Bill C-25

Demutualization of Insurance Corporations

(a) the end of the day that is 13 months after the time of the demutualization,

(b) where the entire amount of the payment depends on the outcome of an initial public offering of shares of the corporation or a holding corporation in respect of the insurance corporation, the end of the day that is 60 days after the day on which the offering is completed,

(c) where the payment is made after the initial deadline for the payment and it is reasonable to conclude that the payment was postponed beyond that initial deadline because there was not sufficient information available 60 days before that initial deadline with regard to the location of a person, the end of the day that is six months after such information becomes available, and

(d) the end of any other day that is acceptable to the Minister.

(a) in connection with the demutualization of an insurance corporation, has issued shares of its capital stock to stakeholders; and

(b) owns shares of the capital stock of the insurance corporation acquired in connection with the demutualization that entitle it to 90% or more of the votes that could be cast in respect of shares under all circumstances at an annual meeting of

(i) shareholders of the insurance corporation, or

(ii) shareholders of the insurance corporation and holders of insurance policies to which the insurance corporation is a party.

(a) in a particular mutual holding corporation, the following rights and interests held by a person in respect of the particular corporation because of an interest or former interest of any person in an insurance policy to which an insurance corporation, in respect of which the particular corporation is the mutual holding corporation, has been a party:

(i) rights that are similar to rights attached to shares of the capital stock of a corporation, and

(ii) all other rights with respect to, and interests in, the particular corporation as a mutual company; and

(b) in a mutual insurance corporation, the following rights and interests held by a person in respect of the mutual insurance corporation because of an interest or former interest of any person in an insurance policy to which that corporation has been a party:

(i) rights that are similar to rights attached to shares of the capital stock of a corporation,

(ii) all other rights with respect to, and interests in, the mutual insurance corporation as a mutual company, and

(iii) any contingent or absolute right to receive a benefit in connection with the demutualization of the mutual insurance corporation.

(a) an enhancement of benefits under an insurance policy;

(b) an issuance of an insurance policy;

(c) an undertaking by an insurance corporation of an obligation to pay a policy dividend; or

(d) a reduction in the amount of premiums that would otherwise be payable under an insurance policy.

(a) a share of a class of the capital stock of the corporation;

(b) a share of a class of the capital stock of a corporation that is or becomes a holding corporation in connection with the demutualization; or

(c) an ownership right in a mutual holding corporation in respect of the insurance corporation.

(a) subject to paragraphs (b) to (g), if in providing a benefit in respect of a demutualization, a corporation becomes obligated, either absolutely or contingently, to make or arrange a payment, the person to whom the undertaking to make or arrange the payment was given is considered to have received a benefit

(i) as a consequence of the undertaking of the obligation, and

(ii) not as a consequence of the making of the payment;

(b) where, in providing a benefit in respect of a demutualization, a corporation makes a payment (other than a payment, made pursuant to the terms of an insurance policy, that is not a policy dividend) at any time on or before the deadline for the payment,

(i) subject to paragraphs (f) and (g), the recipient of the payment is considered to have received a benefit as a consequence of the making of the payment, and

(ii) no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of the undertaking of an obligation, that is either contingent or absolute, to make or arrange the payment;

(c) no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of the undertaking of an absolute or contingent obligation of a corporation to make or arrange a payment (other than a payment, made pursuant to the terms of an insurance policy, that is not a policy dividend) unless it is reasonable to conclude that there is sufficient information with regard to the location of a person to make or arrange the payment;

(d) where a corporation's obligation to make or arrange a payment in connection with a demutualization ceases on or before the initial deadline for the payment and without the payment being made in whole or in part, no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of the undertaking of the obligation unless the payment was to be a payment (other than a policy dividend) pursuant to the terms of an insurance policy;

(e) no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of the undertaking of an absolute or contingent obligation of a corporation to make or arrange a payment where

(i) paragraph (a) would, but for this paragraph, apply with respect to the obligation,

(ii) paragraph (d) would, if that paragraph were read without reference to the words ``on or before the initial deadline for the payment'', apply in respect of the obligation,

(iii) it is reasonable to conclude that there was not, before the initial deadline for the payment, sufficient information with regard to the location of a person to make or arrange the payment, and

(iv) such information becomes available on a particular day after the initial deadline and the obligation ceases not more than six months after the particular day;

(f) no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of

(i) an undertaking of an absolute or contingent obligation of a corporation to make or arrange an annuity payment through the issuance of an annuity contract, or

(ii) a receipt of an annuity payment under the contract so issued

where it is reasonable to conclude that the purpose of the undertaking or the making of the annuity payment is to supplement benefits provided under either an annuity contract to which subsection 147.4(1) or paragraph 254(a) applied or a group annuity contract that had been issued under, or pursuant to, a registered pension plan that has wound up;

(g) no benefit is considered to have been received as a consequence of

(i) an amendment to which subsection 147.4(2) would, but for subparagraph 147.4(2)(a)(ii), apply, or

