Effective estate planning should include a thorough understanding of tax issues for private corporations and other business structures. Also critical is a deep understanding of the law of Wills and Estates, Trust law, and the many areas of legislation that affect estate planning and administration. Where a more comprehensive plan is a fit, the tax and legal review should include the following:

• An understanding of your goals, values and estate intentions. A deluxe estate and tax plan won't do much good if it doesn't line up with intentions and promote family harmony.

• A review of current ownership and transfer methods for assets such as real property and financial assets, to see if there is a need to update ownership methods to get the desired practical, legal and tax results.

• A review of ownership structures for private corporations and other entities such as partnerships, as well as rights and restrictions that attach to various interests.

• Any restrictions on transfer methods set out in any shareholder agreement or partnership agreement. The estate plan should take into account the range of "post mortem" tax planning methods available to minimize death tax and pass assets to beneficiaries in a tax optimized manner.

• A death tax analysis showing the tax cost of dying under the current plan compared to the proposed plan.

Your Will deals with virtually everything you own. Tax laws that apply at death seek to tax the value or gains in all of your assets, in ways you might not expect. In some cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax will be incurred unnecessarily, unless Will planning issues are spotted and properly addressed. The taxing authorities do look at the terms of your Will if your executor seeks to use tax saving options. It's important to get the planning and drafting right if you want to take advantage of tax saving ideas such as:

• farm rollovers,

• spousal rollovers,

• a capital gains exemption,

• a significant charitable donation tax credit,

• a “post mortem” corporate windup strategy designed to save tax,

• an election to “carry back” capital losses to offset capital gains realized at death,

• a tax-efficient death buy-out under a shareholder agreement, or

• special tax return options available to farmers depending on the Will.

Significant tax saving opportunities can be missed because of a failure to understand how the terms of a Will interact with the tax rules.

• Very recent tax changes will make family succession planning much more cost efficient, eliminating an unfair tax burden that has frustrated family business and farm succession plans for many years. There are significant tax and cost saving opportunities, but careful planning and implementation is required.

• Other recent changes seek to limit your ability to share income with family members through your business or farm, or from a living trust or a Will trust. However, there are exceptions meant to allow such planning in the right circumstances.

• Moving cash between corporations with minimal tax has become more difficult, possibly requiring updated structuring or different methods.

• Recent Canada Revenue Agency statements may affect the tax results of charitable gifts made through your Will or Trust document. An update to your charitable giving strategy may be required to ensure the donation tax credit works as planned.