Budget 2022 – Will this be the end of capital gains planning?

With a top personal tax rate in Ontario of 53.53%, the tax spread between dividend income and capital gains is significant.  As a result, planning has evolved over the last number of years whereby a taxpayer creates a capital gain as a means of extracting corporate funds in lieu of or in combination with paying themselves a dividend/salary, which would …

5 Strategies Where COVID-19 Can Reduce Taxes

There are are at least 5 strategies that can be executed under existing tax legislation to use COVID-19 to generate tax relief.  These strategies were originally posted by us 7 weeks ago on March 19th.  In particular, strategy No. 5 discussed below anticipated a reduction in the prescribed interest rate to 1% from the current rate of 2%, which will now be …

Choosing the Will or Family Law – A Surviving Spouse Has the Choice

On the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse has the right to choose between accepting his / her entitlement under their partner’s will (where there is a will) or claim an equalization of net family property (an “equalization payment”) under section 6 of the Family Law Act.[1]   Where there is no will, the surviving spouse has the right …