Between now and the end of February 2020, Canadians will receive a variety of receipts for expenditures made during the 2019 taxation year. Some of those expenditure receipts will support a tax deduction or credit claim to be made by the recipient on his or her 2019 tax return, while others will not. And, it’s not always easy for a taxpayer to know when such a credit or deduction is or is not available to be claimed. While the Canadian individual income tax return is only four pages long, the information on those four pages is supported by 13 supplementary federal schedules, dealing with everything from the calculation of capital gains to determining required Canada Pension Plan contributions by self-employed taxpayers.
Newsletter Archives - Page 28 of 29 - Akler Browning LLP
For most Canadians, registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) don’t become top of mind until near the end of February, as the annual contribution deadline (which, for 2019 contributions, will be March 2, 2020) approaches. When it comes to tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), most Canadians are aware that there is no contribution deadline for such plans, so that contributions can be made at any time or even carried forward to a subsequent taxation year. Consequently, neither RRSPs nor TFSAs tend to be a priority when it comes to year-end tax planning.
During the month of December, it is customary for employers to provide something “extra” for their employees, by way of a holiday gift, a year-end bonus or an employer-sponsored social event. And it is certainly the case that employers who provide such extras don’t intend to create a tax headache for their employees. Unfortunately, a failure to properly structure such gifts or other extras can result in unintended and unwelcome tax consequences to those employees.
Two quarterly newsletters have been added—one dealing with personal issues, and one dealing with corporate issues.
Planning for – or even thinking about – 2020 taxes when it’s not even December 2019 may seem more than a little premature. However, most Canadians will start paying their taxes for 2020 with the first paycheque they receive in January, and it’s worth taking a bit of time to make sure that things start off – and stay – on the right foot.
The start of fall marks a lot of things, among them a number of runs, walks and other similar events held to raise money for a broad range of Canadian charities. And, within the next month, as the holiday season approaches, charities will launch their year-end marketing campaigns.
Most Canadians expend a considerable amount of time and effort in order to put money aside for retirement. Especially in an era in which the majority of workers can’t look forward to receiving an employer-sponsored pension plan, Canadians are well aware that the bulk of their income during retirement will have to come from government sources and from their own savings efforts.
To win elections, politicians need votes. And to run the election campaigns needed to garner those votes, those politicians need an organization, volunteers, and money — a lot of money. To wage the most recent federal election, the major political parties raised and spent millions of dollars, and their task of raising that money was undoubtedly made somewhat easier by the fact that Canadian taxpayers who donated money to political parties or candidate can obtain some tax relief from doing so.
Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) have been around for a full decade now, having been introduced in 2009, and for most Canadians, a TFSA (along with a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP)) is now a regular part of their financial and tax planning.
In most cases, the need to seek out and obtain legal services (and to pay for them) is associated with life’s more unwelcome occurrences and experiences — a divorce, a dispute over a family estate, or a job loss. About the only thing that mitigates the pain of paying legal fees (apart, hopefully, from a successful resolution of the problem that created the need for legal advice) would be being able to claim a tax credit or deduction for the fees paid.