A graduated rate estate (GRE) is a succession that, at a given time, meets the following conditions:

• It arose on and as a consequence of an individual's death.
• The given time is no more than 36 months after the death.
• It is a testamentary trust at the given time.
• It designates itself as a GRE for its first taxation year ending after 2015, and no other succession designates itself as such.
• It enters the individual's social insurance number on its income tax return for each taxation year that ends after 2015 and during the 36 months after the individual's death.

The taxation year of the succession is deemed to end on the day it ceases to be a GRE, and the end of any subsequent taxation year will be the end of the calendar year.

If the trust is designated as a GRE, you must check box 26 of the Trust Income Tax Return (TP-646-V) and enter the social insurance number of the deceased individual for each taxation year the trust is designated as such.