bona fide

In December 2009, individual taxpayers participated in a tax shelter that involved making both a leveraged investment (the "LP Program") and leveraged donation. In the lP Program, they used money borrowed from a lender trust (FT) (the "Unit Loans") to purchase units in an Ontario LP, which used most of the proceeds to purchase notes of a BVI company (Leeward). The return on the notes was linked to whichever of a stock market index and a notional balanced portfolio performed the better, with Leeward then lending the funds back to FT via a second trust.

"[T]he term 'bona fide', when used as an adjective, is generally taken to mean 'honestly', 'genuinely' or 'in good faith'."

A partnership ("ICON") of which the taxpayer became a limited partner purchased software from a subsidiary ("Trafalgar Capital") of the developer of the software in consideration for cash (as to 30% of the purchase price) and a promissory note (for the balance), with the taxpayer then assuming a portion of the promissory note as part consideration for his units in ICON. ICON licensed the program to a Bermuda limited partnership ("ICAP") of which Trafalgar Capital was the general partner.