Canadian Dental Care Plan Renewal Deadline Approaches

Know Your Client!   It’s a daily commitment and requirement, especially in the work that financial advisors do with their clients.   It’s imperative that you ask about any significant changes in their lives. Has there been a significant new event:   a move to take a new job or go to university, a marriage or divorce, a new birth, a disability or a death? And, in the case of income tested benefits such as the Canadian Dental Care Plan, (CDCP) do they qualify?  Did they file their tax return on time to get it?  Do you know the deadlines for doing so?  Do you know when coverage ends if your client now longer qualifies?

Over 700 respondents voted in the Knowledge Bureau Report Poll last month on whether they agreed with CRA’s policy to stop mass mailing paper tax returns, the largest response to a poll to date and also the one that swung the most from one side of an issue to the other. 

What does the next federal budget, widely expected to be announced sometime this month, have in store for Canadian taxpayers?

Citing a significant lack of trust in major financial institutions as a major impediment to economic recovery, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada, said in a recent speech to tomorrow’s bankers at the Richard Ivey School of Business that even the G-20 reforms will not be sufficient to rebuild this aspect of the economy.

According to a new report, the middle class, women, and seniors have been stellar investors in the Tax Free Savings Accounts, amongst the 8.2 million Canadians who opened one up to the end of 2011.

In a recent case the ‘Tie Breaker’ rules were used to determine the tax status of a group of American business people working in Canada in Dysert v. The Queen (2013) TCC 57. 

Here’s a common issue encountered by tax and financial advisors. The client is Mr. X who has borrowed money to invest and wants to write off the interest. Can the investments be held jointly with his wife, Mrs. X for estate and tax planning purposes? What are the pitfalls to consider?