Executors

Have you been appointed an Executor of an Estate / Deceased?

Executors hold significant responsibility respecting taxes owing by the Estate.  The Executor can be held legally responsible to pay the taxes of an Estate should the Estate have insufficient assets to pay for taxes that it owes.  Given the level of responsibility placed on the Executor, it is imperative that you deal with the tax work related to the Estate diligently to ensure you are not exposing yourself to undue risk.  The most effective way to do this is to have Chartered Accountants (CPA, CA’s) who are experienced in this area assist you with your responsibilities.  We have broad and extensive experience earned over the course of over 20 years which will assist you, as an Executor, in discharging the duties of the Estate diligently, professionally and beneficially.

We assist Executors fulfill their responsibilities with respect to all matters pertaining to income tax, excise tax (GST/HST) and the Canada Revenue Agency.  In doing so, we will ensure that we’ve lowered the Estate’s income tax expenses as much as possible and will make effort to mitigate the risk born by the Executor.  Examples of how we do this –  By ensuring the Will of the deceased is interpreted in the most tax advantaged manner, applying the tax laws to the advantage of our client and by obtaining Clearance Certificates once the taxes are paid to mitigate the risk to the Executor.

If the deceased has not filed income taxes for various years prior to passing, we can likely, under certain circumstances, request the Minister of Finance to grant relief of late filing penalties and in some cases interest.  This can result in significant monetary savings to the Estate and ultimately to the beneficiaries of the Estate.  There are programs, such as the Voluntary Disclosure Program that can assist in this regard.  With over 20 years experience, our CPA,CA’s have extensive experience in successfully filing Voluntary Disclosure Applications.  We have filed numerous Voluntary Disclosure Applications for our clients with a 100% success rate (to the date of writing).

If the Estate results in trusts that will endure for an extended period of time, we will assist you in maintaining the records of the trusts together with bookkeeping for all relevant transactions.  We will prepare and file trust income tax returns each year to ensure the trusts are compliant with the tax laws pertaining to them.  Most importantly, we will ensure we have lowered the income taxes of such trusts to the maximum extent possible under the income tax laws.

Please contact us to discuss your particular circumstances.