Tax

Help clients keep their cottages

Succession planning for the cottage is complex, especially when it’s to be shared by multiple family members who all have an emotional attachment. For many cottage owners, values have increased so significantly that their children may be forced to sell it just to pay capital gains and probate taxes.

By Mike George |August 1, 2011

7 min read

Tax News

Statute of limitations

In 1991, the federal government introduced fairness legislation, this legislation gives the CRA the discretion to cancel or waive either all or a portion of any interest or penalties (but not the actual tax) payable.

August 1, 2011

4 min read

Tax News

Tax-efficient investor behaviour

This is the last in a series of articles on tax-efficient investing. This series has merely scratched the surface of the topic, but demonstrates your clients’ portfolios can reap substantial benefits from a tax-aware approach.

By André Fok Kam |July 27, 2011

8 min read

Tax Strategies

Dealing with mental incapacity

As advisors, you are probably meeting next generation relatives of your long-term clients. These new contacts may play an important role in your continued relationship with your client, as the client’s “representative” (the attorney appointed by a “Power of Attorney” in most provinces, or the mandatory appointed by a “Mandate in anticipation of Incapacity” in Quebec) for financial and legal matters if your client becomes mentally incapable.

By Carol Bezaire |July 26, 2011

4 min read

Building wealth with IPPs

An individual pension plan can be an effective vehicle for funding a business owner's retirement and minimizing their personal taxes. It can also play a part in corporate tax planning. And yet it remains something of a rarity in Canada.

By Al Emid |July 26, 2011

4 min read

Tax-efficient investing and dividends

Reader alert: This is part 2 of a five-part series. • Part 1: Tackling tax-efficient investing • Part 2: Capital gains mean tax-efficient investing • Part 3: Tax-efficient investing and dividends • Part 4: Magic of tax-efficient bond investing • Part 5: Tax-efficient investor behaviour Tax-efficient investing, as it relates to dividends, revolves around these […]

9 min read

Feds take a swing at stapled securities

The federal government has announced amendments to the Income Tax Act, to ensure that the spirit of its Tax Fairness Plan is followed. The Tax Fairness Plan was introduced in 2006 to stem the proliferation of income trusts, essentially treating their profits in the same way as corporate profits. “These proposed measures will ensure that […]

By Staff |July 20, 2011

2 min read

Double-check your returns

In matters of tax compliance, such as filing on time or ensuring you properly report all your income or ownership of foreign income-producing assets (where the cost amount is above $100,000), the penalties for not properly following the rules or for negligence are severe.

4 min read

Tax proposals change how you advise clients

Earlier this year, one of Canada's largest employers boosted its workforce by thousands of people, without increasing its payroll by a cent. In fact, if you are a Canadian taxpayer or an accountant, lawyer, financial planner, investment advisor, or insurance agent - anyone who receives fees for assisting Canadian taxpayers with a tax plan that provides tax benefits - you have a new employer: the Canada Revenue Agency.

July 8, 2011

8 min read