Are you a Vancity Credit Union Joint Account holder? In late 2016, Vancity made changes to their banking system whereby Membership Shares in a joint account were redeemed and re-issued to each individual members previously named on the joint Membership Shares account. (source: https://support.vancity.com/77-joint-membership-shares)
While the value of the Membership Shares being re-distributed could be as little as $5 per account, the effect on the account holders and their subsequent Statements of Investment Income (T5) could be significant.
The credit union distributes a profit share each year to its members based on their participation in deposits, loans mortgages, investments etc. These profits are being split as mentioned above and paid into the individual accounts.According to Vancity Credit Union’s website, “For members in joint relationships, any payment earned on jointly held accounts will be allocated evenly and paid into each individual member’s Shared Success Patronage account (i.e. accounts such as mortgages or non-registered term deposit).” (source: https://www.vancity.com/AboutVancity/Membership/MemberBenefits/SharedSuccess/) As a result, children and others, who are named on joint accounts for estate planning or other similar reasons, but are not beneficial owners of the money, will be receiving T5 slips for income that is not theirs.
March 30, 2017 Update: In discussions with one of Vancity’s senior staff members we were informed that Vancity has been taking steps to help their members. They have advised that, should there be questions or problems with the reporting of the income in the hands of people who are not the primary account owner, that the client can be advised to gather all the T5 slips, if possible, and take them into a Vancity Branch. Their staff have been trained on how to handle this. They will then get an amended T5 slip issued and cancel the individual slips. Or they can call the Vancity Credit Union help desk for assistance.
Speak to one of our trusted advisors at RHN to discuss how this may affect your taxes. We are here to help.
This post has been prepared for general information purposes. It is not advice. The information presented may not fit your unique situation, please consult one of our trusted business advisors at RHN CPA for further clarification and interpretation of your circumstances.