Jonathan Vivian - IG Wealth Management

Beware

If you are planning to defer your mortgage payments due to COVID-19, get up at the crack of dawn and call your bank. Bank call centres are being overwhelmed with calls and wait times are in the hours! Also, keep in mind your mortgage interest will continue to accrue and this option could significantly extend your amortization schedule. Use this option only if necessary. Be safe!

Investors: if you have recently suffered losses in a non-registered investment account, some of you may be thinking about booking a capital loss against your 2020 taxes by selling a non-registered security at loss and then buying the same security in your TFSA so future capital growth of that holding is not taxable.

It’s a crafty solution, but beware of the superficial loss rule. If you purchase the same security within 31 days inside a registered account, you will irreversibly lose your ability to claim that capital loss. Your broker will not even issue you a T5 for the loss. It’s gone forever.

Wait 31 days or buy a similar but different security.

Great to see that officials are fighting back against a common phone scam targeting Canadians.

32 arrested in India after allegedly posing as Canadian officials in call centre fraud Police in Delhi alleged the scheme had been targeting Canadians by claiming their SINs were compromised.

“Contractors buying from Home Depot, other retailers beware — the CRA is coming after you”

Contractors buying from Home Depot, other retailers beware — the CRA is coming after you ‘Expect to be audited,’ lawyer says as the CRA targets the underground economy in general, and commercial contractors in particular

If your income tax is not withheld from your earnings by your employer, you are most likely considered an independent contractor in the eyes of the CRA and you should set aside 20-30% minimum for tax season. Keep receipts of all expenses related to your job because some of them may be deductible and would reduce your tax exposure.

‘They told me it was untaxable in 1965’ no excuse for failing to declare income, judge finds Jamie Golombek: You can rack up significant penalties and arrears interest for the non-reporting of the income, even if the CRA has the info already

I would imagine that it has been quite obvious that I have been using automated content for my business social media. While the service has been providing a lot of high quality content, I've decided to stop using it because it is not what I am looking for as an Advisor. I want my social media followers to understand how I think about finances on a more personal level and experience content that I feel is important to Canadians. By the way, Happy Halloween!

The word “advantage” is a little misleading. If, for example, you had bought a pile of shares of Canopy Growth Corp. when they were under a dollar within your TFSA and made a fortune in capital gains, that’s perfectly fine. You wouldn’t be subject to any tax whatsoever on the gains and dividends. This is an “advantage” which is allowed. This is just good investment tax planning.

However, common law jurisdictions generally have a “catch all” rule regarding sham transactions, especially when they involve government revenue. For example, if you find a way to artificially inflate the market value of your TFSA, the courts may determine that you’ve received a tax advantage which you were not meant to have received and you may be subject to severe financial penalties, even in the absence of an existing law barring that type of transaction.

Woman who used swaps to run TFSA up to $200K from $5K in one year suffers triple loss in court appeal