As is common at the end of the calendar year, various publications are announcing their version of "person of the year". Today, the Globe and Mail announced Don Johnson, an investment banker from Manitoba, as its Nation Builder for 2007.
I had never heard of Don Johnson (at least not this Don Johnson) before this article, but I was familiar with the accomplishment for which he was receiving recognition. Mr. Johnson is considered to be the primary advocate responsible for changes to the federal Income Tax Act that allow publicly-traded securities to be donated to charity without incurring capital gains tax on the disposition of those securities.
This is an incredible tool that estate planners have been eager to recommend to their clients as a way of minimizing their tax bill, both on an annual basis and as part of their will. If one of our clients wishes to make a donation to charity from their estate, we will always include wording that will allow their executor to make that donation with publicly-traded securities. If you want to enable your executor to have that power, you need to make sure that the wording in your will is correct; your executor must be specifically empowered to make that donation with publicly-traded securities in order for your estate to receive this tax benefit.
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