Search found 199 matches

by EmperorCoder
15 May 2007 19:57
Forum: Financial News, Policy and Economics
Topic: Fiscal impact of short selling
Replies: 3
Views: 636

Fiscal impact of short selling

What is the fiscal treatment of short selling a stock ? Am I entitled to declare capital gains/loss ? If so how is the ACB and disposition price calculated ? Can I deduce any borrowing fees for the lended shares ?

Thanks.
by EmperorCoder
02 May 2007 07:19
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: DPSP & EPSP Questions
Replies: 57
Views: 15466

Re: Employer Stock Purchase Plan : need advice

sevimo wrote:How they're going to enforce the "no-sale-for-2-weeks" rule? If they deposit shares into your brokerage account at the sale date, then what prevents you from selling immediately?
Actually I don't think it's a sale per se. They will be issuing *new* shares to the employees. There might be a delay between the time they issue the shares and have them transferred to the brokerage accounts of everyone. I don't know the whole process behind this, but I'll make sure to ask questions on this. Thanks for poiting out the T4130, it'll sure be handy.
by EmperorCoder
01 May 2007 21:59
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: DPSP & EPSP Questions
Replies: 57
Views: 15466

Yeah, I thought of this. But the stock is not on the shortables list of my broker. Maybe I should look for another broker that offers it. And there would still be the currency risk I would need to edge against...

I'm going to meditate this for sure.
by EmperorCoder
01 May 2007 20:59
Forum: Retirement, Pensions and Peace of Mind
Topic: DPSP & EPSP Questions
Replies: 57
Views: 15466

DPSP & EPSP Questions

My employer will soon offer a company stock purchase plan for its employees. Here are the main highlights of the plan : This is a single one-time transaction. The employee can buy up to 20% of his base salary in stocks of the company. The employer offers a discount of 15% off the stock price on the day of the transaction. New shares will be issued according to the demand from employees. According to my worst case estimates the dilution effect will be negligible on the stock given its current capitalization (1 billion$ +). Employees will be able to sell the stocks two weeks later (all at the same time - that's the scary part). Personally, I am not too enclined in investing in the same company which brings the food on the table, but on the ot...
by EmperorCoder
16 Apr 2007 20:49
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: RRSP screw up
Replies: 2
Views: 712

RRSP screw up

Ok.

My wife screwed up. She's put money in her Spousal RRSP instead of her RRSP. The problem is it seems the contribution got attributed to me because of this (at least on the receipt she received). However I don't have any RRSP room left to 'absorb' the error.

Is it bad ? Can she deduct it as a contribution of her own when she files her taxes (as it was intended) ? Should I do something about it or just let go ?

Thanks
by EmperorCoder
16 Apr 2007 20:20
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

OMG that hurts. Thanks for posting this article.

However doesn't the new rule allowing retirement income splitting makes this argument moot ?

Emp
by EmperorCoder
30 Mar 2007 21:35
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Bartering as a way to avoid tax ?
Replies: 8
Views: 1104

Bartering as a way to avoid tax ?

I was wondering, let's say I work voluntarily part time for a grocery store. Could I barter my voluntary time for some free food ?

Should I tell the CRA about it and would they bother ?

A not-so-hypothetical question. I would see many retired people benefit from this (if it works).

Emp
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 16:39
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Giving money to spouse ?
Replies: 11
Views: 1030

Neat.

If at one point using that scheme her revenue from capital gains start to exceed her employment income, does she risk of losing the capital gain deduction ? The CRA might argue that her investment gains should be considered self-employment income ?

Emp
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 16:19
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: Giving money to spouse ?
Replies: 11
Views: 1030

Giving money to spouse ?

I've read on this forum that it is legal to donate money to your spouse so she can pay her taxes and invest in her RRSP. Is that true ?

If so then can I do the following legally ?

As the higher income spouse I pay all the bills, my wife's taxes, her RRSP, etc.

So my wife's total gross salary is invested each year in a taxable account, in order to split income.

Would that work ? The thing I'm not sure about is if I'm allowed to pay her taxes since they are automatically deducted from her pay (by opposition to a self-employed person who is required to make provisional accounts). If not is there a way I can circumvent that ?

Emp
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 14:01
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

adrian2 wrote: What exactly would you have expected to be attributed back to you?
I was under the impression that you could not 'give' money to your wife. That you somewhat had to lend her with some interest rate. Maybe I'm mixing things up here.
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 13:58
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

adrian2 wrote:Same for giving your wife money to pay her share of taxes to CRA.
Wouldn't that open the doors to other income splitting tricks ? Like having your wife pay all her taxes as provisional accounts. Then you give her the money to pay her provisional accounts... She basically ends up with her gross salary in her pockets instead of her net.

Emp
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 13:29
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

adrian2 wrote:It's perfectly ok to give your wife money to contribute to her own RRSP - there are no attribution rules in such a case.
You mean to fill her own contribution room (not mine) ? I've always thought spousal RRSP would eat up my contribution room, not hers. I'm really surprised by what you say. Do you have a link I can read as a proof of that ? Seems I still need to do some reading on attributions rules ;-)

That proves my point though, the law is anything but obvious.

