faq (5)

Capital Gain Appraisals FAQ

Why should I get an appraisal done on my income property ? 

1.  Subject: Capital Gains Appraisals

"Hi Tim,
I  had a couple questions for you regarding capital gains for income properties. Who would request an appraisal for capital gains calculations when it comes to income properties? Would that request come directly from the CRA? Or is that something that is recommended by accountants? Trying to get a feel if these appraisal requests are pretty common.  Thanks again."

Typically an appraisal like this is recommended to get a handle on what the potential Capital Gains will be on a property if sold, or if transferred ie, in an estate or tax plan. I could see this being a good market for sure.

Sometimes we want to justify a higher price and sometimes a lower price depending on the goals and objectives of the plan. So having a range is pretty important.  CRA typically does not request this unless they are looking for a 2nd or 3rd opinion. Having the info for planning purposes is very helpful when giving advice for this. Sometimes people will get a realtors opinion on it as well, so they could be a potential niche market for referrals, helps them reduce some liability and gets that job off their to do lists.

Those are my main thoughts on the matter, if I can think of anything else I will let you know. Also happy to answer any questions you may have about it, even a sounding board if you like, I would be good for that.

One other thought, it would be great if the appraisal disclosed purchase info of the property, peoples memories are not always the best, if it’s in the appraisal, those mysteries are resolved and helps establish some cost basis for tax purposes, will not be all of them, but a basis just the same. I see that being very useful, as those numbers will reveal clues to how much depreciation may have been claimed in the past, potential mismatches to values on the tax return, etc. and that will be useful and provide confidence in the estate planning process.

Hope that helps
TLR

PS: I am sure there is some great articles writen about this, as I find them, I will post them in the comment section



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FAQ Investment Fees

In this posting will provide an overview of investment costs, financial advice some FAQ. 

 

Let's start with this video on Understanding MER's , you will find MER fees stated on Fund Fact Sheets. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkq86w9aIa4

 

What is an MER? An MER is the total cost of running a mutual fund for a year, expressed as a percentage. The MER is the total of the fund's management fee, operating expenses (or fixed administration fee) and provincial/federal taxes charged to the fund during that year.

 

https://www.rbcgam.com/en/ca/learn-plan/types-of-investments/what-is-a-management-expense-ratio-mer/detail

Watch the Video

The transcript .... 

What is an MER?



 

It’s important to understand the costs of investing. And when comparing options, it’s equally important to understand the value you receive for what you pay. Let's take a closer look.

The cost of a mutual fund is the MER or Management Expense Ratio.

Let’s take a look at the MER for two different series of a mutual fund – Series F and Series A.

Series F only reflects the cost of the fund itself. It is used in fee-based accounts, where your advisor charges a separate fee for advice and service. The MER for Series F includes the fee paid to the mutual fund company for investment management, the fund’s operating expenses and taxes. Let’s start with the investment management fee. In our example, the management fee is 60 basis points, or 0.60 percent per year.

We’ve used that figure because it’s the fee charged on a typical Canadian equity fund from RBC Global Asset Management. A typical fixed income fund fee would be lower. So, what does the investment management fee cover? It pays for professional investment management and research, risk management and oversight, the service and support for you and your advisor’s firm, and the day-to-day management of the mutual fund company.

Let’s look at the second component of the MER – operating expenses. These are typically in the neighborhood of 10 basis points or 0.10% depending on the fund. Operating expenses include the costs associated with unitholder recordkeeping and other day-to-day expenses such as accounting and fund valuation, custody, audit and legal services, regulatory filing and costs of preparing and distributing annual and semi-annual reports and prospectuses.

The management fee and operating expenses are subject to tax at a rate that is determined by the tax rate in the provinces where the funds’ unitholders live. We’ve estimated 8 basis points in our example as HST is generally between 10-13% So, adding up all the components, the total is 78 basis points, or 0.78% per year. Now let’s look at the MER for Series A.

