Bankruptcy

When you file for bankruptcy, the trustee becomes the administrator of your property and assets. One of the roles of the trustee is to wind up the property by selling all the assets and depositing the funds in trust for the creditors in bankruptcy.

Filing for bankruptcy is a legal process performed by Industry Canada under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, by which you may be discharged from most of your debts.

Industry Canada is responsible for the enforcement of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. The Superintendent of Bankruptcy, the Bankruptcy Tribunal, the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy, and the Trustee are all under its authority. The initial Identification information has to be transmitted to us by the trustee. Industry Canada then provides us with any updated information or any discharges.

The trustee must file, on your behalf, the tax return for the year immediately prior to the year of bankruptcy if a tax return had to be filed and you did not file it. The trustee must also file a tax return for the period from January 1 up to the day before the date of bankruptcy; this return is called the pre-bankruptcy return.

If you are facing bankruptcy and would like to obtain advice from an expert, contact a trustee in bankruptcy. Look in the yellow pages of your telephone directory under "Bankruptcies - Trustees" to find the name of a bankruptcy trustee for your province or territory. You can also access the Trustee directory.

For more information, call us at 1-800-959-8281.

Note
If you have questions about bankruptcies that do not relate to income tax matters, contact the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.