Emp
by EmperorCoder
26 Feb 2007 12:28
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

I suspect there are many thousands (tens of thousands?) of taxpayers who unknowingly (and perhaps knowingly) are offside with the law. You can't imagine how many people laugh at me and call me crazy when I tell them they cannot use their own money to fill the RRSP room of their wife. With the widespread use of joint bank accounts, I'd say 95%+ of the population is unaware that tax laws expect each spouse to treat their income separately. I believe this is so out of control that it should be the government's responsibility to educate people properly (or otherwise change the laws). It's not common knowledge like "you can't murder" or "you shouldn't steal". They cannot expect average Joe to know the nitty gritty details of...
by EmperorCoder
25 Feb 2007 20:55
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: New take on RRSP meltdown
Replies: 22
Views: 3974

Thanks a lot for your answers. I'm not familiar with this kind of trick but I definetly intend to study your idea carefully. As a DIY investor I'm always happy to learn new stuff. There are two assumptions in your scheme on the taxable account : 1- The equities are buy-and-hold. (For tax efficiency). 2- The equities are canadian companies (for the favorable tax treatment of canadian dividends I guess ? - DTC) I believe your analysis is flawed because you imply that the return in the taxable account will be the same as the return in the RRSP. The RRSP doesn't have any of the constraints above. Without these constraints, I believe the RRSP can acheive a better long-term return. Especially with the current valuation of canadian companies compa...
by EmperorCoder
25 Feb 2007 17:45
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: New take on RRSP meltdown
Replies: 22
Views: 3974

I've heard that in Quebec (where I live) the interest deductibility is less favorable. Is that true and if so what are the differences ?

Emp
by EmperorCoder
24 Feb 2007 23:20
Forum: Financial Planning and Building Portfolios
Topic: New take on RRSP meltdown
Replies: 22
Views: 3974

Maybe it's a silly question but why would you want to shift money away from a tax sheltered vehicle like RRSP into a taxable account ?

Wouldn't this hurt your long term returns ?

Emp
by EmperorCoder
22 Feb 2007 22:20
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: 2007 federal budget
Replies: 186
Views: 22577

I encourage everyone to fill out the federal pre budget survey to push for their ideas :

http://www.fin.gc.ca/scripts/prebudgets ... asp?lang=e

Emp
by EmperorCoder
07 Feb 2007 20:41
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

twa2w wrote:I asked a friend who works with Rev Can if he had ever heard of income splitting thorugh a prenup - he said no, and he couldn't see Rev Can accepting it. He did say he is aware of a few people divorcing to take advantage of tax issues. (something I actually contemplated at one time but my wife Kibashed :shock: )
Cheers
j
I am curious if you could ask your friend :

Does Rev Can actually inquire on those cases of divorce for tax reasons, and if so have there been some cases where they won in court ?
by EmperorCoder
07 Feb 2007 20:37
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

Unfortunately I don't think that's how the CRA sees it (I might be wrong though, anyone ?). If it was so easy that you could give "household expense money" to your wife, then what would be the limit ? I'd certainly give her 50k a year for her "expenses"...

Income splitting is allowed in many OCDE countries (France, USA, etc.), but not in Canada. It is very unfortunate that the divorce is the best income splitting strategy available to us canadians...

Emp
by EmperorCoder
06 Feb 2007 07:58
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

The most absurd thing IMO is that our fiscal system makes a divorced couple more tax-effective than a married couple...

Shouldn't it be the opposite, considering the family is at the hearth of canadian values and that we need children as a workforce in order to pay the public services of the future ?

This situation is really embarrassing and should be addressed ASAP by politicians.

Emp
by EmperorCoder
05 Feb 2007 23:28
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Income splitting trick ?
Replies: 72
Views: 6087

Income splitting trick ?

Imagine a typical couple with a big income disparity between the spouses. One makes 100k$/yr and the other stays home and earns nothing. Since our fantastic tax system doesn't allow income splitting between the spouses, the working spouse will eventually amass a good deal of non-reg investments, whereas the stay-at-home spouse will have nothing. Tax-wise, it would be great if the lesser income spouse could hold the non-reg account in its name so the capital gains & dividends get taxed within her hands (at a lower tax bracket). But AFAIK you can't just donate your non-reg acount to your spouse (it would be considered a revenue and get re-taxed, ain't that dumb ?). I was thinking of this recently and it struck me. The idea seems too good ...
by EmperorCoder
27 Jan 2007 17:45
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Attribution Rules - Questions
Replies: 132
Views: 19981

Is it really worth it ?

I mean, there is a 100k$ gap between my salary and hers. To make it even she would need to borrow me a couple million dollars (which I don't have) to make a decent dividend revenue. Most of my revenue does not come from my investments, it comes from my salary. How can I split my salary with her ?

I don't see the effectiveness of this type of income splitting... Can someone explain ?
by EmperorCoder
27 Jan 2007 16:07
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Attribution Rules - Questions
Replies: 132
Views: 19981

I'd sure be interested in income splitting with my spouse but everything I read on that topic seems overly complex. The best strategy I've read involved my spouse 'borrowing' money from me to invest it. Seems overly complicated and a nightmare to set up properly (tax-wise)...

Income splitting should be automatic, just like in France or USA, or almost every other developed country in the world !!!
by EmperorCoder
27 Jan 2007 15:43
Forum: Taxing Situations
Topic: Attribution Rules - Questions
Replies: 132
Views: 19981

Tax deferring strategies ?

Considering I always max out my RRSP contributions every year, I do accumulate savings much faster than my RRSP can absorb. I really appreciate the tax-deferring power of the RRSP, so I'm looking for alternative ways to invest my extra savings into tax deferred vehicles. However I don't see much options : 1- Buy & hold growth stocks for the long term (easier said than done) 2- Buy a bigger house than needed since the gains on primary residence is tax free (buying bigger house means bigger expenses, and I don't like the idea of spending for stuff I don't need) So anyone has other ideas ? I currently do option number 1 (hoping the companies I picked will do well in the long term, but who knows ?), but I wonder what other people do ? Thank...