Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)

Designating a beneficiary to your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)

The law in the province where you live may allow you to designate a successor holder and/or other beneficiary to your TFSA in the event of your death, by means of a separate designation outside of your will.

Can you Designate in your Province?

Please check the chart below for current information regarding your ability to designate successor holders and beneficiaries in the province where you live.

If you Cannot Currently Designate

If you live in a province where a designation is not currently permitted, please visit www.hsbc.ca/taxfreesavingsaccount regularly to see if the status for successor holder and beneficiary designations has changed for your province of residence.

If you Can Designate

If you find you can designate in the province where you live, and wish to do so, please print the form below, complete, sign and date it, and provide a copy to the HSBC branch where your TFSA is held or mail it to HSBC Bank Canada at:

19 Allstate Parkway, 2nd Floor
Markham On.
L3R 5A4

On each TFSA you have with HSBC Bank Canada, you can designate a successor holder or a beneficiary or both. If you have designated both a successor holder, and a beneficiary, at your death, the person designated as your successor holder will become the holder of your TFSA except if that person has either a) died before you; or b) is no longer your current spouse or common-law partner at the time of your death. In either of these situations, the proceeds of the TFSA will be distributed to the person named as your beneficiary.

For advice regarding the tax implications of designating a successor holder and/or a beneficiary to your TFSA, consult your personal tax advisor.

Instructions: How to complete the Designation Form

Designating a Successor Holder: 

A successor holder is someone who takes over your TFSA when you die. The name on the account is changed to the name of the successor holder and that person can continue to hold and operate the tax-free savings account as their own after your death. By law, only your spouse or common-law partner, as recognized by the Income Tax Act (Canada), can be a valid successor holder. If the person who you have designated as successor holder is no longer your current spouse or common-law partner at the time of your death, they cannot become the successor holder of your TFSA.

1. Read the instructions and other information on the whole form carefully. There are two pages to the form. 
2. Locate the “Tax-Free Savings Account” box at the top left of the first page of the form. Fill in the complete 12-digit TFSA account number to which you want your designation of successor holder and/or beneficiary set out in the form to apply. You must fill in the account number here or your designation may not be valid. To find the account number of the any TFSA account(s) you hold with HSBC, check the Account Summary page under your Personal Internet Banking Profile or contact your branch. You must complete one designation form for each TFSA you have.
3. Complete the information regarding your spouse or common-law partner in the Successor Holder Designation section of the form
4. Sign where says, “Signature of Account Holder” and fill in the date to the left
5. Have someone witness your signature by printing his or her name and signing where indicated. Your witness can be anyone of the age of majority. For example, it can be a family member, friend or someone you work with.

Designating a Beneficiary: 

You can also designate a beneficiary to your TFSA who will receive the funds in your tax-free savings account after your death. This person cannot continue to operate your TFSA like a successor holder. The funds in your account are distributed to your beneficiary and you tax-free savings account is closed.

1. Read the instructions and other information on the whole form carefully. There are two pages to the form.
2. Locate the “Tax-Free Savings Account” box at the top left of the first page of the form. Fill in the complete 12-digit TFSA account number to which you want your designation of successor holder and/or beneficiary set out in the form to apply. You must fill in the account number here or your designation may not be valid. To find the account number of the any TFSA account(s) you hold with HSBC, check the Account Summary page under your Personal Internet Banking Profile or contact your branch. You must complete one designation form for each TFSA you have.
3. Complete the information regarding the person you wish to designate as your beneficiary in the Beneficiary Designation section of the form.
4. Sign where it says “Signature of Account Holder” and fill in the date to the left
5. Have someone witness your signature by printing his or her name and signing where indicated. Your witness can be anyone of the age of majority. For example, it can be a family member, friend or someone you work with.

Changing a Successor Holder or Beneficiary Designation

You may, at any time, revoke or change a successor holder or beneficiary you have previously designated on a particular tax-free savings account you hold.

To do so, you must complete a new Designation of Successor Holder and Beneficiary Form by completing steps 1 through 5 above.

Important: As set out in the language on the form, when you change either your successor holder or beneficiary designation, this will revoke all previous designations on that particular TFSA. If you have both a successor holder and a beneficiary designated for a particular TFSA, you must re-designate both your successor holder and your beneficiary every time you make a change to either, by completing and dating a new Designation of Successor Holder and Beneficiary Form.

Form

  Designation of Successor Holder and Beneficiary Form