Tax News

Coming to terms with the HST

This past holiday season, the kids received a DVD of heritage-era cartoons, not the ones with either of the famous big-eared rodents, but instead a collection of fractured fairy tales. One in particular caught my attention – a tongue-in-cheek version of the story of the ant and the grasshopper. You’ll recall the original pitted the […]

March 9, 2010

4 min read

Maximize tax savings in 2010

Thanks to significant changes in 2008 and 2009, in addition to dependable, long-standing tax planning strategies, you now have many different approaches to help your clients defer their taxes and save this year and for years to come. Here are some discussion points your clients will be grateful you raised: Retirement income In June 2009, […]

By Cindy David |March 1, 2010

5 min read

Selling down South

Although many Canadians are taking advantage of low U.S. real estate pricing and the strong Canadian dollar to buy U.S. vacation properties, there are many others who have decided to sell their southern homes. It might be due to a financial need, limited use as health declines in older age or an upgrade to a […]

By Gena Katz |March 1, 2010

3 min read

Making spousal attribution rules work for you

In an ideal world, your clients would be free to shift income between themselves and a spouse. Should there be a difference in tax rates between the spouses, this shifting of income would normally result in tax savings for the family. To prevent widespread income splitting, and presumably, to ensure a certain level of government […]

By Wilmot George |February 25, 2010

4 min read