Six strategies for complex estates.
Permanent life insurance is a tax-exempt asset class. We consider it the most effective tax exempt investment in Canada. These are the six jobs we give it. Each links to a deeper page that shows the mechanics, the numbers, and what your accountant will want to check.
Unlock corporate retained earnings
Convert otherwise taxable, estate-bound retained earnings into a tax-free capital dividend. The corporation owns the policy, pays with cheaper corporate dollars, and the Capital Dividend Account carries the benefit to your family nearly intact.
Fund estate taxes at death
Provide the liquidity for the tax bill from the deemed disposition, so your beneficiaries never have to generate the CRA payment by selling the cottage, the company, or the portfolio in a bad season.
Estate equalization
Prevent disputes among your beneficiaries by ensuring liquidity is there to give each their fair share, even when the biggest asset, the business, can only go to one of them.
Shelter passive income inside a CCPC
Preserve your small business deduction and reduce annual taxation by moving assets from a taxable environment into a tax-exempt one inside your CCPC.
Estate maximization
Replace low-yielding, estate-bound fixed income with a tax-exempt asset that is designed to deliver more to the next generation. We call the result an estate anchor. A fully funded policy, say $5 million, guarantees the legacy and de-risks the balance sheet: with the estate anchored, you are free to spend and enjoy your other assets during your lifetime instead of preserving them for the estate.
Impactful philanthropy
Add to your legacy by funding the causes nearest to you while saving your estate significant tax. Often the gift grows and the family inheritance does too.
& Before legacy, life
Protecting income and health along the way matters too. See our living benefits coverage, or how key person insurance and corporate critical illness coverage protect an owner-managed business.
