Financial Planning: Hidden Tax Traps in Home Ownership, Joint Title, and Informal Trusts (Queens County)

Is your name on a property or an account that is not really yours — or is someone else's name on yours? Have you put your home, cottage, or bank account into joint name with a child, or are you thinking about it? Have you sold or given away a property since 2016? If so, this course is for you. Arrangements like these are made every day, usually for the best of reasons: to avoid probate, to simplify an estate, or to let a family member help with the banking. Most people never think of them as tax events. The Canada Revenue Agency does. New trust reporting rules take effect for 2026 that reach informal family arrangements nobody ever intended to be a trust, and 2026 is also the last year to correct an unreported 2016 home sale. Both can cost tens of thousands of dollars in tax, interest, and penalties. This session explains, in plain language, what these everyday decisions actually trigger, and how to tell whether you have a problem to fix. Topics include: Adding a child to the title of your home "for convenience," and what it can trigger The difference between legal title and beneficial ownership, and why CRA cares Gifting or transferring property to family, and when it counts as a taxable sale Retaining a "life interest" after transferring your home Joint tenancy, tenancy in common, and the right of survivorship Joint bank accounts opened for convenience, and who really owns the money Holding property or accounts "in trust," even with nothing in writing The new 2026 “bare” trust reporting rules, who must file, and the exceptions Principal residence rules where there is more than one property — cottages, rentals, inherited homes What to write down now, and when you need a lawyer or a tax accountant If time permits, Blair will also cover related traps including selling a home within a year of buying it, changing a home to a rental, subdividing land into more than two parts and the HST consequences, buying from a non-resident, and the capital gains exemption on farm land. You will leave knowing which questions to ask, and whether you need to see a professional before year end.

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