Series A reflects the cost of the fund AND includes a fee payable to your advisor for advice and service. In this case, the Management fee is made up of an investment management fee – which we already discussed – and a trailing commission. Instead of paying your advisor separately, the trailing commission is collected as part of the management fee and paid to your advisor’s firm by the fund company.

The trailing commission is an ongoing fee paid to your advisor’s firm and the financial advisor who provides ongoing financial advice and service. It is often called the “fee for advice.” So what does the “fee for advice” cover? It can be broken down into three components: The first is Advice: Your financial advisor provides you expert advice on a variety of matters like selecting the right investments to meet your needs as you plan for retirement, seek income or save for life events, building financial plans, tax planning, and monitoring and rebalancing your portfolio to name just a few.

The 2nd component is Access, which covers the infrastructure required by your financial advisor and their firm to support the distribution, sale & servicing of mutual funds. And the third component is Service. Things like trade confirmations, opening and closing accounts, issuing statements and other client communications and regulatory compliance activities.

In our illustration, the trailing commission is one percent, which is a typical percentage for an equity fund. In general, trailing commissions range from 0.5 percent to 1 percent. For an investment of $100,000, a 1% trailing commission would pay your advisor’s firm $1000 for the advice and service they provide you. When you add up the management fee, operating expenses and taxes for Series A, the total is 189 basis points, or 1.89% per year.

Let’s talk about fees and your returns. It’s important to remember when you check how your fund is doing that Performance is reported NET of the MER. That means the fund’s performance is calculated AFTER the MER deducted. So the returns you see are the returns you actually receive. As you’ve learned, there are different fees, depending on whether you own Series F or Series A.

Remember, Series A will have a higher MER because it includes the trailing commission that pays for advice, access and service. Series F is used in fee-based accounts, where any fees for advice, access and service are billed directly by your advisor’s firm.

At RBC Global Asset Management, we offer Series F and Series A. to support the different ways that investors and advisors choose to work together. We hope this introduction to MERs answers most of your questions. If you want to find out more, please see the other resources listed on this page or talk to your advisor.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-UjHVj5bmw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE-UpB9S1Y4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TyhjO8aRrs

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw_QyeHo8f0

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FAQ - RSP Withdrawals & Tax Consquences

Todays FAQ was about rsp deductions and the impact of taxes. 

 

"Greetings Tim,

I need your expertise to help me understand how RRSP withdrawals & taxes held back by the government work.

The government website indicates that anyone withdrawing RRSP's over $15000.00 is required to pay a 30% holding tax to the government. How is this tax calculated at the time of withdrawal? i.e. $30,000.00. What would the taxes withheld by the government be on that amount? 

When given the figures something didn't sit right with me. Want to make sure prior to signing anything." 

******

For RSP withdrawals. The government mandates that taxes be withheld at source. The amount ( percentage) depends on the total gross withdrawn.

For amounts over 15,000, 30% is deducted and sent to CRA and you receive the net amount.

For your example of $30,000 , 30,000 X 30% = 9000 tax , net to you is 21,000.
The 30,000 becomes taxable income in the year you do the withdrawal. So if your doing this now, it would be year 2023. You will then be taxed for your total income in the year and what we call a marginal tax rate would kick in. You will receive a T4RSP tax slip for year 2023 next year usually by end of Feb 2024. Depending on your taxable income you may or may not owe additional taxes. You get credit for the withheld taxes.

I did a quick example, let’s say your income was 30,000 and all the taxes had been paid up. Your income would now be 60,000 and you would get a refund of 1580. If your income was 60,000 before the RSP income you would owe 186

So the withholding tax kind-a protects you from owing a large amount next tax time.

The next thing to consider, is sometimes people want to have a certain amount of money , so let’s say you want 30,000 to be deposited into your account. The RSP issuer would have to redeem 30,000/(1-.3) = 42857.14 , net (42857.14 * 30% = 12857.14 in taxes, ( 42857.14-12857.14) = 29999.998 =30,000 deposit.

