Naming Your Executor: Friend or Pro?
A key element of estate planning is choosing an executor, someone you trust to carry out the instructions in your will. To ensure that the administration of your estate is completed efficiently and economically, it’s important to carefully evaluate your needs and choose your executor wisely.
Earlier or Later? Deciding When to Start Canada Pension Plan Retirement Benefits
Many individuals approaching retirement wonder if there is an optimal age to begin taking their Canada Pension Plan retirement pension benefits (CPP). The question often arises because CPP is calculated based upon the age at which an individual starts to receive monthly payments. Though the standard age to start CPP is 65, Canadians can start receiving CPP as early as 60 or as late as 70.
Maximizing Your RESP: Withdraw Wisely
A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a Canadian registered investment account that promotes saving to support a beneficiary’s post-secondary education. Anyone — parents, family and friends — can open a RESP as a “subscriber” for the benefit of a child. Invested contributions grow tax free.
Tax-Free First Home Savings Account
The First Home Savings Account (“FHSA”) was introduced in the 2022 Federal Budget to address the increasing difficulty Canadians are experiencing in buying a first home due to rising real estate values. The FHSA is intended to help Canadians save and fulfill their dreams of home ownership.
Alternative Minimum Tax – When Does It Apply, How, And For Whom?
The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)1 is a second, alternate tax liability calculation that Canadian individuals and trusts must consider annually in parallel with their normal tax liability. First introduced in 1986, AMT was implemented to promote and maintain fairness within Canada’s income tax regime.
How Should I Compensate Myself: Salary Or Dividends?
Everyone’s situation is unique. Tax is important, but incorporated business owners and professionals should also consider retirement planning, lifestyle and corporate cash flow needs when deciding to take compensation as salary, dividends, or a combination of the two.
Understanding the New Reporting Requirements for Trusts
Is your name on legal title for any assets that you don’t have a beneficial interest in (i.e., a Bare Trust)? Perhaps your name is legally on your parents’ home, or maybe your child’s banking or investment accounts? If this is the case, you may have a new reporting obligation with the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”).
Aircraft, Vessels and Vehicles: The New Luxury Tax
First announced in the 2021 Federal Budget, the new luxury tax will apply to sales, leases, and imports in Canada of certain luxury recreational aircraft, vessels, and vehicles delivered on or after September 1, 2022.