Jamie Golombek is Managing Director, Tax and Estate Planning at CIBC Private Wealth Management, where he works closely with advisors and clients from CIBC Private Wealth Management, Wood Gundy, Imperial Service and other CIBC partners to deliver integrated financial planning and strong advisory solutions. Jamie is quoted frequently in the national media as an expert on taxation.
As the year draws to a close, here’s a quick review of the key tax changes and planning opportunities for 2010:
A full seven more cases have landed in Federal Court concerning the late filing of the much-maligned Form T1135 – the Foreign Income Verification Statement. I first wrote about this topic this past spring (“Pushing the tax deadline” Advisor’s Edge Report, April 2010), but since then, taxpayers continue to get hit with severe penalties for […]
Once in a while, it’s refreshing to see a financial advisor take on the Canada Revenue Agency over business expenses and ultimately succeed — in getting at least some originally disallowed expenses permitted.
How careful are you, as an advisor, in ensuring the business expenses you claim each year at tax time are appropriate, reasonable and properly documented? A recent tax case decided in April (Platis v The Queen, 2010 TCC 150) involved Toronto advisor Peter Platis, a commissioned commodities and foreign exchange broker employed by Refco Futures […]
How careful are you, as an advisor, in ensuring the business expenses you claim each year at tax time are appropriate, reasonable and properly documented? A recent tax case decided in April (Platis v The Queen, 2010 TCC 150) involved Toronto advisor Peter Platis, a commissioned commodities and foreign exchange broker employed by Refco Futures […]
Canadian resident investors who hold U.S.-based (or other foreign-based) mutual funds in their non-registered accounts should pay close attention to the potentially negative tax consequences arising from the fact these funds are not considered pass-through type vehicles under Canadian law when it comes to the tax nature of their distributions. Investor Donald Ian Moyes learned […]
By the time you read this column, chances are both you and most of your clients have already filed their 2009 tax returns. The normal filing deadline is April 30th but if you or your spouse or common-law partner were self-employed in 2009, your returns are due on June 15. But any taxes for 2009 […]
Life insurance is often an important tool for funding a liquidity event, such as the death of a business owner, as the proceeds can be used to immediately pay off creditors and provide often much-needed cash flow in a time of business uncertainty. Business owners who operate their business through a corporation often choose to […]
(November 2009) Need a little tax tutorial before plunging into another RRSP season? Bring yourself up to speed on this year’s tax changes with this succinct overview. PERSONAL TAX CHANGES Basic personal/spousal/partner amount The basic personal amount is the amount of income an individual can earn before paying any federal tax. The 2009 federal budget […]
It’s been just over eight months since the Supreme Court of Canada effectively blessed the plain vanilla debt swap strategy, often known as the “Singleton shuffle,” in the now- infamous Lipson decision, involving the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR). Advisors will recall in the Lipson case, Earl and Jordanna Lipson wanted to buy a home. Jordanna […]