Pursuant to Reg. 204.2(1)(a), a trustee of a trust is required to report information about each “beneficiary” of the trust, unless the trust is subject to one of the exceptions in s. 150(1.2) or an exception in s. 204.2(2) applies. CRA was asked to comment on the meaning of “beneficiary” in the context of a query about a “disaster clause” for a family trust providing that in the event that none of the parents and their issue survived, the assets of the trust are to go to extended family members (“contingent beneficiaries”). CRA indicated that, very generally, a beneficiary of a trust is a person, other than the protector, who has the right to compel the trustee to properly enforce the terms of the trust, regardless of whether that person’s right to the income or capital of the trust is immediate, future, contingent, absolute or conditional on the exercise of the discretion of any person – so that, accordingly, a beneficiary in the ordinary sense would include a beneficiary whose interest is contingent.
CRA also noted that, under Reg. 204.2(2), where the person’s identity is not known or ascertainable, then sufficiently detailed information is required to be included in the return so that it can be determined with certainty whether a particular person is a beneficiary of the trust.