DAVID WILKENFELD, CA, canadian tax CONSULTANT

Posts Tagged ‘CRA’

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What’s Your Tax Issue? Travel For Medical

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax on April 22, 2012 at 2:28 pm

The Tax Issue

Last year, I was vacationing in Florida and experienced some shortness of breath. I went to the hospital and they suggested I return home to Canada on an emergency basis for further workup. My flight back home cost $1,198. Can I claim this as travel for medical attention?

The Answer

According to the law, transportation costs to receive medical attention are only allowed in very restricted circumstances. First of all, the travel must be from your home to wherever you seek attention, and only if substantially equivalent medical services were not available near your home. The distance traveled must be at least 40 kilometres from your home, and it must be reasonable to expect that you would travel to that place for attention.

If you had to travel at least 80 kilometres (one way) from your home to obtain medical services, you may be able to claim accommodation, meal, and parking expenses in addition to your transportation expenses as medical expenses.

In your case, since the travel was not from your home I would suggest that your plane fare would not qualify as a medical expense.

For more information, visit the CRA’s web page on this topic.

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What’s Your Tax Issue? Exam Fees

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax on April 18, 2012 at 1:44 pm

The Tax Issue

I am a physician doing my residency at McGill Unversity. Last year, I paid $3725.00 to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in respect of exam fees required for my professional designation. I have a very official looking receipt but I’m being told that these fees may not be deductible. I’m getting different opinions everywhere. Do these fees qualify as tuition for tax purposes?

The Answer

Prior to 2011, the short answer was no. Only exam fees paid to a an educational institution were considered eligible for the tuition tax credit. As a small consolation, the CRA did suggest that if you are a self-employed professional, the exam fees might qualify as an eligible capital amount if they are paid in respect of your business or profession.

However, the 2011 federal budget contained amendments that will allow examination fees paid to a professional association, provincial ministry, or other institution for an examination required to obtain a professional status recognized by federal or provincial statute, or to be licensed or certified to to practice a trade or profession in Canada. These amendments apply to examinations taken in 2011 and subsequent taxation years.

 

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An Unexpected Penalty for Unsuspecting Taxpayers

In Canadian Income Tax on April 10, 2012 at 8:17 pm

My son Victor who is hard at word assisting me with tax returns this year, today learned of a little known penalty that hits many average Canadians who file their returns honestly and in a timely fashion every year. If you’d like to know what it is, just visit his blog.

Thanks for reminding everyone about this Vic. Now get back to work!!

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What’s Your Tax Issue? Quebec Business Income

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax on April 2, 2012 at 8:21 pm

The Tax Issue

I live in Ontario. I have $130K  of self employment income earned in Ontario and $12K  of  self employment income earned in Quebec. Do I have to file a Quebec return? Will I have any balance of taxes owing given the amount I earned in Quebec?

The Answer

Every self-employed person resident in Canada may have to perform an allocation of income if their income is earned through a permanent establishment (“PE”) in a different province. If you don’t have a PE in another province through which you earn your business income, then no allocation is necessary.

A PE is defined as a “fixed place of business”, and includes an office, a branch, a mine, an oil well, a farm, a timberland, a factory, a workshop or a warehouse. You will also have a PE if:

(a) You have an employee or agent established in the province if he has the general authority to contract on your behalf or if he has a stock of merchandise from which he regularly fills orders; or

(b) You have made use of substantial machinery or equipment in the province at any time during the year.

If you have a PE in another province, you must make an allocation of your income among the provinces in which you do business. There is a specific formula you must use to make the allocation, which is done on form T2203. The allocation you make will affect your provincial tax payable.

And yes, if you have PE in Quebec, which has its own tax return, then you must file a Quebec tax return. Report the full amount of your income on the Quebec return. Then the provincial allocation is made and the Quebec tax payable is apportioned based on the allocation.

So, to answer your question, if you have a PE in Quebec, you will have a Quebec tax return to prepare and you will likely have some Quebec tax to pay, based on the formula.

