Between spouses, a loan agreement is usually about tax, not trust. A properly documented spousal loan agreement at the CRA prescribed rate — 3% for 2026 — is what keeps an income-splitting arrangement onside with the attribution rules.
Tax and estate lawyers charge far more than $450 for prescribed-rate paperwork. The document layer here is free to build, $29 to certify with both signatures.
Married and common-law couples share everything anyway — so the reason to document a loan between them is almost never fear of default. It’s the Income Tax Act’s attribution rules: hand investment money to a lower-income spouse informally, and the returns are taxed right back in your hands, defeating the point.
The exception Parliament built is the loan: lend at the prescribed rate in force when the loan is made — 3% for 2026, locked in for the life of the loan — charge real interest, and returns above that rate are taxed at the lower-income spouse’s bracket. The strategy stands or falls on documentation and discipline.
Lend Right produces the document layer: a signed, dated, province-aware loan agreement with the rate and repayment terms fixed, e-signed by both spouses and sealed with a tamper-evident certificate. Free to draft; one $29 fee to certify. Whether prescribed-rate splitting makes sense for your incomes and portfolio — and how it interacts with the rest of your tax picture — is a question for an accountant or tax advisor before you set it up. This page is general information, not tax advice.
Rate locked, deadline stated, both spouses signed — then talk to your accountant.
Create my loan agreement →The higher-income spouse lends money to the lower-income spouse at the CRA prescribed rate in force when the loan is made (3% for 2026); the borrowing spouse invests it. Investment returns above the interest are then taxed in the lower-income spouse's hands instead of being attributed back.
The arrangement fails. Interest for each year must genuinely be paid by January 30 of the following year — miss it once and attribution applies to the loan's income from then on. The agreement should state the rate and the payment deadline, and the payments should leave a clear trail.
Yes — the attribution rules and the prescribed-rate exception apply to common-law partners as they do to married spouses. The same documentation discipline applies.
It documents the loan properly — parties, principal, the locked-in rate, the January 30 interest deadline, both signatures with a certificate. Whether a prescribed-rate strategy suits your situation is a tax question: run it past your accountant. We're a document tool, not tax advisors.
Operated by RULE8 Inc., of which Lend Right is a product · last reviewed July 3, 2026, Lend Right Editorial Team.
Framework: Income Tax Act attribution rules and the CRA prescribed rate (3% for 2026, payable each Jan 30); Criminal Code s. 347 (35% APR cap); provincial e-commerce and limitation legislation.
Important scope note: this page and the tool are document automation with general information — emphatically not tax advice. Whether a prescribed-rate strategy fits your situation is a question for an accountant or tax advisor before the loan is made. Quebec is not yet supported.
Signing validity: e-signatures bind ordinary contracts in all supported provinces; the certified PDF records both spouses’ signatures and timestamps — the paper trail the arrangement depends on, alongside the actual interest payments.
Lend Right provides self-help document automation, not legal advice, and no lawyer-client relationship is created. For complex situations, consult a licensed lawyer in your province.