Tax

TFSA holders don’t understand death benefits

Although minor, the ability to tack a beneficiary designation onto tax free savings accounts is one of those small bits of advice that can differentiate an advisor from the herd. While most Canadians understand and appreciate the tax-free feature of the TFSA, a survey by Mackenzie Financial shows few are clear about the implications of […]

By Mark Noble |April 20, 2009

4 min read

U.S. estate tax for Canadians

If you have Canadian clients who are married to a citizen of the United States or a dual citizen, you may need to advise them to prepare for U.S. estate tax. U.S. estate tax is a wealth transfer tax levied at death on the fair market value of property held by an individual. The top […]

By Nadja Ibrahim, Christopher Gandhu |April 17, 2009

5 min read

Income splitting: Assets, prescribed rates and personal loans

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently announced that the prescribed rate, the rate at which your clients can lend cash or other assets to family members in order to sidestep attribution rules, is 1% for the second quarter of 2009, effective April 1, 2009. The prescribed rate is set each quarter and is based on […]

April 13, 2009

4 min read

Income planning case studies

Proper retirement planning requires planning for the worst, so deciding what to focus on in a retirement plan is no easy task. More often than not, financial planners think in terms of accumulation. But, once you switch from the accumulation stage to the distribution stage, the math is entirely different. While you can talk about […]

By Jim Otar |April 7, 2009

4 min read