Would interest on a loan used by an individual to acquire mutual fund units be deductible?
In the first situation (regarding “Loan #1”), the trust makes monthly cash distributions to the individual constituting partly of a return of invested capital and partly distributions of income, and the individual uses the amounts received as a return of capital to pay the interest on Loan #1 and uses the amounts received as an income distribution for personal purposes.. CRA stated:
[T]he funds received upon repayment of principal would be used in part to pay the interest on the portion of Loan #1 that corresponds to the capital repaid upon the capital distribution (Repayment Portion) and in part to pay the interest on the other portion of Loan #1 that relates to the remaining interest in Trust #1. In our view, the Repayment Portion would not be used to earn income and consequently, the interest on the portion of Loan #1 corresponding to the Repayment Portion would cease to be deductible.
In the second situation, the Trust makes income distributions on a monthly basis by issuing new units to the individual. Once a year, the individual redeems a portion of the units and use the proceeds of disposition to pay interest on the loan. CRA stated:
[T]he individual's source of income would be the individual's total interest in Trust #2, i.e., the units initially acquired and the units received as part of the monthly income distributions from Trust #2. …[T] here would be a partial disposition of the individual's source of income at the time the individual disposes of a portion of the individual’s interest in Trust #2 (through the redemption of units).