(ii) a substitution to which paragraph 147.4(3)(a) applies;

(h) the time at which a stakeholder is considered to receive a benefit in connection with the demutualization of an insurance corporation is

(i) where the benefit is a payment made at or before the time of the demutualization or is a payment to which paragraph (b) applies, the time at which the payment is made, and

(ii) in any other case, the latest of

(A) the time of the demutualization,

(B) where the extent of the benefit or the stakeholder's entitlement to it depends on the outcome of an initial public offering of shares of the corporation or a holding corporation in respect of the insurance corporation and the offering is completed before the day that is 13 months after the time of the demutualization, the time at which the offering is completed,

(C) where the entire amount of the benefit depends on the outcome of an initial public offering of shares of the corporation or a holding corporation in respect of the insurance corporation, the time at which the offering is completed,

(D) where it is reasonable to conclude that the person conferring the benefit does not have sufficient information with regard to the location of the stakeholder before the later of the times determined under clauses (A) to (C), to advise the stakeholder of the benefit, the time at which sufficient information with regard to the location of the stakeholder to so advise the stakeholder was received by that person, and

(E) the end of any other day that is acceptable to the Minister;

(i) the time at which an insurance corporation is considered to demutualize is the time at which it first issues a share of its capital stock (other than shares of its capital stock issued by it when it was a mutual company if the corporation did not cease to be a mutual company because of the issuance of those shares); and

(j) subject to paragraph (3)(b), the value of a benefit received by a stakeholder is the fair market value of the benefit at the time the stakeholder receives the benefit.

(a) where benefits under an insurance policy are enhanced (otherwise than by way of an amendment to which subsection 147.4(2) would, but for subparagraph 147.4(2)(a)(ii), apply) in connection with a demutualization, the value of the enhancement is deemed to be a benefit received by the policyholder and not by any other person;

(b) where premiums payable under an insurance policy to an insurance corporation are reduced in connection with a demutualization, the policyholder is deemed, as a consequence of the undertaking to reduce the premiums, to have received a benefit equal to the present value at the time of the demutualization of the additional premiums that would have been payable if the premiums had not been reduced in connection with the demutualization;

(c) the payment of a policy dividend by an insurance corporation or an undertaking of an obligation by the corporation to pay a policy dividend is considered to be in connection with the demutualization of the corporation only to the extent that

(i) the policy dividend is referred to in the demutualization proposal sent by the corporation to stakeholders,

(ii) the obligation to make the payment is contingent on stakeholder approval for the demutualization, and

(iii) the payment or undertaking cannot reasonably be considered to have been made or given, as the case may be, to ensure that policy dividends are not adversely affected by the demutualization;

(d) except for the purposes of paragraphs (c), (e) and (f), where part of a policy dividend is a conversion benefit in respect of the demutualization of an insurance corporation and part of it is not, each part of the dividend is deemed to be a policy dividend that is separate from the other part;

(e) a policy dividend includes an amount that is in lieu of payment of, or in satisfaction of, a policy dividend;

(f) the payment of a policy dividend includes the application of the policy dividend to pay a premium under an insurance policy or to repay a policy loan;

(g) where the demutualization of an insurance corporation is effected by the merger of the corporation with one or more other corporations to form one corporate entity, that entity is deemed to be the same corporation as, and a continuation of, the insurance corporation;

(h) an insurance corporation shall be considered to have become a party to an insurance policy at the time that the insurance corporation becomes liable in respect of obligations of an insurer under the policy; and

(i) notwithstanding paragraph 248(7)(a), where a cheque or other means of payment sent to an address is returned to the sender without being received by the addressee, it is deemed not to have been sent.

(a) each of the income, loss, capital gain and capital loss of a taxpayer, from the disposition, alteration or dilution of the taxpayer's ownership rights in the particular corporation as a result of the demutualization, is deemed to be nil;

(b) no amount paid or payable to a stakeholder in connection with the disposition, alteration or dilution of the stakeholder's ownership rights in the particular corporation is an eligible capital expenditure;

(c) no election may be made under subsection 85(1) or (2) in respect of ownership rights in the particular corporation;

(d) where the consideration given by a person for a share of the capital stock of the particular corporation or a holding corporation in connection with the demutualization (or for particular ownership rights in a mutual holding corporation in respect of the particular corporation) includes the transfer, surrender, alteration or dilution of ownership rights in the particular corporation, the cost of the share (or the particular ownership rights) to the person is deemed to be nil;

(e) where a holding corporation in connection with the demutualization acquires, in connection with the demutualization, a share of the capital stock of the particular corporation from the particular corporation and issues a share of its own capital stock to a stakeholder as consideration for the share of the capital stock of the particular corporation, the cost to the holding corporation of the share of the capital stock of the particular corporation is deemed to be nil;

(f) where at any time a stakeholder receives a taxable conversion benefit and subsection (14) does not apply to the benefit,