flow-through shares

фин. проточные акции* Details of the Flow-Through Shares (FTSs) and Flow-Through Warrants (FTWs) Subscribed.

http:www.greaterkwchamber.com/market_watch_flowthru_Jun04.shtml

Flow-Through shares are one of the few remaining tax-assisted investment vehicles available to investors in Canada. Flow-Through Limited Partnerships are tax-advantaged vehicles designed to invest in a portfolio of flow-through shares, usually issued by resource-based companies. Since the introduction of the tax system in 1954, the Canadian government has been working on additional ways to encourage exploration and development in the resource sector. In the 1993 Federal budget, the government allowed certain investors to deduct exploration expenses against income. Since that time there has been a dramatic increase in exploration activity.

Flow-through shares do not exist to circumvent any tax rules or to take advantage of any loopholes in the Tax Act. These flow-through shares benefit from certain provisions within the Tax Act that were explicitly created by government, as mentioned above.

There are actually three advantages created by flow-through shares, with respect to taxation. The primary benefit of flow-through share investing is the ability of the investment to convert income, in the current year, into capital gains in future years. With the preferential tax treatment of capital gains over income, there is an immediate benefit to the investor. The second is that a tax deferral is created.

It is assumed, unless in a highly inflationary environment, that if one can defer the payment of taxes to a later date, that individual has gained a definite advantage. The third advantage created is through tax efficiency. The purchase and subsequent tax credit creates an ACB or adjusted cost base of zero. This is part of the first advantage, whereby income is converted into capital gains. However, there is an added advantage with this conversion. It allows an individual to benefit from capital losses, those losses that have accumulated from past investments in non-registered accounts, by creating capital gains that can be partially or fully offset by those losses.

In evaluating tax shelters, it is important to evaluate the tax shelter in the same way as a non-tax shelter investment. That is to say legal and accounting advisers should be consulted and the investment should be examined from a business risk and return point of view. For example, with a real estate investment, the real estate market in the target area should be examined. It may not make a lot of sense to acquire real estate, even if tax sheltered, in a market which is declining.