Tax
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July 18, 2025
Registered accounts: Designating beneficiaries
Individuals in Ontario may designate beneficiaries for their registered accounts — such as TFSAs, RRSPs, RRIFs and FHSAs (see Part III of the Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 (SLRA)). This designation ensures that, upon the account holder’s death, the proceeds are paid directly to the named beneficiary, thereby bypassing the estate. This not only avoids estate administration tax on those funds, but also often allows for a quicker distribution to the designated beneficiaries as well as regarding RRSPs and RIFFs creditor protection.
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July 17, 2025
Wide-open-door policy ‘is not how we roll,’ Federal Court of Appeal judge tells would-be interveners
The Federal Court of Appeal’s senior puisne judge says those applying to intervene at the national intermediate appellate court should ask themselves whether their presence “will advance our work.”
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July 16, 2025
Carney announces new measures to protect steel industry including TRQs on FTA partners
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a series of new measures to protect the domestic steel industry, including the introduction of a tariff rate quota (TRQ) for steel imports from Canada’s free trade agreement (FTA) partners, excluding the United States.
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July 16, 2025
Dentons stands by its commitment to inclusion as it navigates trade volatility, say CEOs
These are “interesting times” to be one of the world’s largest law firms. With about 5,900 lawyers across more than 80 countries, Dentons is helping clients navigate some of the worst economic volatility in decades and generational technological change as it carefully works to protect its own flanks from a U.S. administration that’s frequently been hostile to the legal sector. Global CEO Kate Barton said that while several major U.S. law firms have been targeted by President Donald Trump — particularly those perceived as opposing him or representing his adversaries — Dentons has managed to avoid the administration’s scrutiny by maintaining a bipartisan approach.
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July 16, 2025
Prepare for change: The plain language legal writing standard is coming
What lawyer has not heard that legal writing should be clear and concise? Everyone wants legal documents to be straightforward, client-oriented and “crisp.” Yet, cryptic memoranda, wordy submissions, legalese-filled judgments and insurmountable walls of text in contracts and policies remain common. Even with clarity in mind, writing clearly is hard without knowing the rules to guide the process.
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July 14, 2025
Federal Court judge strikes SRL’s submission in employment dispute over AI hallucination citation
In another sign of AI’s growing impact on the law, the Federal Court has ordered that a self-represented respondent’s motion record be removed from a court file because it relied in part on a non-existent court decision hallucinated by an artificial intelligence (AI) research tool.
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July 14, 2025
FINTRAC publishes updates to its guidance on ministerial directive on Iran
Canada’s anti-money laundering watchdog has updated its existing guidance related to the federal government’s ministerial directive on financial transactions associated with Iran.
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July 11, 2025
FINTRAC flags rising use of dual-use goods, cryptocurrencies in weapons proliferation
Canada’s financial intelligence unit, FINTRAC, is warning that foreign actors are increasingly targeting Canadian dual-use goods and turning to cryptocurrencies in efforts to acquire resources and information to build weapons of mass destruction and evade counter-proliferation controls.
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July 11, 2025
Ottawa extends EI relief as 35% U.S. tariff threat looms over trade talks
The federal government has extended temporary measures that make it easier for Canadians to qualify for employment insurance (EI) as the country faces a potential hike in U.S. tariffs on Canadian exports to 35 per cent if the two countries don’t reach a new trade agreement by Aug. 1.
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July 09, 2025
FINTRAC advisory updates G7 list of high-risk and monitored nations to counter money laundering
The G7’s anti-money laundering (AML) task force has updated its alert levels for some high-risk jurisdictions to protect the international financial system from money laundering and terrorist financing risks, according to a July 9 advisory issued by Canada’s AML watchdog.