How to unwind a spousal loan
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By Jason Heath, CFP on February 12, 2026
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Jason Heath, CFP on February 12, 2026
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
A lot of spousal loans and other prescribed rate loans were established over the past 10 years. How do you pay off or cancel a spousal loan once you have one?
A spousal loan can be a useful tool for splitting income with a lower income spouse. It is a prescribed rate loan that legitimately avoids the spousal income attribution rules and allows a higher income spouse to loan money to a lower-income spouse to invest and have interest, dividends, and capital gains taxed on their tax return.
The prescribed rate is determined by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) each quarter and applies to loans made during that quarter. The current........