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What’s Your tax Issue? Workspace At Home

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax on March 6, 2012 at 10:57 pm

Well, it’s tax time again, and so from now until the end of April, The Tax Issue will be devoted to your tax issues. So send in your questions and subscribe to this blog to make sure you don’t miss the answer!

Today’s question is very interesting and it affects many people as more and more are working from home these days.

The Tax Issue

My late husband was a CA and he always said we should not claim some of our home office expenses as it would create some sort of problem when we later sold the house. He died a decade ago and I am the furthest thing from a CA that there is!

Last year, my job changed and I now work at home full-time. My employer issued a T2200 for me to claim office supplies and other expenses. If I claim part of my heat, power and desk chair, will that trigger any problems in two years to come when I sell my house?

The Answer

Don’t worry about selling your home, you’ll be fine!

The fact is, as an employee, you can claim only certain specific expenses as required by law, and those are subject to some very strict conditions. Your employer must require you to work at home. Thus, the requirement for the T2200 form.

In order to claim part of your home expenses, you must meet one of the following two conditions:

  • The work space is where you mainly (more than 50% of the time) do your work.
  • You use the work space only to earn your employment income. You also have to use it on a regular and continuous basis for meeting clients or customers.

You can deduct the part of your costs that relates to your work space, such as the cost of electricity, heating, maintenance, property taxes, and home insurance. However, you cannot deduct mortgage interest or capital cost allowance (depreciation).

To calculate the percentage of work-space-in-the-home expenses you can deduct, use a reasonable basis, such as the area of the work space divided by the total area.

If you need more information on deductions of home expenses or other employment expenses you can claim, you will find it at the CRA website.

Now, back to your late husband and his concerns. The rules on home office expenses are different for self-employed people. They can claim a portion of mortgage interest and depreciation (CCA) in the calculation of their self-employed earnings. However, if they choose to claim CCA, they will likely suffer in the end when the house is sold, since it will not completely be eligible for tax-free treatment as a principal residence. That’s what he was worried about and that’s why most self-employed people are advised not to claim CCA on their homes.

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The Corporate Beneficiary

In Canadian Income Tax, Estates and trusts on February 23, 2012 at 10:16 pm

The brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up  in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.     –Robert Frost

Despite the limitations placed upon it by recent legislation and unfavourable court rulings, the family trust remains alive and thriving more than ever. More and more taxpayers are beginning to appreciate the tax saving possibilities of income-splitting.

The discretionary family trust generally provides for maximum flexibility with respect to income splitting. The trustee has the power to allocate income or capital of the trust to the beneficiary of his choice.

In a simple structure, a trust is created, with children and/or a spouse as beneficiaries. The trust owns shares of an operating company (“Opco”) which pays annual dividends to the trust. The dividends are then distributed to the beneficiaries and taxed at their graduating marginal rates.

One interesting spin on the family trust is to add a corporation to the list of trust beneficiaries. This option, although it involves more legal and accounting costs, provides even more flexibility and advantages to the common family trust.

In an income splitting situation, it may not be desirable to pay more dividends to the beneficiaries than they require. If Opco has high retained earnings, its directors may find such a limitation restraining.

Adding a holding company (“Holdco”) to the list of beneficiaries wipes out this limitation. Opco could pay a large dividend to the trust. The trustee would allocate a portion of the dividend to the individual beneficiaries, and the excess would be assigned to Holdco.

A dividend paid by one corporation to a connected company is non-taxable. However, since Holdco does not own any shares directly in Opco, care would have to be exercised to ensure that the two companies were technically connected for tax purposes. Generally, this could be accomplished if Opco and Holdco were controlled by persons who do not deal at arm’s length with each other.

Where Opco generates high levels of cash, the ability to pay dividends in this manner provides certain advantages. First, it allows protection from creditors in that cash may easily be moved out through dividends and away from potential claims.