In this case, let’s say the income is 60,000, this brings taxable income to 102857 and amount of tax owing = 1014

If your income was 30,000 pre rsp, then your refund = 1475

Hope that helps you in your decision making process.

We provide a family office service at my firm, so we can give guidance on all these matters. Perhaps we can be of service for your future tax and investment needs.

****

"Thank you so much Tim.

Your explanation is excellent. It really helped me better understand the calculations behind RSP withdrawals & the taxes that are withheld.

Really appreciate that our friend sent me in the right direction.

Thank you for offering your services. Will certainly keep that in mind.

Sincere gratitude & appreciation" 

 ***

FYI

RSRP withdrawals up to 5000, the withholding tax is 10%  = 500 on 5000, so you net 4500  ( 20% in Quebec)

Between 5001 to 15,000, the withholding tax is 20%  son let's say a 10,000 request woudl be 2000 deducted, yo net 8000 ( 25% in Quebec) 

If you wanted 10,000 deposited in yoru account 10,000 / (1-.2) = 12500 total reemption  required ( 12500 * 20%=2500, net 12500-2500=10,000

With smaller amounts , depending on your income , you are m,ore likely to owe taxes due to teh marginal tax calculations, expecially if you have a mid to larger income. If your income is lower, not so much. 

 

Hope that FAQ is helpful. If you have a question, please email me at advisor@timothyross.com and will see if we can do up a good FAQ article for you.

Have a blessed day !

Timothy Ross, Family Advisor ©, CEO & Founder,
Brock Shores Financial, Family Office providing Omega Stewardship ©


https://improvingfutures.ning.com/blog/timothy-ross-family-advisor-ceo-founder-brock-shores-financial


Mutual Funds offered through PEAK Investment Services Inc. Life & Travel, Insurance, Seg Funds & Banking offered through Financial Horizons Group. Tax Services offered through Timothy Ross & Associates & Brock Shores Income Tax Corp; Planning Services offered through Brock Shores Planning Corp.


This transmission is intended solely for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and is confidential in nature. Please be advised that any distribution, reproduction or other use of this document by anyone other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately. Thank you for your assistance. Please feel free to share our contact info below with those who may benefit from our services. All rights reserved.

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"The beauty of being in business is that your business engages all aspects of your mind, I think that is why you become successful, business challenges you to be more than you are, and that is where the miracle takes place." Timothy Ross, May 2004

I like Winston Churchill, he had the incredible ability to move the English language into action. My mentor Jim Rohn, say's , "Don't be afraid to borrow if someone else has said it well. Winston Churchill said, "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." That's so well said. You could stay up all night and not think of that. " ~ Timothy Ross

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Work Vehicle Tax Tips

FAQ

>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Monday, January 16, 2023 6:23 AM
> To: Timothy Ross <advisor@timothyross.com>
> Subject: Business Vehicle?
>
> Hi Tim,
>
> We are currently in the process of buying a new vehicle. It will be
> used for our business as well as personal use. Business wise, to pick
> up smaller materials or tools, driving to estimates where ladders are
> not required, etc.
>
> My question is this: what parameters would need to be met for us to be
> able to make the vehicle payments and fuel a business expense & make
> sure everything is being written up by the book?

