What are the Canadian tax reporting requirements respecting a payment made under a Canadian financial contract (i.e. a contract between an entity resident in Canada and a Canadian-resident investor) that is considered “dividend equivalent amount” under new Code s. 871(m)? CRA responded: of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”).
After noting that the final regulations under s. 871(m) imposed withholding on payments under certain notional principal contracts, derivatives and other equity-linked instruments that referenced dividends on U.S. equity securities, CRA stated:
In our view, for the purposes of Canadian income tax reporting, in particular [Regs.] 201(1) and (2) … the characterization of payments received by a taxpayer should be based on the legal nature of the contract under which the payment is made, irrespective of the tax treatment in a foreign jurisdiction … . Thus, amounts received by Canadian residents under such contracts should be reported for Canadian tax purposes the same way they were before the enactment of section 871(m) of the Code.