Adam Morke, CPA, CA, TEP

Adam is passionate about tax. His education and experience have given him a broad knowledge base in both Canadian and international tax matters allowing him to advise business owners, high net worth individuals, executors, and non-residents of Canada on a wide range of tax matters.

Adam is a designated Trust and Estate Specialist (TEP). TEP is recognized worldwide as a way to formally distinguish qualified practitioners from non-specialists who only occasionally deal with trusts and estates.

Active in GGI, the firm’s global affiliation network of accounting and law firms, Adam is the North American Regional Vice Chair of the International Taxation Practice Group (IPTG) of GGI and speaks frequently at GGI conferences around the world.

How Adam Can Help You

Business Owners, High Net Worth Individuals and Estate Trustees:

Adam helps business owners,  high net worth individuals, and executors (as applicable) with:

• Estate planning considering the impact of income tax, Ontario estate administration (aka probate), US estate tax, life insurance, and non-tax considerations (e.g. Wills and Power of Attorney documents)
• Trust structures including discretionary family trusts, prescribed rate loan trusts, testamentary trusts, joint partner trusts, alter-ego trusts, and Henson trusts
• Post-mortem tax planning – Reducing or eliminating the double or triple tax on death faced by shareholders of private corporations
• Tax compliance services for estates including preparation of final personal income tax returns for deceased persons and T3 income tax returns for estates
• Tax compliance services for trustees of Canadian trusts with US resident beneficiaries that must manage US distributable net income (DNI) and undistributed net income (UNI) rules
• Business succession planning – Passing on a family business to the next generation or to new owners
• Corporate reorganizations to create tax effective structures including those aiming to claim the lifetime capital gains exemption (LCGE) on the sale of a private Canadian business
• Departure tax planning – Moving to another country and ceasing to be a resident of Canada for income tax purposes including working with international affiliates to help you obtain tax advice in your new country
• Advising employees on the taxation of employee stock options, restricted stock units (RSU), restricted shares, deferred stock units (DUS), phantom shares, and other equity based compensation plans
• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) disputes including audits and objections to assessments (or reassessments)

Non-residents of Canada:

Adam has assisted non-residents of Canada in areas including:

• Expansion into Canada – Advising non-resident businesses expanding into Canada on Canadian income tax, GST/HST (e.g. Canadian VAT), and payroll obligations. Read our article here.
• Activities in Canada – When does a non-resident company need to file or collect tax in Canada? What are your obligations if you send an employee to Canada? See the article link directly above.
• Sale of Canadian real estate by non-residents of Canada – How do you reduce the tax withheld by the purchaser and reduce the Canadian income tax on the sale? Read our article here.

Education and Career Path

Adam graduated from Brock University with a Bachelor of Accounting (First-class Honours). He is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Professional Accountant, and a Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP).  Adam has completed both the In-Depth Income Tax Course (Parts 1-3) and the In-Depth GST/HST Course offered by CPA Canada. Adam has also completed CPA Canada’s Advanced Tax Issues for the Owner-Managed Business course dealing with estate and succession planning for owner-managed businesses.

Adam is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation (CTF) and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP Canada).

Adam started his career at Stern Cohen in 2007 where he obtained his accounting designations before moving to a Canadian and International Tax Specialist firm to focus on domestic and international tax planning. Adam returned to Stern Cohen in 2014 as a Tax Manager and became a Partner in 2018.

Speaking Engagements

• GGI’s North American Conference – “Canadian tax update for Non-Canadian tax practitioners” (June 2023, Beverly Hills)
• GGI’s World Conference – “Road Map to Buying or Investing in Canada (and why you can’t assume we are the 51^st State of the US)” (October 2022, Montreal)
• CPA Ontario’s Practice Management & Tax Summit – “Estate and Succession Planning” (October 2021, Toronto)
• GGI IPTG Webinar – “Why Canadians want to pay tax in Canada as a non-Canadian corporation” (May 2021)
• CPA Ontario’s Practitioner and Tax Conference – “July 18 Tax Proposals (TOSI) affecting Private Corporation and their shareholders” (October 2017, Niagara Falls)

Outside of Work

Outside of work, Adam can be found spending time with his young family. He is a loyal Toronto Blue Jays’ fan and was fortunate to be at the infamous “bat flip” game when the Jays defeated the Texas Rangers to clinch the American League Division Series. Go Jays!

Ask Adam…

What do clients appreciate about you?

I’m straight to the point, have a sense of humour, and provide practical solutions. Clients appreciate my ability to provide simple explanations of complex tax matters. They often comment that I’ve alerted them to matters that weren’t even on their radar. This is especially true of new clients who seek me out for tax planning on the sale of an asset (e.g. shares of a business) but who quickly realize the benefits that can be achieved from even some simple estate planning steps.

What is your greatest professional achievement?

Successfully objecting to large reassessments of corporate income tax, HST, and personal income tax resulting from a tax audit. The reassessments were vacated (ie. dismissed in whole).

What’s the most rewarding thing about being a tax specialist?

Knowing I’ve helped my clients achieve their goals in a tax efficient manner whether it’s funding their children’s post-secondary education, selling their business, or helping them retire in a warm climate.

What’s different about Stern Cohen?

The people. You will notice this is a reoccurring answer if you view the profiles of my colleagues and for good reason. Stern Cohen hires smart, well-rounded, caring people. For clients this means you’ll always have someone at your fingertips who is knowledgeable, professional, and friendly.