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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: The tax treatment of these ETFs (and typical of others) is difficult to determine. Dividends are withheld from these ETFs but are applied to the book value of the stock. We still pay for the dividend as income (with tax credits) but when the stock is sold, the capital gains are reduced by the amount added to the book value. Capital gains are taxed at 50%. Does it matter if we hold these in a RRIF or personal account? I'm retired and total dividend income is below $50k.
Read Answer Asked by Greg on April 22, 2019
Q: I understand that you are not tax experts but this is regarding reporting a superficial loss on the tax return. I understand that a loss cannot be claimed if it’s a superficial loss. How does this get reported on Schedule 3? Do I set the ACB the same as the proceeds of disposition resulting in $0 gain/loss or is there a more appropriate method? I also started a thread on the Forums section. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Richard on April 22, 2019
Q: Further to Fred's question about where to put Trust Units; my experience is never in a Family Trust (or other Trust) as the reporting deadline for BEP.UN is the same as when the the Family Trust return is due, ie. March 31. If you hold BEP.UN in a private corporation you also cannot finalize your corporate tax return until the tax information is received. This goes for all Trust Units (.UN) as well as investments similar to ZQQ.
Read Answer Asked by stephen on April 22, 2019
Q: Thanks for all your help.

It is tax season, and trusts are giving me issues with their reporting being complex and late, generally. Being late, I’ve have to update my taxes that were already done by my accountant.

I am trying to figure out where best to put trusts, like BEP.UN, for tax and reporting purposes. Are they best in a Corporate account, personal, RRSP, or TFSA?

Thanks again,

Fed
Read Answer Asked by Federico on April 18, 2019
Q: I own several Canadian stocks in my TFSA that pay dividends in USD. Are the dividends eligible for the Canadian dividend tax credit?
Read Answer Asked by Camille on April 17, 2019
Q: I have a non-registered a/c, a RRIF and a TFSA and would like to add fixed income investments to each using ETFs. I am looking at the above mentioned ETFs. Is there a general rule of thumb as to which type of income should go in to various accounts and would XHY and XPF be subject to withholding tax?
Read Answer Asked by Lloyd on April 16, 2019
Q: Are dividends from USA ETF's held in a RRSP exempt from withholding tax just like USA stocks are? Thanks. Peter
Read Answer Asked by Peter on April 16, 2019
Q: We bought a dividend mutual fund for my grandson at birth 18 years ago. This is held in trust in my wife's name and actual amount of actual dividends, taxable amount eligible dividends and dividend tax credit for eligible dividends ( Boxes 49,50 & 51 of the T3 form) claimed on her income tax for the last 17 years. Now this fund is worth 3.5 times the original amount invested- my question is can you tell us if the growth of this fund will have to be declared as a capital gain when we cash it out to give him to start a TFSA?

If this question is out of the realm for you to answer please feel free to charge me as a question asked.


Thank you for this and the service you provide.
Read Answer Asked by James on April 16, 2019
Q: My Canadian Margin account is up 29% accoding to TDW. I would like to lock in some of the gains but I already sold some stocks this year (ATD.B with ACB of $2.97 and GIL with ACB of $2.77). I sold these stocks for diversification purposes but they are still my two biggest holdings in my portfolio. I cannot afford to sell any more stocks as all my holdings are in the black and I would incur capital gains. I would have to take out a loan to pay the capital gains tax if I sold some more stocks. Would there be any way to lock in gains with options for 2019?
Read Answer Asked by Robert on April 16, 2019
Q: 7:10 AM 4/11/2019
When I search the BIP.UN website I find:

"Specified Foreign Property
For the purpose of reporting foreign property by Canadian investors, pursuant to section 233.3 of the Canadian Income Tax Act, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. is not a specified foreign property and therefore does not need to be reported on Form T1135 - Foreign Income Verification Statement."

However when I search the BEP.UN website I find no comparable statement. But I get a statement from TDWaterhouse Wealth to the effect that BEP.UN IS a foreign property.

Does this mean that BEP.UN needs to be reported as foreign ownership or is BEP.UN just like BIP.UN and TD has made a mistake?

Thank you....... Paul K
Read Answer Asked by Paul on April 12, 2019
Q: Example. If I purchased a $1000.00 worth of shares in stock XYZ, the shares are now worth $100.00 and I'm going to sell them. Am I allowed to contribute $900.00 back into my TFSA to make up for the loss?
Read Answer Asked by Colette on April 11, 2019
Q: When we hold u.s. stocks in lif and rif do we have to report if the total in u.s. funds exceeds $100000 or is that only a factor in unregistered accounts.
Read Answer Asked by gene on April 10, 2019
Q: Would you know if MDIV (a US etf) qualifies as a holding in a Canadian RRIF?
Read Answer Asked by William James (Jim) on April 08, 2019
Q: Are the fees for the Portfolio Analytics membership tax deductable?
Not a question, but sharing information. You mentioned fees could be claimed as Carrying Charges. Previously, someone mentioned claiming the fees as Investment Counsel. So far, this has been successful for me. I figure, instead of paying my previous (useless) Advisor about $10K/year, I now receive my advice from 5iResearch.
Read Answer Asked by Helen on March 29, 2019
Q: I currently own Shopify in a non-registered account, with significant gains. Thank you for this recommendation. Do you think it is going to continue with its gains and if so, would it make sense to move it to my TFSA? I will eventually have to take the tax hit on the gains, regardless. I have room in my TFSA to buy it back with the gains that I have made. Thanks
Read Answer Asked by Dave on March 29, 2019
Q: Are the fees for the Portfolio Analytics membership tax deductable
Read Answer Asked by Bruce on March 28, 2019
Q: When filing your income tax return and you have to declare stocks sold in a particular tax year from an open account ( T5008) the CRA requests the Adjusted Cost Base for those stocks/sales. Can I as an individual calculate the ACB or do I have to have my financial institution provide it? If I can calculate it what backup material do I have to provide?
Read Answer Asked by John on March 27, 2019
Q: Good mornng,
Thank you for your prompt and very helpful answer to my question re: Mutual funds/ETFs that do not pay any DISTRIBUTIONS and only generate CAPITAL GAINS.
As a follow up to your general HORIZON Total Return ETFs recommendation, what are your thoughts in terms of appropriateness if I were to split the amount to be invested in each of my minor grandchildrens' Non Registered in-trust accounts as follows: 50% in HXS.CA and 50% in HXT.CA? Your comments/thoughts on these specific ETFs would be most appreciated. Feel free to recommend other ETFs as need be . Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on March 25, 2019
Q: would you confirm for me if it is correct that DSC can be deducted from capital gains as outlays and expenses. and would be claimed using schedule 3 when completing my income tax return? thank you
Read Answer Asked by Bren on March 25, 2019