Estate freezes are one of the most valuable tools in Canadian tax planning for family businesses. They allow the current owner to lock in today’s value and pass future appreciation to children or trusts. When used properly, a freeze can reduce tax at death, support succession planning, multiply the capital gains exemption, and prepare a company for future sale or transition.

However, freezes also create risks and planning challenges. Decisions around preferred share terms, trust involvement, valuation, remuneration, and the impact on TOSI rules can significantly affect outcomes. The program demonstrates how freezes can lead to double taxation if not coordinated with post-mortem planning, and how passive assets, RDTOH balances, or inappropriate structures may produce unwanted results.

Estate Freeze provides a clear, practical explanation of how a freeze shifts future corporate growth to the next generation while locking in today’s value for the parent. The course outlines the key reasons freezes are implemented, including reducing tax at death, multiplying the capital gains exemption, managing TOSI exposure, and supporting long term succession plans. Participants learn how freezes operate in real client situations, how preferred shares, common shares, control shares, and notes work together, and how different freeze formats such as Holdco freezes, Opco freezes, drop down freezes, and note freezes achieve varying results. The session also highlights the planning considerations that influence outcomes, including valuation decisions, cash flow needs, attribution risks, trust involvement, and ownership of passive or investment assets that complicate freeze design.

The program also explains the potential pitfalls that can arise when freezes are implemented without full planning. CPAs will learn how double taxation occurs in certain corporate structures, why post mortem planning must be considered in advance, and how pipelines, wind ups, and share redemptions interact with freeze results. The material covers TOSI rules, excluded share requirements, section 74.4 imputed interest, family law exposure, timing issues such as freezing too early or too late, and the importance of coordinating freezes with wills, shareholder agreements, and life insurance. By understanding the strategy from start to finish, CPAs will be equipped to design freezes that achieve their goals and avoid the common errors that lead to poor tax outcomes.