Mr. Speaker, with respect to the above-noted question, what follows is the CRA’s answer as of April 8, 2024, that is, the date of the question.
On its website, it was originally noted: As part of Canada’s continuous efforts to ensure the effectiveness and integrity of the Canadian tax system, the rules governing which trusts must file an annual T3 trust income tax and information return, "T3 return", have been changed for trusts with a taxation year ending after December 30, 2023. Specifically, all trusts, unless specific conditions are met, must now provide a T3 return including additional beneficial ownership information on an annual basis. As a result, many trusts that did not previously have to file are now required to file an annual T3 return.
However, on March 28, 2024, the CRA announced that it will not require bare trusts to file a T3 income tax and information return, T3 return, including schedule 15, “Beneficial Ownership Information of a Trust”, for the 2023 tax year, unless the CRA makes a direct request for these filings. Over the coming months, the CRA will work with the Department of Finance to further clarify its guidance on this filing requirement.
For the purposes of the above-noted question, information is being provided in respect to the 2023 tax year; the CRA has defined “completed” as “received”; as tax filing season is still in progress as of the date of the question, numbers may change over time.
As of April 8, 2024, the CRA has received 43,885 bare trust T3 returns since January 2024 in respect of the 2023 tax year. Please note that each return is associated with one trust.
Please note that, as bare trust is a construct of case law and the Income Tax Act, it would be the representative or the trustee that would complete the form. For this reason, the number of taxpayers cannot be provided.