Small business hiring credited extended through 2012 (May 2012)
While it didn’t get a lot of attention in the coverage of the
2012-13 federal Budget (brought down at the end of March), one of
the budget announcements was definitely good news for the small
bu...
The high cost of driving—is there tax relief available? (May 2012)
As gas prices across Canada climb past the $1.30/litre mark, and
some predictions are for $1.50/litre (or higher) gas costs by the
summer, consumers are looking for just about any way to reduce
their ...
Fixing a mistake on your tax return … after it’s filed (May 2012)
By now, most Canadian taxpayers (except the self-employed and their
spouses, who have until June 15) will have filed their 2011 income
tax returns. It’s quite often the case that a taxpayer
will...
Understanding the recent changes to Old Age Security (May 2012)
Of all the measures announced in the 2012-13 federal Budget brought
down on March 29, it was the changes to Canada’s Old Age
Security (OAS) system which will likely have the greatest impact on
t...
Federal corporate tax rates for 2012 (January 2012)
The general federal corporate tax rate and the rate applied to
income from manufacturing and processing will be reduced from
16.50% to 15%, effective January 1, 2012....
Employee holiday gifts and the taxman (December 2011)
The time of year is approaching when many Canadian employees look
forward to something “extra” from their
employer—a Christmas or Hanukkah gift, a year-end bonus, or
an invitation to...
A year-end tax to-do list (December 2011)
For most Canadians, December means holiday celebrations and school
vacations. In the tax world, however, December 31 marks the
deadline by which most tax planning and saving strategies must be
put in ...
Flying south for the winter (November 2011)
Every year, thousands of Canadians escape our winter by traveling
south, usually to the U.S., for a few weeks or months, or even the
whole winter. While recent fluctuations in the value of the
Canadia...
How to reduce your tax refund (November 2011)
At first glance, the idea of working to reduce your tax refund
would strike most taxpayers as, at the very least, exceedingly poor
tax planning advice. Most Canadian taxpayers view receiving a
refund ...
Taking out a reverse mortgage (October 2011)
Just about everyone is familiar with the concept of a mortgage.
Money is borrowed, usually from a bank or other financial
institution, in order to purchase a home. That money (now known as
mortgage pr...
Elections 2011—round two (October 2011)
The year 2011 may be notable in Canadian history as the year of
elections. In addition to the general federal election which was
held in May 2011, no fewer than 6 of Canada’s 10
provinces—...
Calculating your TFSA contribution room for 2011 (September 2011)
Since they became available on January 1, 2009, Tax-free Savings
Accounts (TFSAs) have proven to be extremely popular with
Canadians. TFSAs offer Canadians aged 18 and older an opportunity
to save and...
Legal fees—what’s deductible and when? (September 2011)
Very few Canadians escape paying personal legal fees at one time or
another and, depending on the situation, those fees can add up
quickly. Unfortunately, while legal fees incurred in some
circumstanc...
Responding to a CRA information request (September 2011)
Earlier this year, Canadians filed about 27 million tax returns in
about a three month period between March and June, and the Canada
Revenue Agency (CRA) was required to process and issue a Notice of
...
Post-secondary students and income tax (August 2011)
As summer reaches its midpoint, students who are about to start
their post-secondary education as well as those returning for a
second, third, or fourth year of university or college will be
gearing u...
Home EcoENERGY Retrofit program renewed (August 2011)
In 2007, the federal government introduced the EcoENERGY Retrofit
program, which provided homeowners who made changes to their homes
to make them more energy-efficient with grants of up to $5,000 per
...
Federal Budget 2011-12—Round 2 (July 2011)
On June 6, Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty brought down the second
incarnation of the federal government’s 2011-12 fiscal year
Budget. The budget, which had orig...
Getting a tax assist for summer child care costs (June 2011)
As June arrives and the end of the school year is in sight,
families that do not have a stay-at-home parent have to make plans
for keeping the kids busy and supervised over their summer
vacation. Ther...
Moving expenses—what’s deductible and when? (June 2011)
While interest rates remain low, an increase in those rates and,
therefore, in the cost of carrying a mortgage is clearly on the
horizon. In addition, changes made by the federal government to
mortgag...
Carrying debt into retirement (June 2011)
When Canadians plan for retirement, the focus is usually on
amassing sufficient savings to last them through their retirement
years. However, keeping a handle on expens...
