Optimize your capital gains and losses by using a Capital Dividend Account (CDA) to distribute tax-free dividends and keep more of your hard-earned money. When used appropriately, even small businesses here in Grande Prairie can significantly reduce their tax burden when years of prosperity follow years of lesser performance.
Read on to discover more about the Canadian Capital Dividend Account and the process for claiming the dividend benefit from your business.
What is a CDA?
In Canada, a Capital Dividend Account is a notional account, meaning it does not represent actual cash but tracks certain types of income that can be distributed tax-free to shareholders.
The account typically includes the non-taxable portion of capital gains, capital dividends received from other corporations, and certain life insurance proceeds.
How Do Dividends Accumulate?
In years of capital gain or when the Corporation receives capital dividends from another corporation, those may also be applied to the CDA balance. The same is true when a corporation is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, the death benefit less any adjusted cost basis of the policy is added to the CDA.
When the corporation experiences a capital loss, this offsets the gains to provide the net balance of the CDA account. As only fifty percent of a capital gain is taxable, half of the CDA net balance is eligible to be paid as a tax-free dividend to shareholders.
Example: A corporation realizes a capital gain of $50,000 followed by a capital loss of $20,000 the following year. The net balance for the CDA is $30,000. Fifty percent is tax-free, or $15,000 which may be issued as a tax-free dividend to shareholders.
How To Issue to Dividend
Once a corporation has elected to pay out the capital dividends from the CDA, they must file an election with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) using Form T2054 (Election for a Capital Dividend Under Subsection 83 (2)). The election must specify the amount of the dividend and confirm that payment does not exceed the balance in the CDA.
How Does a CDA Impact Shareholders?
Shareholders do not pay personal income tax on dividends from a Capital Dividend Account, making it an attractive way to return value to shareholders without personal tax liability.
However, if the corporation mistakenly issues a capital dividend that is more than the CDA balance, the excess is treated as a taxable dividend in the eyes of the CRA. This creates personal tax liabilities for shareholders and penalties for the corporation.
Here at McNabb Lucuk LLP in Grande Prairie, we recommend that corporations using the CDA file the election up to a few months prior to when the dividend is intended to be distributed, and wait until the CRA has confirmed the filing before issuing the dividend. Processing times for the CRA can vary significantly. To avoid mistakes and delays, it’s important to track capital gains, losses, life insurance proceeds, and dividends received diligently to ensure the correct CDA balance prior to making the election.
Consulting with a tax professional adds the additional level of assurance to ensure compliance. Contact our team to explore if a CDA is right for your corporation’s financial plan.
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