A Canadian resident personal trust receives a dividend from ACo, and distributes the dividend to B Co (a beneficiary) to which A Co is connected – but they cease to be connected corporations by December 31 of that year. Does Part IV tax apply? CRA responded:
[A] taxable dividend designated in favour of a particular beneficiary pursuant to subsection 104(19) will be deemed to have been received by the beneficiary at the time that is the end of the particular taxation year of the trust in which the trust received the dividend … [given that] the designation under subsection 104(19) could only occur at the end of the taxation year of a trust, since … paragraphs 104(19)(a) and (d) require that the designation is made in the [trust] income tax return … [and] it is only at the end of its taxation year that a trust will know its income for the year… .
Accordingly … B Co. would be deemed to have received the taxable dividend on the shares of A Co. on December 31 … and …[a]t that date, A Co. and BCo. are not connected. Therefore, B Co. would be subject to Part IV tax … .