Section 344 — Excise Tax Act: Meaning of funeral services

In this section, funeral services includes the provision of a coffin, a headstone or any other property relating to the funeral, burial or cremation of an individual that is provided under an arrangement for the provision of funeral services. Where an arrangement for funeral services in respect of an individual is entered into in writing before September 1990, under the terms of the arrangement, the funds required to pay for the funeral services are held by a trustee who is responsible for acquiring funeral services in respect of the individual, and at the time the arrangement is entered into, it is reasonable to expect that all or a part of those funds will be advanced to the trustee before the individual’s death, no tax is payable by the trustee in respect of the supply to the trustee of funeral services under the arrangement. Where an arrangement for funeral services in respect of an individual is entered into in writing at any time before September 1990 and, at that time, it is reasonable to expect that all or a part of the consideration for the supply of the funeral services will be paid before the individual’s death, no tax is payable in respect of any supply of funeral services under the arrangement.