At 2017-0709021C6 F, CRA accepted, in circumstances specific to a wind-up, that the amount of the dividend paid out of the CDA need not be specifically stated in the applicable resolution. Given the difficulties in estimating year-end general rate income pool ("GRIP") balances, would CRA allow an eligible dividend designation to be made without indicating a specific amount, but rather indicating that the amount of the designation is equal to the lesser of the amount of the dividend paid and the GRIP balance at the end of the corporation's taxation year? CRA responded:
[A]t the end of its taxation year, the corporation has all the information necessary to determine whether it has made an "excessive eligible dividend designation" within the meaning of subsection 89(1) and, as applicable, can make the election under subsection 185.1(2) in order to avoid paying Part III.1 tax.
The CRA does not intend to adopt an administrative position that would allow a corporation to avoid making an excessive eligible dividend designation in a situation similar to the one described … . However, as indicated in the footnote to Schedule 55, the CRA already allows, as an administrative matter, mitigating the effects of an excessive eligible dividend designation by accepting that the election provided for in subsection 185.1(2) can be made by a corporation at the time of filing its income tax return, without having to wait for a notice of assessment of Part III.1 tax to be issued.