A testamentary trust (a trust established by will after death) is subject to tax at graduated income tax rates. Conversely, an inter vivos trust (a trust created during a settlor’s lifetime) is taxed at the highest marginal tax rate applicable to individuals (currently 43.7% in BC). Consequently, for access to graduated rates of tax for […]
Payments to Non-Residents
If you make payments to non-residents of Canada, you may be required to withhold an amount from the payment and remit it to the CRA. Additionally, you may be required to file an annual information return and distribute tax slips to the recipients of the payments. Failing to do any one of these things could […]
Tax Consequences of Loans to Friends or Family
If you loan money to a friend or family member to help them buy a car or a house, or start a business, the expectation is that they’ll pay you back. But what if they don’t? Capital Loss Election Unless you’re in the money-lending business, your right as a creditor to receive repayment of […]
Late Filing Your Corporate Return is Never a Good Idea
Under the Income Tax Act, a corporation is required to file its tax return within six months of the end of a taxation year. The penalty for late filing is generally calculated as a percentage of the unpaid tax for the fiscal year. If no tax was payable for the year due to a loss, […]
Death and Taxes
As Mark Twain pointed out, the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. And even in death you can’t escape taxation. In this article we’ll look at some of the tax issues that will arise after your death. Final Tax Return Your final tax return will include all income received in the […]
2019 Federal Budget Highlights
Overview On March 19th 2019, Finance Minister Bill Morneau delivered his 4th Federal Budget since the Trudeau Liberal Government took office in 2015. After significant corporate and personal tax changes made over the past three years, Budget 2019 was light on tax changes but big on spending. Budget 2019 projects a deficit of $14.9 billion […]
Five Reasons to Always File a Personal Tax Return
As a Canadian resident, you’re only required to file a personal tax return if: You owe taxes (i.e., before applying credits for source deductions and installments). You’ve earned taxable capital gain or disposes of capital property in the year. You have a balance in your Home Buyer’s Plan or Lifelong Learning Plan at the end […]
Resigning as a Company Director? Get it in Writing.
If you’re planning on resigning as a director of a company, a signed and dated letter attesting to your resignation is key. This is because of two obligations from the Income Tax Act and one from the Excise Tax Act that can become personal liabilities for up to TWO YEARS after you’ve resigned. These obligations […]
Manage Your Risks to Ensure Your Company’s Long-Term Success
The risks you’ll face as a business will change constantly based on the market (new competitor, new product), the organization (international expansion strategy, acquisition of another company, initial public offering), products (product obsolescence, major recall of a defective product), etc. As such, risk evaluation should be built into your structure, and ideally have a person […]
BC Employer Health Tax Summary
BC’s new Employer Health Tax (“Health Tax”) is in effect now – as of January 1, 2019 For 2019 – the BC government is collecting BOTH the new Health Tax and 50% of the MSP premiums (it collected 50% of the premiums for 2018). MSP is completely phased out at the end of 2019. […]
