Tax Strategies

Capitalizing on corporate mutual funds

Mutual Fund Corporations have been around for some time now but they really exploded on the scene about 15 years ago. Their popularity was sparked by astute advisors and clients looking for ways to reduce income taxes on investments. As a refresher, a mutual fund corporation is a single entity which establishes multiple share classes […]

By Frank Di Pietro |August 19, 2010

5 min read

Avoiding questionable expenses

How careful are you, as an advisor, in ensuring the business expenses you claim each year at tax time are appropriate, reasonable and properly documented? A recent tax case decided in April (Platis v The Queen, 2010 TCC 150) involved Toronto advisor Peter Platis, a commissioned commodities and foreign exchange broker employed by Refco Futures […]

By Jamie Golombek |August 16, 2010

3 min read

Spousal loan pitfalls

Much has been written about the opportunity for family tax savings that can be achieved by shifting investments from a high taxpayer spouse (“spouse” also refers to a common-law partner) to a lower taxpayer spouse. One of the more popular strategies is the use of a spousal loan. This process requires the borrowing spouse to […]

By Carol Bezaire |August 5, 2010

6 min read

OAS clawback

If I received and subsequently invested a loonie for every client who has bemoaned the dreaded clawback of Old Age Security benefits because their retirement income is too high, the income ultimately generated from that investment alone could be enough to wipe out my own entire OAS benefits! The OAS program is an important component […]

By Jamie Golombek |August 1, 2010

3 min read