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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: Last April United Technologies became Raytheon and spun off Carrier and Otis. Initially Revenue Canada (CRA) deemed the Carrier and OTIS spin-off values as 100% taxable (incredible I know) as opposed to a 50% taxable capital gain. I know this is not your area of expertise but I'm sure many of your members were affected due to the sheer size of UTX. Do you know if the CRA ruling has been changed or is it still 100% taxable?
Read Answer Asked by DAVE on October 13, 2020
Q: Hi,
I own both BEP.UN and BEPC in my RRSP. I decided to keep both about a month ago following a response to a question. But now it seems as time goes by that the capital appreciation of BEPC outweighs by far the higher dividend of BEP.UN (at least in my case). Would you still recommend holding both today in a RRSP or to sell BEP.UN and hold only BEPC?
Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Marco on October 05, 2020
Q: I am personally fearing that the Trudeau government will sooner rather than later whack us with tax increases to pay for all the current largess. I predict one or more of a) capital gain inclusion going to 75% from 50% b) reduction of dividend tax credit c) inclusion of all or a portion of personal home sales capital gain as taxable or d) GST rate increase. This all of course would affect investment decisions. What likelihood do you see of each of these bombs dropping?
Read Answer Asked by DAVE on October 02, 2020
Q: Just a question about the conversion, and the cost basis of my units. At the end of August, the value shown on my statements agreed to my records. Say it was $100. When I checked today, the cost value is shown at $50. Can you easily answer why the cost would be impacted? Perhaps a problem with my broker? I don't know much (read nothing) about Income Trusts. Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Brad on October 01, 2020
Q: There was a question about US estate taxation. Here is an article I found helpful.

https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/documents/233544/0/U.S.+Estate+Tax+for+Canadians+in+2019.pdf/ba88e6ce-fb64-4abe-bb57-8a6f4c3dad22

This was a key point in the document, page 5, to focus upon:

American Depository Receipts
(ADRs) — these are exempt from U.S. estate tax because the
underlying share holdings are not U.S. corporations
Read Answer Asked by Ronald on September 29, 2020
Q: Hello
I have an 18% gain in BEP.UN in a non registered account. I received the spin out shares in BEPC. Is there any tax advantage in selling the BEP.UN shares and buying the equivalent BEPC shares? Meaning, despite the cap tax gain hit, will the future taxation in BEPC be more advantageous over BEP.UN?

Also I recently bought GOOG C shares maybe by mistake. Is there any advantage to sell them and buy the A shares instead?

Thanks
2 deductions if you see fit.
Read Answer Asked by JEFF on September 29, 2020
Q: I would appreciate clarification about US estate taxes. I have found conflicting information on the internet as to when they apply. A BMO FAQ ( http://www.cetfa.ca/files/1551199672_bmo_etfs_-_faq_tax_season_en%20(1)%20-%20Updated.pdf ) states:

High net worth Canadians with worldwide assets exceeding US$11.4M
(2019, indexed to inflation) or have U.S. assets with a value that
exceeds US$60,000 may be required to pay U.S. estate tax on
the value of their U.S. assets. Canadian ETFs are generally are not
considered U.S. assets.

My understanding is that if Canadians held US ETFs, and their net worth was less than $11.4M US, then Canadians did not pay US estate tax. Is my understanding correct? On the internet, I have also seen references ( https://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/usestatetax.htm ) to a $1.2M US cutoff figure before US estate taxes apply.

Thank you in advance for clarifying this information, and for this wonderful service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on September 28, 2020
Q: Tax question. If a Canadian donates to a charity not in the Canada, can the donation still be tax deductible? I would like to donate to the wild fire relief in the Pacific NW and can only find US charities accepting donations for that purpose.

Google has an easy way to donate but they say "If you are a resident of Canada, your donation may not be tax deductible. You should check your local tax regulations and consult with a local tax professional to make sure."

I don't have a tax professional so I thought I'd ask here.

Thanks!
Read Answer Asked by Dennis on September 28, 2020
Q: when reporting US-CDA conversions for capital gains and losses, does one use the trade date or the settlement date? Thanks
Read Answer Asked by george on September 28, 2020
Q: Greetings!
RE: Trying to get the hang of Tax loss selling

Our holdings in Chartwell is down 17% and Sienna down 13%.
Comparing both on a 12 month chart seems to indicate more resilience with Chartwell.

Does it make sense to sell Sienna, take losses then on the same day buy Chartwell?

Cheers!
Read Answer Asked by Arzoo on September 28, 2020
Q: Thank you to the entire 5I team for your wise advice which helps us make important decisions for our lifelong savings. That said. There are many uncertainties as a second wave of COVID approaches, the American elections which are already problematic, not to mention the results which could be contested and which would plunge the market into great uncertainty. Couple this with the tax season losses and you have a month of October and November that should certainly be very volatile. This leads me to ask a question of market timing, yes I know no one can predict the market but for stocks that have fallen a lot this year like those offered in this question and that I own, is it not timely to sell before sales season and buy them back or other bargains during tax season?

Thank you

Yves
Read Answer Asked by Yves on September 28, 2020
Q: For taxable accounts, a US-listed international ETF (or Cdn-listed ETF, with an underlying US listed ETF) is tax inefficient because the international withholding tax is not recoverable. Purchasing a similar Cdn-listed ETF which holds the international stocks directly (i.e. not a US-listed ETF) is more tax efficient as the international withholding tax is recoverable.

However, there are often advantages to buying the US-listed ETFs as they typically have much larger AUMs, and much lower MERs than their Canadian listed counterparts (which have underlying international-listed stocks). For example, the MER for VEA (US listed) is 0.05% and for VDU (Canadian listed) is 0.22%. The MER "spread" varies considerably between ETFs, and can sometimes be quite significant.

Are you aware of any formula to help an investor determine when it is best to buy the lower-MER US ETF (and pay the higher tax) and when it is best to buy the higher-MER, lower tax, Canadian ETF? Is there any rule of thumb for an investor to use, to decide that once the MER-spread exceeds a certain amount, then an investor should buy the US ETF (as the additional MER costs in buying the Canadian ETF exceed the tax advantages)?

I realize that the result can vary depending on the percentage of non-recoverable international withholding tax, the investors' tax rate, etc. However, any guidance you can provide would be most appreciated. If you are aware of a "formula" to make this assessment, that would be ideal.

If there is no formula, please assume the investor is in a 50% tax bracket, is a long-term investor, the account is taxable, and there are no currency (hedging or exchange fee) concerns.

Thank you again for this excellent service.
Read Answer Asked by Dale on September 23, 2020
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