What is a joint partner trust in plain English?
It is a trust in which both spouses or common-law partners are entitled to the income while either of them is alive, and nobody else can take capital out during that time. Its distinguishing tax feature is timing. Instead of the property being reckoned with when the first of them dies, the deemed disposition is deferred until the death of the survivor. Property therefore moves into the trust and sits there without a death-date reckoning in between. The conditions attached to those entitlements are strict, and a clause in the deed that lets anyone else receive capital while either partner lives can put the deferral out of reach entirely.
Can I put my house in a joint partner trust to avoid probate?
Property the trust holds does not pass under the will, so in provinces that charge an estate administration fee it usually sits outside that process. That is an administrative consequence rather than a tax saving, and it is not free. The trust becomes a taxpayer with its own annual return. The house is no longer yours to deal with personally, and a later sale is the trust’s transaction rather than yours. Whether the trust can still claim principal residence treatment turns on its terms and on who lives there, which is a question to settle before the transfer rather than after it.
Does a joint partner trust defer capital gains tax until both spouses die?
In effect yes, but read the word deferral carefully. The deemed disposition that would otherwise arise on a death is pushed out to the death of the surviving spouse or partner, so accrued gains on the trust property are measured at that later point. Nothing is forgiven. The whole accrued gain arrives at once, it arrives in the trust rather than in the beneficiaries’ hands, and the tax is the trust’s liability before anything is distributed. Families often plan carefully for the deferral and not at all for the liquidity the second death will need.
Is a joint partner trust a problem if my spouse is a US citizen?
That is the case needing the most care. The trust is a Canadian arrangement with a Canadian result. The United States classifies and taxes trusts under its own rules and does not mirror the Canadian deferral. A US person holding an interest in, or a power over, a foreign trust can fall into the US foreign trust reporting regime, of which Form 3520 is part, and that reporting can bite in years when nothing at all is distributed. The credit position can also fall out of step, because a gain Canada taxes on the second death may not correspond to anything the United States taxes in the same year. Settle classification in both countries before the deed is signed.
Who pays the tax on income earned inside a joint partner trust?
While both partners are alive, income to which they are entitled is generally taxed in their hands rather than in the trust, which is the ordinary treatment for income payable to a beneficiary. The trust still files annually and reports what it allocated. Capital growth is the other half of the picture: it stays inside the trust and is dealt with at the deemed disposition. The practical difficulty is usually administrative rather than technical. A trust that has never filed because it only holds a house has a filing history to build before anything else can be resolved.
What happens to a joint partner trust if we move out of Canada?
The trust does not emigrate with you. Its own residence follows where central management and control actually sits, which in practice usually follows the trustees. So replacing a trustee, or a trustee moving, can change the trust’s residence and bring on the consequences of a trust ceasing to be resident. Your own departure from Canada has separate consequences of its own, and the two are frequently confused. The order in which the two happen changes the outcome, so it is worth mapping the sequence before anyone books a flight rather than in the year afterwards.
Is double taxation legal?
Yes. Nothing prevents two countries from taxing the same income under their own domestic law — each is exercising its own jurisdiction. What treaties and credit systems do is relieve the outcome rather than prohibit the charge, and relief is generally something you must claim on a return or a form, not something applied automatically. Miss the claim and the double charge stands. Double taxation explains the mechanism.
I work remotely from another country for a company back home — who taxes me?
Usually the country you are physically in, because employment income is generally sourced where the work is done, with your residence country taxing it as well if you are resident there and giving credit. Three things follow: your employer may acquire withholding and social security obligations where you sit, a treaty tie-breaker may be needed if both countries call you resident, and a short trip that becomes a long stay can cross a residence threshold nobody was watching. See remote workers and digital nomads.
