Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Dates and location
Pricing
Hours
Description
Participants will gain practical, up‑to‑date knowledge of Canadian income tax considerations when purchasing, selling, or transferring a privately held Canadian business, with emphasis on commercial factors, due diligence, valuation, and the roles of purchasers and vendors in share versus asset transactions. The course also reviews key rules, anti‑avoidance measures, planning opportunities, and recent legislative and case‑law developments, reinforced through scenario‑based case studies.
Topics include:
- Commercial considerations: motivations to sell, valuation, due diligence, financing, and the role of tax professionals.
- Comparative tax implications of share versus asset transactions, including acquisition of control and asset basis bump.
- Capital gains treatment, capital gains deduction, rollovers, and anti‑avoidance rules (e.g., sections 55 and 84.1).
- Transactions involving non‑residents and public corporations; allocation of purchase price and treatment of specific assets.
- Intra‑family and intergenerational transfers; related/affiliated and not‑at‑arm’s‑length considerations.
- Other issues: restrictive covenants, interest expense and EIFEL, vendor take‑back financing, earnouts, employee share options, retiring allowances/IPPs, employee ownership trusts (EOTs), TOSI, and GST/PST.
- Scenario‑based case studies comparing structures and illustrating major concepts.
NOTE: This course description has been revised and reflects updates for 2026. If you have any questions, please contact pdevents@cpaontario.ca.
To access your course, visit the CPA Ontario Blackboard site and sign in using the same username and password used for the Registration Portal. You can also access your course through the Blackboard Learn app (iOS or Android).
Important: Course access begins on the date of purchase and remains available for the Access Time specified for the course under Dates and Location. Please review the access time before purchasing. Note that it may take up to 15 minutes after registration for the course to appear in Blackboard.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal, and other CPA Ontario PD policies can be found here.
Key Takeaways
By the end of this course, participants should be able to:
- Identify income‑tax‑related considerations for purchasers and vendors of Canadian private businesses while upholding ethical standards and professional independence.
- Explain key tax concepts before, during, and after a transaction, including due diligence, structuring, and compliance obligations.
- Evaluate the tax impacts of alternative structures (e.g., share vs. asset transactions) to participate effectively in negotiations for both buyers and sellers.
- Apply recent legislative and interpretive developments to planning, advisory, and compliance work.
- Recognize common risks, pitfalls, and opportunities for tax savings in acquisitions, sales, and succession planning.
Who Will Benefit
- Practitioners, industry professionals, and owners or key executives of privately held Canadian businesses seeking advanced technical and practical tax knowledge related to purchase, sale, or succession.
- Tax professionals who want to deepen their understanding of transactional income tax issues and engage in practical discussions with an experienced practitioner.
Prerequisite(s)
Participants should possess familiarity with the existing tax rules in the Income Tax Act.
Disclaimer
The views expressed in the course are non-authoritative and have not been formally endorsed by CPA Ontario and do not reflect the views of CPA Ontario. The information included in the course if for general information purposes only.
CPA Ontario, the presenters and the authors do not accept any responsibility or liability that might occur directly or indirectly as a consequence of the use or application of or reliance on this material.
How to Access the Course
To access your course in Blackboard, please follow these steps:
- Go to https://pdlms.cpaontario.ca
- Select ‘Ontario’ from login menu
- Sign in using the same login credentials used to register for the course
- Navigate to your course to access the content
Important: Your course access time begins on the date of purchase and remains available for the duration noted above. Please note that it may take up to 15 minutes after registration for the course to appear in Blackboard.
Registration, cancellation, withdrawal and all other CPA Ontario PD policies can be found here.