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2009 Year-end financial deadlines

December 9th, 2009 · 30 Comments

With the end of this year just around the corner, here are some personal finance deadlines to note:

  1. December 24, 2009: Last day to crystallize tax losses for the 2009 financial year.
  2. December 31, 2009: Last day to contribute to a RESP and receive the 2009 Canada Education Savings Grant. While you can receive CESG for previous years, the maximum regular grant in a calendar year is $2,000.
  3. December 31, 2009: Last day to make a contribution to the Registered Disability Savings Plan and receive the disability savings grants.
  4. December 31, 2009: Last day to make charitable donations and receive a receipt for the 2009 financial year.
  5. December 31, 2009: Last day to contribute to a TFSA. Note that any unused portion of 2009 contribution room of $5,000 is carried over to the next year.
  6. December 31, 2009: Last day for a TFSA withdrawal to count as a withdrawal in the current year. Any withdrawals from a TFSA creates additional contribution room equal to the amount of withdrawal for the next calendar year. If you had wanted to transfer your TFSA to another financial institution, you can avoid transfer fees by making a withdrawal in 2009 and opening a new TFSA account and contributing the same sum in 2010.
  7. February 1, 2010: Deadline for home improvement expenses to qualify for the Home Renovation Tax Credit.

Of course, the big one is the RRSP contribution deadline of March 1, 2010, which is close to three months away but is never too early to plan for it now.

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30 responses so far ↓

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  • 2 Darren // Dec 9, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Don’t forget:

    Dec 31 – last day to contribute to your 2009 TFSA ($5000 max contribution in 2009)

  • 3 Canadian Capitalist // Dec 9, 2009 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks Darren. You can tell when a post is a rush job, when I miss something as important as a TFSA, eh?

  • 4 Ron // Dec 9, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Do I read this correctly? If I don’t contribute $5000 to a TFSA before the end of the year, does that contribution room carry over to 2010? Can I contribute $10,000 next year?

  • 5 Canadian Capitalist // Dec 9, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    @Ron: Yes. Any unused contribution room (whether or not you already have a TFSA account) is carried forward to the next year. Here’s the details straight from the horse’s mouth:

    http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/tfsa-celi/ctbtn/rm-eng.html

  • 6 Sam // Dec 9, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    Don’t forget about the TFSA December Shuffle! This is a workaround to the fee many banks charge to transfer your TFSA to a different institution. Rather than pay for a transfer, I’m doing a full withdrawal from my existing account on Dec. 31 followed by a full deposit — including the 2010 contribution portion — to a new account on Jan. 1.

  • 7 Four Pillars // Dec 9, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    The TFSA deadline is pretty artificial since there is no impact if you miss it.

    A good reminder of the “TFSA shuffle” – I wrote about it in detail here (I called it “the December Strategy”)

    http://www.four-pillars.ca/2009/02/25/tfsa-institution-transfer-strategies/

    This is the only situation I can think of where the TFSA year end deadline means anything.

    By the way the maximum RESP grant per year is $1,000, not $2,000.

  • 8 Four Pillars // Dec 9, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    Just to clarify – the $1000 RESP grant max is only if you don’t qualify for any extra grants for lower income in which case you could get a bit more than $1000.

  • 9 Smac20 // Dec 9, 2009 at 8:20 pm

    Deadlines Deadlines, we all have too many deadlines.

    I am looking forward to another 5K in TFSA room. Still holding out on my RRSP waiting for the next big pay raise to a higher tax bracket.

  • 10 BC Doc // Dec 9, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    Hi– does anyone know if I can take advantage of unused RESP room (specifically, can I make contributions for past years to obtain the government grant?)?

    Child one was born in 1995, child two in 1998, and child three in 2001. RESP contributions didn’t start until 2003– I was a struggling graduate student!

    Additionally, in 2007, we inadvertently under-contributed missing out on $400 of grant money into the family RESP.

    So, my question is, can we bump up our contributions to take advantage of “unused” grant money from previous years, or is this water long gone under the bridge?

    Thank in advance!

    BC Doc

  • 11 Doctor Stock // Dec 9, 2009 at 11:21 pm

    A key concept that is answered so well above is that you do not have to have a TFSA set up in order to get the contribution room from the government.

    This list is great! Good post.

    Cheers

  • 12 Canadian Capitalist // Dec 10, 2009 at 12:06 am

    @BC Doc: Yes, you can. Since unused grants accumulate and the maximum regular CESG grant is $1,000 (for a RESP contribution of $5,000), you can catch up for 1 more year every calendar year.

    http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/saving/cesg/faq.shtml#g

    Special rules apply to children aged 16 and 17:

    http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/saving/cesg/src.shtml

  • 13 Gabe // Dec 10, 2009 at 12:16 am

    @BC Doc: A child started accumulating RESP contribution room on Jan 1, 1998 or in the year he/she was born whichever was later.

    The maximum basic CESG you could get in 1998-2006 was $800 assuming the child had unused contribution room from previous years.

    2007 or later: the maximum basic CESG is $1000, again assuming unused contribution room.

    So my suggestion is to bump up your contributions to $4500-$5000/year/child as soon as you can, depending on the accumulated contribution room as I mentioned above

  • 14 Dave // Dec 10, 2009 at 1:56 am

    While you can receive CESG for previous years, the maximum regular grant in a calendar year is $2,000.

    Don’t you mean $1,000?

  • 15 B.C. Doc // Dec 10, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    Thanks for the very helpful replies.
    Time to go back and pick some low-hanging fruit!
    Cheers.

  • 16 dj // Dec 10, 2009 at 7:19 pm

    ……..”December 24, 2009: Last day to crystallize tax losses for the 2009 financial year”…….would this be….December 24, 2009: Last day to crystallize tax gain for the 2009 financial year?…..if i want to pay the tax on my 2009 file.

  • 17 A Lap Of The Blogs : WhereDoesAllMyMoneyGo.com // Dec 10, 2009 at 8:56 pm

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  • 18 Weekly Round Up – Halo Effect, Year-End Deadlines & More // Dec 11, 2009 at 7:01 am

    [...] by Ray on December 11, 2009 · 0 comments Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.As we are heading into the holiday season and year end we get busier and may start to forget some important tasks before the end of the year, Canadian Capitalist has put together a handy Year-end Financial Deadlines. [...]

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    Would love to win a planner, thank you
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  • 23 Life Insurance // Dec 13, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    I have alread maxed out the Home Renovation Tax Credit…I thought the maximum grant for the RESP was $400…20% based on a $2000 contribution?

  • 24 BC Doc // Dec 15, 2009 at 3:08 am

    Life Insurance // Dec 13, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    I have alread maxed out the Home Renovation Tax Credit…I thought the maximum grant for the RESP was $400…20% based on a $2000 contribution?

    Hi LI–

    The maximum grant went up to $500 back in 2007 I believe (based on a $2500 contribution).

    BC Doc

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  • 28 Hihi // Feb 20, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    I have a tfta for trading stock and I contributed 5k on Jan 1, 2009.
    If I did not sell any of the stock by Dec 31, 2009, and the account balance is 10k.

    What will be my tfsa contribution room for 2010?

  • 29 dj // Feb 22, 2010 at 2:36 pm

    HIHI..5k…..nice double , want too tell us how you did it ?

  • 30 Hihi // Feb 25, 2010 at 8:06 pm

    just called revenue canada and verify my contribute room is 5k for this year

    Hi dj,
    i am just luck to start trading last year March when the stocks at very low price.

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