> On Jan 16, 2023, at 6:50 AM, advisor@timothyross.com wrote:
>
> Good morning and Happy New Year !
>
> For vehicles with mixed use, you need to keep a log book to track
> personal vs business. You keep track of all expenses, then we do a
> calculation at year end to determine how much is deductible.
>
> The truck can be owned personally or by the business. Check with your
> insurance company for coverage, also financing can be an issue,
> company credit is sometimes harder to get than personal, especially in
> a companies early start-up stages.
>
>
> If the truck is owned personally, you also have the option of charging
> the business by the km for the usage.
>
> It's 59 cents per km in 2023
> https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/about-canada-revenue -agency-cra/travel-directive/appendix-a-cra-kilometric-rates-jan-2023.html
>
> With that option you don't have to track expenses as diligently,
> however it is a good policy to know what your spending. Depending on
> usage, the best option can be selected later, the important thing is
> to track and log the usage.
>
> That should cover the basics on this.
>
> There is always a number of special twists and turns on this item.
> Please check out the official CRA link below.
> https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/small- businesses-self-employed-income/business-income-tax-reporting/business-expenses/motor-vehicle-expenses.html
>
> One other note, vehicle value is a consideration, the more expenses
> vehicles are sometimes restricted in how much can be deducted for
> depreciation purposes. The limit for 2022 was 30,000 plus tax.. Also
> there is a special accelerated depreciation rate effective June 2022 which is beneficial .
>
> This sounds like a car or suv, I would not put them in the company
> personally, less critical review by CRA, if it's a truck, then inside
> a corporation makes sense, and would help get around the valuation
> rule easier.
>
> I hope that helps. Once you get the purchase done, please send us the
> purchase and loan info for our tax files.
>
> One finally thought, there is a few online vehicle tracking software
> that you could invest in to help keep track of trips. The one I use is
> Mile IQ https://mileiq.com/
>
> Tim

***

Wow, thank you so much. This was really helpful.

It is an SUV so I think based on the info and your insight, it might be best for us to finance personally. I will continue to look into it and get all the appropriate forms to you once we have them.

Thank you again - this was so helpful! Happy new year to you as well!

All the best !

 

****

NOTE: please always check the comment section for additional resources that we may post down their later on this topic. ~ TLR

 

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Timothy Ross, Family Advisor, CEO & Founder, Brock Shores Financial

Mutual Funds offered through PEAK Investment Services Inc.

Life & Travel,Insurance, Seg Funds & Banking offered through Financial Horizons Group

​This transmission is intended solely for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and is confidential in nature. Please be advised that any distribution, reproduction or other use of this document by anyone other than the addressee is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately. Thank you for your assistance.  Please feel free to share our contact info below with those who may benefit from our services. All rights reserved, Timothy Ross


Brock Shores Financial / Timothy Ross & Associates, Family Office Providing Omega Stewardship
​4502 Airport Road – Tincap, GTA Professional Center, Elizabethtown, Ontario K6T 1A2
​613-345-0016 Office 613-213-4625 Cell/Text 613-345-5231 Fax advisor@timothyross.com
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FAQ 2021

https://www.ratehub.ca/investing/rrsp-rules

There is a maximum age for RRSPs. When Canadians reach the age of 71 they must close down their RRSPs at the end of the calendar year. Those who have RRSPs have three options when they reach 71. They can:

  • Collapse the RRSP entirely. In practice, this means withdrawing all the money in the account
  • Use the money in the RRSP to purchase what’s known as an annuity
  • Convert the RRSP into a RRIF

 

You can not invest directly into a RIF, it has to flow through an RSP. So if your older than 71, you can not contribute to a RSP and so you can not shelter money into a RIF either. 

 

One can invest into a TFSA at these ages though. 

 

 For some tax tips for 2020

https://improvingfutures.ning.com/blog/tax-reminders-for-2020-taxes

 

When Can taxes be filed this year ?

The EFILE program is now closed for the electronic filing of your clients’ initial and amended T1 personal income tax and benefit returns.
EFILE and ReFILE services will re-open on Monday, February 22, 2021.

 

NEW CLIENT ONBOARDING FOR TAXES

  1. Once we get T1013 processed with CRA we can continue
  2. Next will send them an engagement letter once cra authorization is in place
  3. Then we can down load prior yr to start comparisons so we do not miss anything
  4. Review prior year physical tax returns for familiarity of file
  5. Get 2020 info as available from client or cra
  6. Finalize tax returns, review any items of concern with client
  7. Get T183 signed
  8. Process tax return with CRA
  9. Check assessment once processed, compare with submission
  10. Documents along with tax return and assessment to be given to client, copy may be scanned if business, rental, or emailing to client or high probability of return to e required in future for third party, ie mortgage renewals, etc.

 

 

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