Red Ink on the Prairies

A day after Quebec’s Finance Minister Eric Girard brought down a Budget featuring a $6.3 Billion deficit, Saskatchewan’s Finance Minister Jim Reiter tabled his government’s budget on March 19. Next up was Finance Minister Adrian Salas, who tabled the Manitoba Budget on March 24. The common thread: there’s lots of red ink on the Prairies. But that’s where the budget documents differ between Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Here’s the latest tax news and why it matters to the advice you give your clients.

Tax erosion is often viewed as the biggest threat to your clients’ wealth. Provide credible, trusted, and expert solutions to your clients’ complex retirement planning requirements with Advanced Tax-Efficient Retirement Income Planning. Enrol by October 2 and save $200 on tuition fees. 

Soaring debt loads are a problem for many Canadians and particularly troublesome for those who are about to retire. Knowledge Bureau’s Debt Reductions Solutions Calculator is a tool to help advisors assist their clients with making a plan to get out of debt. 

Drawing up inter-spousal investment loans are a legitimate way for the higher-income spouse to transfer taxable investment income to their lower-income spouse to reduce the family tax bill. For several years now, the prescribed rate for spousal loans has been set at 1% but that may be changing shortly.

On September 13, the Minister of Finance, Jim Flaherty, confirmed reports that the Canada GEN Investment Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Canada Development Investment Corporation, sold 30 million common stock General Motors (GM) shares to BofA Merill Lynch and RBC Capital Markets in an unregistered block trade. 

Canadian full-time students in undergraduate programs paid 3.3% more on average in tuition fees for the 2013/2014 academic year this fall than they did a year earlier.

It’s expensive to get an education, so investing in careers that “count” both financially and for your lifestyle in the future is important.