Back to School Tax Breaks

Like tax season, back-to-school season rolls around annually with certainty. But in today’s inflationary environment, the start-up costs for getting the family organizing for the school year may seem daunting. The good news is that tax and financial advisors can help clients understand their tax planning options and manage all the receipts that can lead to tax breaks later in the spring during tax filing time. Here’s a primer of topics you may wish to discuss:

Last week, form T1135 “Foreign Asset Verification Statement” was released for 2015.  As promised, the form now includes a simplified method for reporting assets where the taxpayer owns specified foreign property with a cost base of more than $100,000 but less than $250,000.

Knowledge Bureau is excited to introduce a new convenient, online learning opportunity:  continuing professional education on video – a great new way to earn 6 CE/CPD Credits.

Just how good is your tax knowledge these days? Are you up for a little year-end tax test to see just how much you need to “shake out the cobwebs” before tax season 2016?  Here’s how it works: tell us the significance of these numbers that will appear on the 2015 T1 Return: $2093, $7033, $7899, $11,327, $15,255, $25,370, $35,466, $72,809 and $140,944.

It’s more important than ever for Millennials and their Boomer parents to start discussions about multi-generation tax, retirement and financial planning, and after dinner story-telling over the holidays is a great way to start a new financial journey in 2016.  Just how do you build a Wealth Purpose with a Tax Strategy?  Evelyn Jacks’ Family Tax Essentials will provide you with some great new ideas!

How can you be a better steward of your clients’ wealth? How can you communicate effectively to them your role as a financial fiduciary? The trend in the financial industry is towards greater transparency as the value of advice trumps a transaction-based service. But to create a more powerful value proposition for your advisory practice in 2016, you need to refocus on your fiduciary duty.

The Federal Government introduced a Ways and Means Motion on December 7 that will implement the promised middle income tax cut to 20.5%. In addition, there are a host of new tax increases for high net worth clients: Canadian retirees and business owners that tax and financial advisors will want to reach with planning advice soon.