help make sure it is funded.

Protect the business you built.

This information is general and based on current tax rules, which can change. Always consult your legal and tax advisors before setting up a corporate strategy.

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