Canadian individuals who own U.S. securities directly are subject to a 15-per-cent withholding tax rate under the current treaty, reduced from the statutory rate of 30 per cent. If section 899 were to become law, the withholding rate could ultimately rise to 50 per cent.
Ian Bragg, vice-president of research and statistics at the Securities and Investment Management Association, said that the current draft of the legislation could cost Canadian investors more than $81-billion in additional taxes over seven years.
“These measures would penalize ordinary Canadians saving for retirement, education, or other long-term goals, and create unnecessary uncertainty in the market,” Mr. Bragg said in an e-mailed statement. “It’s critical that this issue be addressed at the highest levels of Canada-U.S. trade discussions to protect the savings and financial security of millions of Canadians.”
Max Reed, a cross-border tax lawyer and principal of Polaris Tax Counsel in Vancouver, said if the bill is enacted, section 899 would “rupture” the Canada-U.S. tax relationship the same way that Trump‘s tariffs have impaired the Canada-U.S trade relationship.
“The results would be significant,” Mr. Reed said in an online post to clients. “Virtually all cross-border planning would be turned on its head.”
The tax bill also removes long-standing tax exemptions for governments and related entities from targeted companies. That means organizations such as the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and First Nation communities could be required to pay tax.
For Canada’s multinational companies with operations in the U.S., the proposed tax changes will place them at a competitive disadvantage to domestic U.S. companies and to subsidiaries of other foreign multinationals that don’t have similar discriminatory taxes, said Ron Nobrega, a tax partner at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP in Toronto.