To avoid anger, bickering and distrust during transition of a family business, WEALTHinsurance.com’s Mark Halpern advises a documented succession plan.
Planning for high-net worth family businesses is so important. If only   Read More

Gift-giving season prompts Mark Goodfield (aka The Blunt Bean Counter) to look at some tax and other considerations regarding gifts to grandchildren.

Many grandparents ask me about the tax and practical   Read More

The tax department’s attribution rules complicate the matter of giving securities to your children and grandchildren.
Keep things in perspective when you tax plan. Once you start agonizing over every dollar   Read More

Toronto tax lawyer Samantha Prasad warns that all is not fair in love and taxes. The CRA may not have the same misty-eyed view of sharing as you and your   Read More

In the market for a cottage as a second home? Then now is the time for proper tax planning, muses Toronto tax lawyer Samantha Prasad from her vacation home on   Read More

Toronto tax lawyer Samantha Prasad warns that all is not fair in love and taxes. The CRA may not have the same misty-eyed view of sharing as you and your   Read More

Why can’t you have your cake and eat it too? Tax lawyer Samantha Prasad offers suggestions for conservative, cash-conscious investors to minimize the tax-man’s slice.
For those conservative investors out there,   Read More

Family trusts are becoming increasingly common and are now the norm for many families—even those without yachts! Tax lawyer Samantha Prasad, a contributing editor to The TaxLetter, describes how a   Read More

“Freedom 55 now occurs when your youngest child turns 55.” Certified financial planner and trust and estate practitioner Mark Halpern recalls London Life’s aspirational slogan of the 1980s with a   Read More

Mark Halpern is a Certified Financial Planner, Trust and Estate Practitioner and a regular contributor to The TaxLetter. He has extensive experience in succession planning for family business owners using   Read More

You must turn your RRSP into a RRIF or an annuity by the end of the year you turn 71. Otherwise you’ll receive all your RRSP money and have it   Read More

If you are in the market for a cottage, cabin, camp, chalet, shack or whatever you may call a second or vacation home in your part of this Great White   Read More

Markham, Ont.-based Mark Halpern is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) with special expertise in tax planning for high net worth individuals and their families.   Read More

Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross LLP and a regular contributing editor to The TaxLetter, has some suggestions for where to look for funds to   Read More

Mark Goodfield, CPA, CA, LPA, editor of the popular blog The Blunt Bean Counter, author of Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs and a contributing editor to The TaxLetter,   Read More

Mark Goodfield, CPA, CA, LPA, is the creative force behind the popular blog The Blunt Bean Counter and author of Let’s Get Blunt About Your Financial Affairs. In his inaugural   Read More

The Liberals have promised change. Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross LLP and a regular contributor to The TaxLetter, highlights some of the details   Read More

With roughly half of Canadian marriages ending in divorce, many people view “Till death do us part” as a quaint concept. Divorce is now so commonplace that Statistics Canada no   Read More

Moving for work or school? Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross LLP and a contributing editor of The TaxLetter, outlines tax planning strategies for   Read More

You likely qualify for deductions when you file your income tax return. If so, some tax planning this month by properly filling in form T1213 Request to Reduce Tax Deductions   Read More

We used to communicate with the Canada Revenue Agency via paper or online forms. Now you can get social with the CRA via Twitter, e-mail, RSS feeds, YouTube and mobile   Read More

Markham, Ontario-based Mark Halpern is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Trust and Estate Practitioner (TEP) and CEO of WEALTHinsurance.com and illnessPROTECTION.com. He says new rules are coming in 2017 but   Read More

Being too generous to your family can hurt. Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross LLP, outlines the benefits and potential traps in any tax   Read More

Sending someone away from home to university for four years can cost more than $100,000. That’s taking into account tuition, books, transportation, room and board, and incidentals. Government cutbacks, inflation,   Read More

It’s a common question at tax-filing time: What employment expenses are tax-deductible by a salaried employee? Peter Still, a Markham, Ont.-based Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Certified General Accountant (CGA)   Read More

The federal government’s new budget contains a number of personal tax measures that may affect you. Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross and a   Read More

Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the Toronto-based law firm Minden Gross and a contributing editor to The TaxLetter, outlines some tax planning strategies such as income splitting and asset   Read More

Mutual fund investors should be prepared for tax advice slips which will report their income, eligible Canadian dividends and capital gains and losses when doing their tax planning.
At this time   Read More

April 30 is almost here. But before those April showers bring May flowers, the Canada Revenue Agency is going to want to rain on your parade too. Here are some   Read More

The federal government introduced a new “first-time donor’s super credit” last year, but many Canadians are still either unaware of what it is or not quite sure of what the   Read More

Registered Retirement Savings Plans, or RRSPs, help you to save for a more comfortable retirement while deferring taxes – hopefully on more favorable terms – into the future.

But the investment   Read More

Thinking about what to include in your will? If you are like most people, your thoughts are probably focused on who gets what, and who will take care of the   Read More

Samantha Prasad, a tax partner with the law firm Minden Gross LLP, recalls that a few years ago, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was actively engaged in a special audit   Read More

In the search for yield, investors have turned to such things as monthly income funds and income trusts, structured notes, and capital class units. But again, cash in your hand   Read More

Some investors find that when they need a list of their securities to undertake some portfolio management or tax planning, they have to go on a safari of sorts, fumbling   Read More

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Last month we wrote about the demise of the one per cent prescribed rate for income splitting strategies. We   Read More