Hamilton Tax, Business & Financial Services

Hamilton Tax, Business & Financial Services I have been a tax accountant now for 43 years so if you need help in optimizing your tax returns giv

03/27/2022

There are a lot of people out there who are not doing proper tax planning and their estate will eventually end up paying 53.53% of the value of their tax sheltered investments. You may be one of them if you/and or your wife have significant RRSPs/RIFs or unrealized capital gains on financial or real estate investments etc. You need to talk to a professional tax advisor now and commence proper tax planning going forward before it is too late.

03/14/2022

For those people who have small self employed business don't be too eager to always claim as many expenses as possible to reduce yourself down to zero taxable income. You may just be cheating yourself out of a Working Income Tax Benefit of over $1,000. Isn't that a kick in the pants........claim a HIGHER INCOME and get more money back. True, but consult a tax professional because there can be other areas affected, such that if you do not fit all of the parameters you may in fact cause extra taxation.

12/29/2021

Tax Season will be on us before you know. Did you do your tax planning for your 2021 return. If not, then it may be too late. Everyone should seek professional help in preparing their returns and even more so, for planning in advance to maximize your after tax retention. Doing that throughout an entire lifetime can make an enormous difference in your net worth.

07/16/2021

Subject....CPP. If you owned a business that was operating through a corporation you could remunerate yourself via dividend instead of salary. Dividends are not assessable earnings for CPP so you would not have to contribute to the CPP plan HOWEVER, consider this. The maximum CPP contributions by and employee is about $2,500 per year and the employer matches another $2,500....so if you put $5,000 per year into a TFSA, and treat that TFSA as if it were your CPP plan, you would be FAR AHEAD at retirement. No, you would not be eligible to get CPP, or perhaps just get a small amount based upon contributions that you have made to date. No, you do not get a tax deduction for TFSA contributions whereas CPP contributions are "sort of deductible". I say sort of because only a small amount of it is actually deductible against taxable income where the deduction benefit is at your marginal tax cost. Most of it get shown as an addition to non-refundable tax credits for which the tax reduction is extrapolated at the "lowest tax bracket". There is a good chance that when you retire and start drawing your CPP you will end up paying tax at a higher percentage cost than the deduction benefit percentage that you got when you put it in. Now consider that TFSA earnings that are compounding are "tax free". Also when you draw from it later, as if it were your CPP retirement fund, it is also not taxable AND, best of all, if you should die, or need the money, it all belongs to you, or your estate, which beats the hell out of the measly $2,500 death benefit that you get from CPP. Something to consider if you are in the position to take advantage of this.

07/09/2021

Many people/couples do not realize the tax danger in accumulating too much tax sheltered incomes (RRSPs, RRIFs, unrealized capital gains, retained earnings in a private corporation). They really need to utilize an orderly strategic plan to reduce their tax exposure at death but fail to do so until it is too late...........BEWARE.........THE GOVERNMENT MAY WELL END UP TAKING 53.53% OF THOSE ITEMS!!!

01/16/2021

Well, it is getting to be personal tax time. You would be surprised as to how many people, who prepare their own returns, end up shorting themselves in ways they would have never thought. My suggestion is to have me look at what you have filed in the past and I will tell you if there is anything that I can do to improve your return(s). If I cannot find anything then there would be no charge.

01/03/2021

DISABILITY STATUS for income tax purposes. Upon interrogating people I meet, I am finding more and more people that qualify for the disability tax credit but they are not aware of it. There are many criteria under which you can qualify, for example Walking, Vision, Hearing, Mental, Bowel movements/elimination, dressing, feeding and and more etc. If you are "markedly restricted" in your daily living style due to any one, or a combination of the listed criteria, you will probably qualify. If you qualify you will be eligible to claim the disability amount in the non-refundable tax credits section of your tax return. So, what does that mean????? If you or a supporting individual are in a taxable position it would mean about $1,600 per year in reduced taxation. In order to apply for this credit you must submit a Disability Tax Credit Certificate to your doctor and have him fill it out. Once it is completed you then mail it into the Canada Revenue Agency and later you will be notified of your qualification status. In that form the doctor has to indicate "When" the marked restriction began. So, let's say it indicates that you have had problems walking since 2015, you would then be able to request an amendment to yours and/or your supporting individual's tax returns for 2015 to 2019 and the result again, if the person claiming the deduction has sufficient taxable income, would be about $8,000 (5 years x $1,600 per year). I did have one extraordinary case, that came up in the early 2000s, where my client ended up getting tax refunds stemming all the way back to 1987, totalling some $67,000, by getting his two children qualified and back claiming the transfer of their annual unused disability deductions. Again, if you have a marked restriction that affect your daily living style, give me a call to discuss this and I will see what I can do for you. Unlike some other firms that provide this service I do not charge a percentage of your refund amount, which could be obscene, but rather my regular hourly rate for time spent on your case.

01/02/2021

I feel the government has screwed up royally on their government give away programs......CERB, CEWS, CEBA and CECRA. There are major holes in all of these programs in terms of the statement of eligibility criteria and the amounts of payments. The fallout from the CERB program s**t has already hit the proverbial fan, asking many people to now pay back all of their CERB receipts immediately........Nice try. As if these people have simply banked it and have it available to pay back. The monthly amount of the CERB should have been capped at 1/12th of the income reported in the taxpayer's 2019 return and not just a flat $2,000 for each applicant. Finally, there should have been a 20% withholding tax taken up front as it is taxable and none of these applicants will have money available on filing their tax returns to pay the related taxes. Where does the government come up with these programs. They seem to have just shot from the hip with no foresight. I am pretty disgusted. Finally, for those who got the CERB payback letters I am pretty sure that the government will have to "negotiate" with you in regards to repayment, both in the timing of repayment and probably also the amount. I do not expect that you will have to pay back the full amount. With enough pressure they may end up having to forgive the whole amount in cases where the misunderstanding was in the difference between "income" versus "net income"

12/12/2020

Beware of those companies that are trying to sell services to you in getting you qualified for the Disability Deduction. They do it on a percentage of refund basis which is ridiculously expenses. Either go to your local accountant to get it done or even try to do it yourself as it is fairly easy, but in any event you should still do it in concert with a tax professional just to make sure that you end up getting everything back that you would be entitled to. Tax professionals charge by time input and not by a percentage of refund.

02/19/2020

Well, effective February 24th the CRA portal will open and start accepting personal tax filings so if you are expecting a refund get your return filed ASAP after February 23rd.

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L9A1R1

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About Hamilton Tax, Business & Financial Services

Founded by former Chartered Accountant, Joseph Earl Callura, Hamilton Tax, Business & Financial Services provides accounting, tax and consulting services out of its location at 296 Brucedale Avenue East in Hamilton, Ontario. It is a division of 69073 Ontario Limited and services small businesses and individuals for accounting, bookkeeping, payroll services and corporate/personal tax preparation.