Consider Donating Your Bell Shares to the AGH/FVM Foundation

Consider donating your Bell shares to the AGH/FVM Foundation

If you own shares in BCE Inc. (Bell Canada), you may want to consider donating them to charity to avoid capital gains tax.

BCE Inc. is in the process of being sold, and the amount you receive for your shares as a result of this sale may be subject to capital gains tax, unless they are held in tax-sheltered Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) or Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs).

One way to avoid capital gains on the sale of your BCE shares is to donate them to a charity, such as the Almonte General Hospital/Fairview Manor (AGH/FVM) Foundation.

Donations of publicly listed securities to registered charities have been exempt from capital gains tax since May 2006.

“If you wait until the deal to buy BCE Inc. is final, your Bell shares will automatically be sold and you may have a tax liability,” says AGH-FVM Foundation Executive Director Gerry Huddleston.

“However, if you donate your shares to the Foundation now, you may create significant tax savings while supporting a worthy cause.”

An example published in the Financial Post explains how it works.

If you originally purchased Bell shares for $80,000 and they are sold for $100,000, your capital gain of $20,000 could be subject to capital gains tax.

For Ontario taxpayers in the top tax bracket, this would generate a tax liability of $4,600.

But if you donated the $100,000 worth of shares to a charity, the $4,600 tax liability would be eliminated and you would receive a non-refundable charitable donation tax credit of $46,400.

“We are encouraging anyone who owns Bell shares and who is interested in supporting the Foundation to consider donating their shares,” Huddleston said.

The purchase of BCE Inc. by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan is now in its final stages. The Canadian Radio-television and Communications Commission approved the sale on March 27, 2008.

BCE now expects the sale to be concluded by the end of June 2008, subject to additional regulatory and legal approvals.

AGH/FVM Foundation staff can answer any questions you have about donating shares to the Foundation. For more information, call Gerry Huddleston at 613-256-2514, extension 2297.

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