New 2021 Filing Requirements for Trusts

Did you put a trust in place many years ago to hold personal assets such your home?

Many of these trusts were not required to file trust income tax returns before the 2021 taxation year, but now they are. The returns to be filed will probably be nil returns, but they still must be filed before the March 31, 2022 filing deadline for any trust with a December 31, 2021 year end. Identifying these trusts is the hard part as they have probably been off your radar for many years.

Along with the requirement to file the returns is a new requirement to disclose information about the trust settlors, trustees, and beneficiaries. Failure to disclose can result in a penalty of up to 5% of the value of the trust assets. Not identifying these trusts can therefore be very costly.

If this is a situation that may be applicable to you, speak to your Richter contact or one of Richter’s Estates professionals today via solutions@richter.ca