Insurance Tax Solutions - Articles & Publications

Mark L. Arruda, BMATH, FCIA, FSA, CERA, FEA
AVP, Insurance Product Management

In his current role as Assistant Vice President, Insurance Product Management, Sun Life Financial, Mark is responsible for the company's life product shelf (including design and pricing) and how those products help Canadians achieve lifetime financial security.  He is passionate about the work he does and the advisors he serves, and is appreciative of the different product designs in the marketplace.

With over 15 years in the insurance field, Mark rounded out his experience through technical positions in investments and valuation, as well as pricing and product development. He spent three years as the leader of Sun Life's large case pricing team, where he tailored solutions for advisors and their affluent clients.  While serving on the third-party distribution team, he enjoyed the competitive atmosphere and how each case was unique and brought new challenges.

Mark is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries (FSA) and Canadian Institute of Actuaries (FCIA), as well as a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst (CERA) with the Society of Actuaries. It was in pursuit of the actuarial designations that he developed an excitement for the practical applications of risk management through insurance. As an actuary he is able to look “behind the curtain” of many insurance designs and strategies and use his expertise to really understand what is going on.

Stuart Dollar
M.A., LL.B, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, TEP

Stuart Dollar is a Director for the Insurance Tax Solutions group with Sun Life Financial in Waterloo, Ontario.

He began his financial services career with London Life in 1994, working as a retirement planner, product manager, and advisor. In 2002 he accepted an opportunity to work with Genworth Financial in the United States as an advanced marketing attorney.

Stuart returned to Canada in 2009 to join Sun Life Financial. He helps with tax issues related to life and health insurance. He is also experienced in the taxation of U.S. life and health insurance products, and with U.S. income and estate tax law.

Stuart often speaks at industry events, and has written several articles, including The Canadian Health Insurance Tax Guide, “Strategies for Canadians with U.S. Retirement Plans”, and “Health Insurance Strategies for Business Owners,” published in the Fall 2017 edition of the Canadian Tax Journal.

Sanjana Bhatia , B.B.A., LL.B., LL.M., TEP
Director of Tax and Insurance Planning

Sanjana Bhatia is a lawyer with over twenty five years experience in tax and insurance planning, tax law knowledge management and tax litigation. 

At Sun Life, Sanjana is a Director of Tax and Insurance Planning where she supports Sun Life's distribution partners and advisors to deliver cutting edge tax expertise, training, and thought leadership in all areas related to insurance taxation and tax and estate planning. 

Prior to joining Sun Life, Sanjana was a tax lawyer in the law firm of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt.  She supported the partners and associates by developing knowledge management systems to promote practice efficiency, creating the first blog in the firm to alert on new and proposed legislation and developments in case law specific to Osler's tax practice, assisting with pitches, presenting on hot tax topics, preparing statistical analysis on tax case trends including the GAAR and transfer pricing, updating Osler publications and writing articles for publication in tax law journals. 

Sanjana was also a Tax and Estate Planning Consultant at a major financial institution prior to joining Osler.  She has also served for Her Majesty The Queen as litigation counsel at the Department of Justice and argued cases before the Tax Court of Canada, Ontario Superior Court and the Federal Court of Appeal. Her career started as a research clerk/lawyer for the judges at the Tax Court of Canada.

Selected Publications:

• “Canadian Appeal Court Finds that Oral Interviews of a Multinational Group's Employee Cannot be Compelled During a Transfer Pricing Audit,” Journal of International Taxation.
• “Managing Canadian Large Corporation Appeals,” Journal of International Taxation. 
• “A Privilege Update – Trilogy of Canadian Cases Confirms the Functional Approach,” Journal of International Taxation.
• “Crown Wins Canadian Supreme Court GAAR Decision,” Journal of International Taxation.
• “Contributions to Capital – Is the CRA Taking a Practical Approach?,” Canadian Current Tax.
• “Tax Law Enters Renaissance,” The Best of the Best, Expert Guides.
• “Employees on Foreign Ground: The Overseas Employment Tax Credit,” Taxation of Executive Compensation and Retirement, Federated Press.
• “Split-Dollar Life Insurance – A Canadian/US Comparison,” CALU Report.
• “Symposium on Tax Avoidance After Canada Trustco and Mathew: Summary of Proceedings,” Canadian Tax Journal, (co-authored with Benjamin Alarie and David Duff).
• “Estate Planning Considerations from a Family Law Perspective,” Info Exchange, CALU Report. 

Lino Puzzuoli
Director of Insurance Tax Solutions

Entrepreneurial by nature, Lino Puzzuoli joined Sun Life after selling multiple businesses and returning to school to earn an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is passionate about finance, and was hooked ever since his first economics class – subsequently earning a B.A. in Economics, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP)® designation and his Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

When he was an owner and the CFO for a construction company, Lino learned what it's like to be personally invested during both boom and bust cycles. He appreciates the challenges faced by business owners and can identify with their concerns.

As a believer in lifelong learning, Lino speaks French and Italian well enough to get into and out of trouble. Lino is married and the father of two young children, most easily found during the summer months in his garden.

Jean Turcotte
B.A.A., LL.B., Avocat, D.Fisc.,Pl.Fin.,TEP

Mr. Jean Turcotte is a lawyer and a financial planner. He is graduate from the Université de Sherbrooke. He also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance (B.A.A.) from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) and studied Taxation at McGill University. He is a member of the Quebec Bar. He is also a member of the IQPF, APFF and STEP Canada.

Mr. Turcotte currently holds the position of Director, Tax, Insurance and Wealth Management Solutions Group at Sun Life Financial in Montreal. He is in charge of, among other things, provide guidance to financial advisors on complex legal and tax issues affecting both individuals and business owners. Mr. Turcotte is committed to supporting you in finding innovative solutions and increasing the value you offer to clients in the insurance and wealth management sector.

In addition to his work at Sun Life Financial, he wrote a monthly tax article for the magazine Finance et Investissement from 1999 to 2010. Since 2012, he has also been involved in writing articles for Conseiller.ca magazine.

Mr. Turcotte has written several training manuals for the IQPF, the APFF, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) and the Chambre de la sécurité financière (CSF). He is a frequent speaker at conferences and training sessions organized by the industry. In 2011 and 2016, he was named Trainer of the Year by the Institut Québecois de planification financière (IQPF). Mr. Turcotte has also been a guest speaker in different television programs. Finally, he acts as an expert witness in court in litigations involving financial advisors.

Areas of expertise :

• Advanced tax planning
• Financial and estate planning
• Asset protection
• Asset management

Grace Jin, MSc, CLU, QAFP
Advanced Solutions Manager

Since joining Sun Life in 2016, Grace has devoted her career to helping advisors grow their business using sales strategies and understanding the unique ways life insurance can be used to provide creative solutions for clients. In her current role as an Advanced Solutions Manager, Grace has been developing and supporting sales strategies and tools from the ideation to implementation.

Grace graduated from Western University with a Master of Statistics, Actuarial Science. She has continued her commitment to professional development, achieving the QAFP™ Certification and Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU) designations. She is working toward her Associate of the Society of Actuaries designation.