Mackenzie fund mergers 2021

This only affects those who own Mackenzie Investments Capital Class funds, in particular those held in non-registered accounts. Affected clients will have just received an explanatory letter from Mackenzie but I wanted to provide some additional comments. First, here is a timeline to provide context. Mutual funds in Canada are offered in two legal structures: […]

Federal Budget 2016 changes tax rule about corporate class mutual funds

2016 Budget measure: Corporate Class Mutual Funds Canadian mutual funds can be in the legal form of a trust or a corporation. While most funds are structured as mutual fund trusts, many are also structured as mutual fund corporations (otherwise known as corporate class mutual funds). Corporate class funds offer investors different types of asset […]

A few of the changes made in the 2016 Federal Budget

Budget measure: Corporate Class Mutual Funds This topic is covered extensively in a separate post. Budget measure: Increasing Tax Rates The Federal and Ontario governments have both been raising tax rates at certain levels by adding new, higher tax brackets while sometimes slightly lowering other brackets. This adds to the complexity of tax planning and generally […]

What’s new for your 2015 and 2016 tax returns

With every new government it seems must come a bunch of tinkering with the incredibly complex income tax system, as each government rewards some groups and takes more from others.  IN 2016 Canada elected a new Federal Government and they have already announced a batch of changes, with final details to come shortly in a […]

RRIF rule changes from 2015 Federal Budget

When a RRSP holder reaches age 71, the plan must either be collapsed entirely or converted to income.  The plan of choice for most is a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF) – an account type that has almost all the same characteristics and rules as a RRSP, except that it requires the planholder to withdraw […]

Marginal tax rates for Ontario and Quebec for 2022*

Your marginal tax rate (MTR) is the tax on your next dollar of income. This is different from your average tax rate, which is the ratio of total tax to total income.  For example, if you earn $101,000 you might pay about $30,000 of income tax and have an average tax rate of 30% but […]

Beware of an email scam pretending to be from the CRA

As a tax preparer I am very familiar with many of the procedures of the Canada Revenue Agency.  At this time of year you may be particularly susceptible to a fraudulent email that a client forwarded to me because she was not sure if it was legitimate.  The CRA will NEVER contact you in this […]

Snowbirds targeted by changes to U.S. border rules

Snowbirds likely know to track how many days they spend in the U.S. each year.  There are tax and other consequences for exceeding the guidelines. Prior to 2014 Canada and the U.S. did not track how many days someone had spent within their borders, only when someone entered the country.  Now they will exchange data and thus know exactly how long travelers are within […]

More on RDSP’s

I have worked with Ottawa lawyer Ken Pope on cases where pecial planning is done for estates involving a disabled person. Ken is a specialist in this area and the following is reprinted from one of his newsletter, with his permission. The recent addition of the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) requires that any new […]

Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs)

Mackenzie Financial is part of one of Canada’s largest companies and is one of the few institutions that has launched a RDSP.  Administering this type of plan is relatively expensive, requires significant systems programming and since these plans are only a few years old, they are almost all small accounts. They have produced a helpful RDSP […]