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Tax planning for year-end charitable donations

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsNovember 2, 20230 comments

Canadians have a well-deserved reputation for supporting charitable causes, through donations of both money and goods. Our tax system supports that generosity by providing a tax credit for qualifying donations made and, in all cases, in order to claim a credit for a donation in a ...

Year-end planning for medical expense claims

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsOctober 26, 20230 comments

While our health care system is currently struggling with a number of significant problems, Canadians are nonetheless fortunate to have a publicly funded health care system, in which most major medical expenses are covered by government health care plans. Notwithstanding, there is ...

The CPP post-retirement benefit - deciding whether to continue contributing

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsOctober 19, 20230 comments

One or two generations ago, retirement was an event. Typically, an individual would leave the work force completely at age 65 and begin collecting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Old Age Security (OAS) benefits along with, in many cases, a pension from an employer-sponsored registered ...

Year-end planning for your RRSP, RRIF, TFSA, and FHSA

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsOctober 12, 20230 comments

Most Canadians know that the deadline for making contributions to one’s registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) comes 60 days after the end of the calendar year, around the end of February. There are, however, some circumstances in which an RRSP contribution must be (or should ...

Repayment deadline for pandemic business loans extended

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsOctober 5, 20230 comments

During the pandemic, temporary financial assistance was provided to Canadian small businesses through a number of grant and loan programs initiated by the federal government. One of the largest of those programs was the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program, which ran from ...

Changes to Registered Education Savings Plans for the upcoming school year

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsSeptember 28, 20230 comments

By anyone’s measure, obtaining a post-secondary education is an expensive undertaking. Tuition and other school-related costs are just the start of the bills which must be paid. Whether the student obtains a place in a university residence or finds a place to live off campus, ...

Deciding when to start receiving Old Age Security benefits

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsSeptember 21, 20230 comments

The Old Age Security (OAS) program is the only aspect of Canada’s retirement income system which does not require a direct contribution from recipients of program benefits. Rather, the OAS program is funded through general tax revenues, and eligibility to receive OAS is based ...

Upcoming repayment deadline for pandemic business emergency loans

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsSeptember 14, 20230 comments

When the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, it wasn’t long before it became apparent that the increasing threat was to both public health and to the economy. In response to the economic threat, the federal government launched a wide range of support programs for both individuals ...

Coming clean with the tax authorities - the Voluntary Disclosure Program

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsSeptember 7, 20230 comments

The Canadian tax system is a “self-assessing system” which relies heavily on the voluntary co-operation of taxpayers. Canadians are expected (in fact, in most cases, required) to complete and file a tax return each spring, reporting income from all sources, calculating ...

Tax breaks for the upcoming post-secondary school year

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsAugust 24, 20230 comments

While the way in which post-secondary learning is delivered may have changed and changed again over the past three and a half years, as the pandemic waxed and waned and finally ended, the financial realities of post-secondary education have not. Regardless of how post-secondary learning ...

Making the most of the new First Home Savings Account

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsAugust 17, 20230 comments

The scarcity of affordable housing in just about every Canadian community can’t be news to anyone anymore. Whether it’s in relation to rental housing or the purchase of a first home, the opportunity to secure affordable, long-term housing has become more and more elusive, ...

When the taxman has a few questions about your return

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsAugust 10, 20230 comments

By mid to late summer, almost every Canadian has filed his or her income tax return for the previous year and has received the Notice of Assessment issued by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with respect to that tax filing. Most taxpayers, therefore, would consider that their annual ...

Managing debt in a (continually) rising interest rate environment

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsAugust 3, 20230 comments

Between 2009 and early 2022, Canadians lived (and borrowed) in an ultra-low interest rate environment. Between January 2009 and March 2022, the bank rate (from which commercial interest rates are determined) was (except, briefly, in the fall of 2018) never higher than 1.50% – ...

Making the RRSP decision when you turn 71

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsJuly 27, 20230 comments

The age at which Canadians retire and begin deriving income from government and private pensions and private retirement savings has become something of a moving target. At one time, reaching one’s 65th birthday marked the transition from working life to full retirement, ...

How to respond to a first Instalment Reminder from the Canada Revenue Agency

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsJuly 20, 20230 comments

By the time summer arrives, nearly all Canadians have filed their income tax returns for the previous year, have received a Notice of Assessment from the tax authorities with respect to that return and have either spent their tax refund or, more grudgingly, paid any balance of tax ...

The start of a new benefit year - what can you receive in 2023-24?

By Amanda CoombesAccounting, Auditing, Tax & Consulting NewsJuly 13, 20230 comments

At a time when Canadian households are coping simultaneously with ongoing inflation, especially food inflation, as well as interest rates which are at their highest point in decades, every dollar of income counts. And where that income can be obtained with minimal effort, and received ...

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