|
|  |
|
Farewell to the Foreign Property Rule
In a surprise move, the 2005 Federal Budget announced that the government plans to amend the Income Tax Act to eliminate the foreign property rule (FPR), with effect from January 1, 2005. Long a controversial measure, the FPR imposed a 30% book value limit on foreign investments made by registered pension plans and other deferred income plans. While a change to the FPR limit had been expected for some time, its complete abolition raises a number of issues for plan sponsors, pension committees and individual investors.
FSCO to Implement Investment Monitoring Model
If you are the administrator of an Ontario-registered DB pension plan with a fiscal year ending on December 31, 2004, chances are better than one in ten that the Financial Services Commission of Ontario will ask you to complete and file a new Investment Information Summary (IIS) form on or before June 30, 2005. The new IIS is a revised version of a draft IIS form that was released with FSCO’s July 2004 Consultation Paper proposing a new, risk-based Model for monitoring DB pension fund investments.
IRS Releases Final Version of Form 8891 (RRSP/RRIF Information Return)
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has released the official version of Form 8891 - U.S. Information Return for Beneficiaries of Certain Canadian Registered Retirement Plans. Form 8891 will make reporting obligations a lot easier for U.S. taxpayers (resident and non-resident) who own an RRSP or RRIF. Except for the addition of a new General Instructions page, Form 8891 is essentially unchanged since it was released as a draft in August 2004.
|
