Over the weekend, I completed our tax returns and printed out our T1 General to double check our returns. On the top of Page 2 there is a box that says “Please answer the following question:” followed by “Did you own or hold foreign property at any time in 2008 with a total cost of [...]

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[Thanks to Robert A. Smith, CFA, CFP, a Financial Advisor in Markham area and author of Dollars From Change (Review), for suggesting today's topic and providing most of the content in the post.]
If you have a net capital loss for the 2008 tax year (who doesn’t?) and reported taxable capital gains in 2005, 2006 or [...]

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To help consumers cope with harmonization of Ontario’s Provincial Sales Tax with the Federal GST, the Ontario budget proposed that a one-time Sales Tax Transition Benefit be paid to eligible Ontario taxpayers aged 18 and over. The Benefit is worth a maximum of $300 for single individuals and $1,000 for couples or single parents and [...]

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It is perhaps unsurprising that the Canada Revenue Agency’s website is probably the best online resource on tax matters. Every tax form and tax guide published by the CRA can be found on the website and there is hardly a need to look elsewhere for most straightforward tax questions. If you are looking for more [...]

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I’m just about finished with our taxes and found that we had three small tax deductions for 2008 that would have been easily missed if I weren’t paying more attention. These deductions are small enough on their own (less than $100, often less than $50) but they might add up to a significant amount.
Public Transit [...]

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One of the ironies of harmonization is the outcry from the mutual fund industry that a HST will be an additional strain on the savings of ordinary investors. CI Financial Corp. even issued a news release on the topic:

Harmonization of Ontario’s sales tax with the federal GST would lead to a massive tax on the [...]

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The provincial Ontario budget is usually a sleepy affair, except in the odd years when new taxes are introduced. 2009 appears to be one such year. Major newspapers are reporting that Ontario is planning to harmonize the province’s 8 percent sales tax with the Federal GST. Ontarians can expect to pay extra taxes under harmonization [...]

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If you hold securities in a taxable portfolio, you can contribute them in-kind to your RRSP. But, you have to keep in mind the tax implications because an in-kind transfer is considered as a deemed disposition. If you have capital gains, you’ll have to declare it in your tax return. However, you cannot claim a [...]

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Last year, I reviewed StudioTax, found it to be of very good quality and ended up Netfiling our taxes using it. Many Canadians seem to agree — StudioTax reports that more than 100,000 taxpayers used the software to file their returns in 2007. I asked the developer of the software for an update on what’s [...]

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After a less than stellar experience trying to sell less product for the same price, Intuit is taking a new tack this year – it is offering a feature called Audit Defence that QuickTax users can optionally purchase (at a cost of $39.99 per return) when preparing their taxes. According to Intuit, QuickTax users who [...]

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