One of the main goals in a corporate transaction is to maximize profit while minimizing risk. This takes sound tax advice, given the complexities of the Canadian tax system and the range of rules and laws that govern domestic and foreign companies. Bennett Jones' corporate tax practice provides sophisticated tax planning advice and creative, incisive approaches to stewarding tax-efficient transactions and solving tax controversies (read more about our Tax Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice).
Tax is an essential element in helping clients maximize the return on their investments and operations. With that in mind, our tax lawyers are brought into transactions at the outset, and play a strategic role in the structuring and negotiation of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and all range of business ventures.
Our tax lawyers have a broad range of significant experience on both the Canadian and cross-border aspects of transactions in the resource, manufacturing, financial services, communications, technology, real estate, transportation, power (conventional and alternative) sectors. We advise private equity investors, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds and have been involved in the conversion of income trusts and royalty funds to corporate form.
,,The entire tax team is very strong, both technically and from a personality standpoint.,,
Our experience encompasses the implementation of tax-efficient equity incentive plans, including stock options, restricted share trusts and phantom units (SARs, RSUs and DSUs). We also advise clients on employee ownership trust (EOT) structures and the opportunities for succession planning and ownership transition, having implemented one of the first EOTs in Canada.
Our practice includes all aspects of sales tax, GST, anti-dumping and other trade and commodity taxes. This commodity tax expertise is brought to bear both in connection with transactions involving cross-border flows of manufactured goods, financial services and commodities, and in tax controversy work.
As part of our practice we deal with the Canada Revenue Agency and international tax authorities in obtaining advance income tax rulings. We are called upon frequently to advise and provide opinions on proposed changes to both federal and provincial tax legislation and to advise on the handling of tax audits, and litigate tax reassessments. We also advise corporations in connection with stock option and other equity compensation arrangements.
Members of our group are active participants and leaders in tax organizations such as the Joint Committee on Taxation of the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, the International Fiscal Association, the Canadian Tax Foundation and the Canadian Petroleum Tax Society. Many of our lawyers are recognized as leading practitioners in the area of corporate taxation by Lexpert, Euromoney's guides to the world's leading lawyers and Chambers Global:The World's Leading Lawyers for Business.
2022 Canada Indirect Tax Firm of the Year
2022 Impact Deal of the Year, Canadian Pacific Railway's historic US$31 billion merger with Kansas City Southern
Lead Director and Head of Tax Department
Partner
At Bennett Jones, legal solutions are our starting point. What drives us forward is knowing our clients inside and out—their ambitions, obstacles and success metrics.
For more than a century, we have shaped outcomes that matter in business, in law and in the broader Canadian landscape. And our commitment extends beyond legal matters: we invest deeply in the communities in which we live and work.
