Navigating Auto Expense Deduction at Year End: What Clients Need to Know

Doubtless you’ve had clients ask whether they can write off any portion of their vehicle for work or business purposes. And your answer, as always, is: “It depends.” The rules are worth reviewing at year end as they can vary significantly depending on how the client earns their income—employee, self-employed, or incorporated – and this is a deduction that’s often audited. Here’s a practical primer to guide that conversation.

92% voted a resounding YES to increasing the maximum limit on capital cost for passenger vehicles in Class 10.1 above $30,000 plus taxes.

Parents who claim babysitting expenses will be happy with the new enhancements to the child care expense deduction on line 214. Effective 2015 and subsequent taxation years, the maximum dollar amounts that may be claimed for each child will increase by $1,000. For children under the age of 7, the maximum claim will increase from $7,000 to $8,000, for children aged 7 to 16 (and for infirm dependent children over the age of 16) the maximum claim will increase from $4,000 to $5,000, and for children who are eligible for the Disability Tax Credit the maximum claim will increase from $10,000 to $11,000. Child Care Expenses can be deducted from the income of the lower-income spouse when the expenses are incurred to earn employment or business income, perform research or pursue an education. The maximum amount that can be claimed each year is limited to the least of:     the total amount spent on child care expenses;     two thirds of the lower-income taxpayer’s earned income; and     the total of the maximum dollar limits allowed for all* children as mentioned above. The amounts are claimed on Form T778 and receipts are required to back up the claim. *Note that the third limit is applied to all children in the family, not just those for whom child care expenses are claimed.

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Year end tax planning for corporate-owner managers includes decision-making around the most tax efficient income streams - salary, dividends or bonus - for each shareholder in the family.

The Research Department at Credit Suisse has released its Global Wealth Report 2014, which measures trends in wealth across the world. Its key findings are that although economic recovery overall remains challenging, total global wealth has grown to a new record between mid-2013 and mid-2014, increasing to more than twice the USD level recorded in the year 2000.

Speaking this week at the Toronto Global Forum, Minister of State (Finance) Kevin Sorenson has called for renewed efforts in strengthening the global economic recovery from what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde calls “the new mediocre.”