Where individual beneficiaries have not claimed their capital gains exemption, this structure provides an easy means of having the company qualify as a small business corporation by paying excess “non business” cash out as a dividend.

Sometimes, the implementation of a family trust involves an estate freeze. In such a case, corporate attribution rules may apply to assign deemed dividends to the value of preferred shares issued to a parent as part of the freeze. One exception to this rule is to ensure Opco remains a small business corporation throughout the year. The ability to pay unlimited dividends to the trust on an ongoing basis would allow Opco to retain its small business corporation status so the exception. applies.

Finally, if the trust is wound up, it may be possible to distribute the Opco shares to Holdco free of tax, thereby eliminating the need to give up eventual ownership of the shares to children.

Of course, before implementing any such complex structure, care should be taken to ensure that all legal requirements are met, and that the tax advantages are worth the added costs

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Support Payments Redux

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax on February 13, 2012 at 1:46 pm

So you’ve split up with your significant other, and you’re forced to make support payments. The first thing you’ll be asking me is, “are they deductible?” Well, just like your relationship, it’s complicated. That’s what The Tax Issue is here for.

There are two basic requirements before you even consider taking a deduction. First, the payments must be based on a written agreement or a court order. Second, they must be periodic payments. Lump sums or payments based on a mutual, non written understanding are not deductible.

Once you’ve passed these hurdles the rules are different depending on when your agreement or court order was signed. We’ll tackle them one at a time, but before we do, you should be aware of one more thing: any amount that is deductible to the payer is also taxable to recipient.

Written Agreement or Court Order After April 1997

If your document is dated after April, 1997, only payments made in support of your spouse (or common law partner) are deductible. Child support is not.

Your agreement must clearly specify which payments are exclusively for spousal support. If no mention is made of the purpose of the payments, they are deemed to be for child support and are not deductible.

Payments made to a third party qualify as long as they are for the benefit of your spouse and he or she has control over them. For example, if a court order specifies that payments are to be made to a landlord for your spouse’s rent, it must also be made clear that your spouse may at any time have those payments made to her instead if he or she so desires.

If you qualify for a deduction under the above rules, you must register your agreement or court order with the CRA by filing form T1158.

Written Agreement or Court Order After April 1997

If your document is dated prior to May, 1997, then payments for spousal support and child support are deductible.

However, if the agreement was amended after April, 1997 and the amount of child support payments is modified, then you fall into the new rules, and they will no longer be deductible.

You can also choose, if your spouse agrees, to have the new rules apply to make the payments non-deductible (and non-taxable to the recipient) by filing an election on Form T1157.

Those are the basic rules. If you need more information, try the CRA guide P102. That should answer most of your questions.

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Employment Insurance for the Self-Employed

In Canadian Income Tax on February 2, 2012 at 4:47 pm

Did you know that self-employed individuals can now apply for Employment Insurance?

Changes in the Employment Insurance Act recently enacted have made it possible for self-employed taxpayers to opt in to the EI program. Since January 1, ,2010, if you are a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident you can register with the EI program and pay premiums. In order to qualify for benefits you must earn a minimum of $6,222 per year.

The premiums are identical to those paid by employees. For 2012 they are equal to 1.83 percent of your self-employed earnings (1.47 percent in Quebec). The maximum annual premium is $839.97 ($674.73 for Quebec), based on maximum annual earnings of $45,900.

Self-employed individuals are not required to pay any employer portion of EI premiums, and the amounts paid are eligible for a non-refundable tax credit.

If you opt in to the program you would be eligible for maximum benefits of 15 weeks for maternity leave, 35 weeks of parental/adoptive  benefits, 15 weeks of sickness leave and 6 weeks of compassionate care benefits.

You must be registered and paying premiums for at least one year prior to making any claim for benefits. In order to qualify for benefits you must have an “interruption of earnings” which is defined as a more than 40 percent reduction in the time devoted to your business activities as a result of pregnancy, illness, injury, quarantine, the need to care for certain children or the need to provide care or support to certain family members. The 40 percent reduction is based on your “normal level” of time devoted to your business.