The high cost of driving—is there tax relief available? (May 2011)
As gas prices across Canada look to set new records, the cost of
getting to work (or getting just about anywhere) is likely a topic
of conversation in nearly every home and workplace in Canada.
Consum...
Household debt of Canadian families reaches new levels (May 2011)
It’s no secret that Canadians have, over the past decade or
so, taken on an unprecedented level of personal and family debt. An
extraordinarily low interest rate environment, the increased av...
Last minute tax-filing strategies (April 2011)
By the time most Canadians sit down to gather together information
slips and receipts to prepare their 2010 tax return, any
opportunities to minimize tax payable for the year are, for the
most part,...
Pension income splitting (April 2011)
Unlike contributing to an RRSP or a tax-free savings account
(TFSA), the idea of splitting pension income as a tax-planning
strategy doesn’t get a lot of attention in the media.
That’s unf...
Filing on time—and the costs of being late (April 2011)
It may seem like an obvious mistake to avoid, but every year some
taxpayers pay unnecessary (and non-deductible) penalties and
interest for no reason other than that they simply didn’t get
the...
Getting your return in–when and how? (March 2011)
If the constant flow of television commercials reminding taxpayers
of the upcoming RRSP contribution deadline wasn't enough, the
arrival of the 2010 tax return form and the issuance of tax
informat...
Dealing with the CRA online–some recent changes (March 2011)
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has devoted significant resources
over the past couple of decades to ensuring that Canadians can deal
with the Agency on personal tax matters through its Web site, w...
Getting credit(s) for financing the political process (March 2011)
Canada's current minority government has now held office for just
over five years, and speculation that a federal election will take
place in 2011, perhaps as early as the spring, continues to incr...
TFSAs and RRSPs—making the annual choice (February 2011)
It's that time of year again, when advertisements about the wisdom
of contributing to your RRSP (and usually about the benefits of
borrowing to do so) fills the airwaves and Web sites. And, since
the ...
Getting a head start on year-end tax planning (February 2011)
At this time of year, most taxpayers are focused on their tax
obligations for the taxation year just ended on December 31,
2010—on the need to file a return for that year, on whether
they will b...
How to deal with an instalment reminder from the CRA (February 2011)
February is the month in which millions of Canadian taxpayers
receive an Instalment Reminder from the Canada Revenue Agency
(CRA). For many of the taxpayers who have received such notices in
the past,...
Federal corporate tax rates for 2011 (January 2011)
The general federal corporate tax rate and the rate applied to
income from manufacturing and processing will be reduced from
18.00% to 16.50%, effective January 1, 2011....
Employee holiday gifts and the taxman (December 2010)
The time of year is approaching when many Canadian employees look
forward to something “extra” from their
employer—a Christmas or Hanukkah gift, a year-end bonus or an
invitation to ...
A year-end tax "to do" list (December 2010)
For most Canadians, December means holiday celebrations and school
vacations. In the tax world, however, December 31 marks the
deadline by which most tax planning and saving strategies must be
put in ...
Upcoming changes to the Canada Pension Plan (December 2010)
For most Canadians, the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) represents a
significant source of anticipated income during their retirement
years—for some, perhaps even the majority of their income. As
a re...
E-commerce and the Taxman (November 2010)
The exponential growth of the Internet over the past fifteen years
has been accompanied by a similar explosion in internet-based
purchases and sales of goods and services, commonly referred to
under t...
When you owe money to the CRA (November 2010)
By now, everyone who is required to file a tax return for the 2009
tax year has likely done so, and nearly all will have received a
Notice of Assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) relating
t...
Understanding the OAS “recovery tax” (November 2010)
Mention the words “OAS recovery tax” to most Canadians
and you’ll likely get a blank look in return – even
from those who actually pay the tax. Talk about the OAS
“clawba...
The 2010 Economic and Fiscal Update (November 2010)
When Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, delivered the 2010
Economic and Fiscal Update on October 12, expectations were that
the final deficit figure for the 2009-10 fiscal year which ended
March...
Making the most of pension income splitting (October 2010)
Unlike contributing to a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP)
or a tax-free savings account (TFSA), the idea of splitting pension
income to reduce taxes doesn’t get a lot of attention in
th...
