Bequests

A charitable bequest is a planned future donation that you plan now so that your charity of choice will benefit from it after your passing. Bequests are normally made in your Will. Typically, the bequest could be an item of property, a sum of money, all or part of a life insurance death benefit or a percentage of your estate value.

From a tax point of view, there are no tax savings during life. The charitable tax receipt is issued to your estate and is often used to eliminate taxes otherwise due at the time of your passing.

For instance, say a single individual left a $10,000 bequest to their chosen charity in their Will. The individual also had $20,000 left in their RRSP at death. If the individual was in a 25% tax bracket, based on the income reported on their terminal return, $5,000 in tax would be due on the collapse of the RRSP. But, the charitable gift would create a charitable tax credit of about $4,600 thereby eliminating most of the tax otherwise owing to the CRA. Isn't a charity always a better benefactor than the tax man?

A bequest is one of the simplest forms of gift giving. A simple change to your Will is all it takes. You will then have the satisfaction of a future gift while retaining the control and use of all your assets during life in case your needs change.

We will guide you as to the bequest strategy that works the best for your circumstances.

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