Taxation & Succession Planning

Tax considerations play an increasingly critical role in determining the best route for a corporate re-organization or restructuring. Our Tax Group assists clients in planning proactively for their businesses in order to minimize tax risks while maximizing value and opportunities by positioning their companies for future growth and succession. We advise companies at all stages of development, tailoring our strategies to meet business goals, and expanding them as the companies mature. 

Corporate Tax Planning

We provide tax advice and cost-effective solutions for clients looking at buying, selling and/or financing a business. Keeping up with changing tax requirements, opportunities, and risks can pose a challenge to any organization. From due diligence to tax effective structuring, our Tax Group helps clients navigate the complexities of a business transaction. For us, it’s all about taking a pragmatic approach and making it easier for you to remain focused on your business.

We focus particularly on maximizing opportunities for your business, by developing innovative and tax efficient transaction structures. We also are mindful of tax risks throughout the transaction and work to ensure the reorganization or restructuring does not create undue risk for the company. We believe it is crucial to keep informed of all relevant tax legislation, regulations, and treaties to ensure compliance and minimize scrutiny from tax authorities. No matter the size of the business you operate, our Tax Lawyers have the expertise to ensure that your tax planning keeps pace with your company’s operations.

Succession Planning

Our Tax Group understands that business succession planning is a priority for every family-owned business. Eventually, we must think about our retirement timeline and consider next steps. But if you own a family business, retirement is much more complicated. Besides ensuring that you can support yourself into retirement, the question of what becomes of the business is of utmost concern. 

Our Tax Lawyers assist with managing these interests, setting up a smooth transition between you and the future owners of your business, and ensuring that the structure employed for the transition is tax efficient. Our services focus on maximizing opportunities for your business. They include:

• Business succession planning
• Trust planning, including safeguarding assets, reducing probate fees, and holding shares in a family-owned company
• Domestic and cross-jurisdictional tax minimization strategies
• Post-mortem planning, including avoiding double taxation
• Asset disposition planning
• Mergers & acquisitions
• Emigration considerations
• Departure tax

When charting the course of your business, obtaining sound tax advice and results‐oriented representation from a seasoned team of experts is the best way to maximize your opportunities, while avoiding pitfalls and ensuring an efficient transition of your wealth from one generation to the next.

Clients engage our Tax Group with confidence that they will benefit from an interdisciplinary team that understands their business from all relevant perspectives and that strives to integrate the necessary tax advice in a seamless and practical manner. Our tax lawyers are recognized experts on tax matters and are frequent speakers at the Canadian Tax Foundation, Canadian Bar Association and Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners conferences.