Flying south for the winter (September 2010)
Every year, thousands of Canadians escape our winter by travelling
south, usually to the United States, for a few weeks or months, or
even the whole winter. The recent decline in the cost of U.S.
real...
New fiscal year starts off with $4.4 billion deficit (August 2010)
While a $4.4 billion deficit doesn’t sound like a very good
start to a new fiscal year, it is in fact a $3.1 billion
improvement over the $7.5 billion deficit recorded by the federal
government ...
Post-secondary students and income tax (August 2010)
As the halfway point of summer is reached, students who are about
to return to (or start) college or university will be gearing up
for the upcoming year. And while students are likely to be
preoccupie...
Federal and provincial tax changes effective July 1 (July 2010)
Each year, at the beginning of July, a number of tax changes, at
both the federal and provincial levels, are implemented. This year,
the most significant change is likely the implementation, in
Britis...
The federal government’s year-end report card (July 2010)
The financial consequences of the recent recession and of the
federal government’s efforts to fight that recession were
apparent in the figures released in the most recent issue of the
Departmen...
The tax benefits of working from home (June 2010)
A number of circumstances and developments have come together over
the past few years to make working from a home office, once almost
unknown, a common fact of business life. First and foremost, of
co...
Moving expenses – what’s deductible and when? (June 2010)
A number of factors converged to make the real estate market of the
spring of 2010 one of the busiest in recent memory. House prices
have been on the rise for some time, interest rates (and therefore
...
$1.41 trillion in debt – and counting (June 2010)
A number like $1.41 trillion is hard for most Canadians to grasp,
and many Canadians would be surprised to find that that figure
represents the total debt of Canadian households as measured in the
mon...
New Quarterly Newsletters (May 2010)
Two quarterly newsletters have been added, one about individual
issues and one about corporate issues. They can be accessed
below....
Keeping employer source deductions in order (May 2010)
When businesses, especially small businesses, run into difficulty
with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), it's often over the issue of
source deductions, and it's not hard to see why. Almost all
busines...
Getting some tax relief for summer child care costs (May 2010)
As spring arrives and the end of the school year approaches,
thoughts of parents turn to the question of how to keep the kids
busy and supervised over the summer months. In two-income families,
that u...
Obtaining personal tax information online (May 2010)
With more than 13 million tax returns filed by electronic means
each year, it seems safe to say that individual Canadians are
familiar with the online tax filing options available to them. What
many l...
What happens after you file that tax return (May 2010)
By now, most Canadian taxpayers (excepting the self-employed and
their spouses, who have until June 15) will have filed their 2009
income tax returns. Once the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has
processe...
Interest payable on corporate tax overpayments (April 2010)
Like anyone else who has the use of borrowed funds, the federal
government pays interest. However, the federal government is unlike
most borrowers, in that the rate of interest which it pays is set
by...
The rules change for employee stock option (April 2010)
Many employees, especially at the senior management level, are
compensated in part through the right to acquire shares of the
employer company, usually at a reduced cost or on favourable terms.
The ap...
"Just-in-time" tax planning? (April 2010)
No sensible tax advisor would suggest starting your tax planning
for the year as you sit down to complete your return. The standard
advice correctly holds that the best year-end tax planning begins
on...
Getting your return in - when and how? (March 2010)
By the end of February or early March, taxpayers will usually have
received all of the information needed to prepare their 2009 income
tax returns. Issuers of T4s (for employment income) and T5s (for
...
How to respond to an Instalment Reminder from the CRA (March 2010)
February is the month in which millions of Canadian taxpayers
receive a Instalment Reminder from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
For many of those taxpayers, who have received many such notices in
th...
TFSAs and RRSPs - Making the Annual Choice (February 2010)
February is usually the month in which Canadians wrestle with the
question of whether and in what amount to make an RRSP contribution
before the contribution deadline, which falls this year on
Monday,...
Automobile Benefits Calculator Available Online (October 2009)
Having the use of an employer-owned or leased automobile is a very
popular and very common employee "perk". However, the enjoyment of
such an automobile means that a taxable benefit must be included
o...
What Happens After You File That Tax Return (May 2009)
By now, most Canadian taxpayers (excepting the self-employed and
their spouses, who have until June 15) will have filed their 2008
income tax returns. Once the Canada Revenue Agency has processed
thos...
Newsletters
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