You would be entitled to benefits of up to 55 percent of your average weekly earnings to a maximum for 2012 of $485 per week.

If you register, you can decide to opt out at any time in the future, provided you have never made a claim for benefits. Otherwise, you must remain in the program for as long as you remain self-employed.

In Quebec, self-employed taxpayers are automatically required to participate in the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) which provides additional benefits to self-employed persons who sustain an interruption of earnings due to maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave or adoption leave.

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Introducing The Tax Issue Tax Organizer for 2011!!

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax, Uncategorized on January 17, 2012 at 2:06 pm

Organizing tax information for your tax preparer can be a daunting task. Do you use a shoebox? a shopping bag? Despite your best intentions, you may not have the time or the knowledge necessary to provide a complete and organized dossier.

Those of use who prepare your taxes just don’t have the time or energy to instruct their clients on how to properly prepare their income tax papers.

And so, as a public service to those beleaguered tax preparers, and to those of you who want your accountant to love you at tax time, The Tax Issue introduces the Tax Issue Tax Organizer.

The Tax Issue Tax Organizer is a free PDF file that you can download and use as an accountant, to give to your client, or as a client to use yourself to help organize the information you give to your tax preparer and make his or her life a little easier.

How to use the Tax Issue Tax Organizer

Simply download and print the Organizer. Each page represents a section that will let you organize the information for that topic. It starts with a list of the relevant documents you should submit to your tax preparer. Attach each page to a separate envelope or file folder containing the documents for that section.

Each page has a list of Do’s and Don’ts to help ensure that you help your tax preparer by including all the necessary documents and receipts he needs to efficiently prepare your taxes.

Finally, each page contains a few tax tips to help guide you through the process.

Even if you prepare your own tax returns, The Tax Issue Tax Organizer is a great tool to help you prepare.

Have a great tax season and enjoy using the Tax Issue Tax Organizer!

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What’s Your Tax Issue? Residence in a Trust

In Canadian Income Tax, Personal Tax, Principal Residence on January 7, 2012 at 8:19 pm

Our House is a very very very fine house

                  –Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

The Tax Issue

I am a member (beneficiary) of a family trust that was set up years ago by my Dad. The trust currently owns two houses. I live in one, and my sister, who is also a member of the trust, is married and lives in the other. We were told that we will have taxes to pay we sell our homes. Can this be true? Please help, as no one seems to know the answer.

The Answer

The principal residence rules that apply to personal trusts are surprisingly restrictive and can be a trap for the unwary.

A trust is treated as a person for tax purposes. As such, it does have access to the principal residence exemption on the sale of a home. But here’s the kicker: if a trust designates a home as a principal residence for a given year, then every beneficiary of that trust who lived in a home owned by the trust is deemed to have made the designation. And remember, a person can only designate one property as her principal residence. This applies to a trust as well. This means that if you sell the home you are living in and the trust claims it as a principal residence, then when the trust sells your sister’s home, the trust is precluded from making the designation on the second home. Her home becomes ineligible for the exemption for those years even though it may be the only home she’s lived. This might come as a shock, and it seems unfair, but that is the way the law works.

So, let’s look at an example. Say the trust owned your home since 2000 and it is sold in 2012 at a gain of $500,000. Furthermore, let’s assume the trust owned your sister’s home since 1996, and sells in 2012 at a gain of $400,000. If the trust claims the full principal residence exemption on your home, then it will be precluded from claiming the exemption for the years 2000 – 2012 on your sister’s home. In fact, for the 16 years the trust owned your sister’s home, only 4 will qualify, so only 4/16 of the gain will be exempt. (Actually, the formula generously adds 1 year to numerator, so technically 5/16, or $125,000 of the total gain will be exempt).

Taxpayers thinking about placing personal homes in a family trust should always seek professional tax advise.