Below you will find a Memorandum from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada which provides an overview of guidance received from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regarding requests for information under the Canada-United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act.

From the guidance provided by the CRA it seems that, while lawyers and notaries are required to advise their financial institution if they are U.S. persons for tax purposes, they are not required to divulge the identity of the person or persons on whose behalf funds are held in a trust account in connection with the provision of legal services. The CRA guidance indicates that, in such cases, the financial institution is entitled only to information about the lawyer or law firm whose name is on the trust account.

Memorandum – Federation of Law Societies of Canada re Canada-United States