Enerplus Resources Fund qualifies as a mutual fund trust under the Income Tax Act (Canada) and trust units of the Fund are qualified investments for RRSPs, RRIFs, RESPs and DPSPs. 

For Canadian unitholders, the payments are comprised of a taxable portion (income and dividend) and a non-taxable return of capital (tax deferred) portion. 2008 estimated taxable income for Canadian residents is 95%. Actual taxable amounts will vary depending on actual distributions, which are dependent upon production, commodity prices and funds flow experienced throughout the year. The actual taxable amounts will be communicated to unitholders via a T3 prepared by their brokers.

Investors are required to reduce the cost base of their units by the amount of the non-taxable return of capital each year.  Enerplus offers an adjusted cost base calculator to assist investors with their adjusted cost base (ACB) calculation. To the extent an investor’s ACB is reduced below zero, any future non-taxable return of capital payments will be deemed to be a capital gain and the investor’s cost base will become zero.