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Certain Personal Canadian Trusts Should Be Classified as Investment Entities under the Canadian IGA. An investment entity is defined under the Canadian IGA as follows: The term “Investment Entity” means any Entity that conducts as a business (or is managed by an entity that conducts as a business) one or more of the following activities or operations for or on behalf of a customer: (1) trading in money market instruments (cheques, bills, certificates of deposit, derivatives, etc.); foreign exchange; exchange, interest rate and index instruments; transferable securities; or commodity futures trading; (2) individual and collective portfolio management; or (3) otherwise investing, administering, or managing funds or money on behalf of other persons. This subparagraph 1( j) shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with similar language set forth in the definition of “financial institution” in the Financial Action Task Force Recommendations. This definition is not meant to be read lightly; it employs dense, technical language that is easier to understand when digested one piece at a time. First, note that only an “entity” can be an “investment entity.” In Canada and most common-law jurisdictions, trusts are “legal relationships,” not entities. Trusts are entities, however, under FATCA. As noted above, the Canadian iga defines “entity” as “a legal person or a legal arrangement such as a trust.” Furthermore, under the Treasury regulations, an “entity” is “any person other than an individual,” and a “person” is “an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation.” Second, ignoring the parenthetical phrase “managed by...” in the first sentence and the FATF reference in the postamble (which we address separately below), it is relatively clear that trusts do not fall under the definition of an investment entity.