Investment Q&A

Q: I have a question about the tax treatment of Canadian stocks that are listed on the American exchange. I own a number of Canadian stocks listed in the TSX that pay Canadian dividends and allow me to apply dividend tax credit in my non-registered account. Ex. AQN, BNS, BIP.un
I'm considering exchanging some of these stocks to the American exchange so that I can collect dividends in US dollars.
Will the dividend tax credit remain in tact in the non-registered account?Would there be any tax with held impact if I made to same switch in my TFSA?

Q: Could you confirm that if I buy bonds in an ETF, they pay dividends rather than interest and are therefore taxed at a preferential rate. If I buy bonds, they pay interest which is taxed at a higher rate.
Are all management fees for investments held with a financial advisor tax deductible or only those held in non registered accounts (margin accounts).
Would management fees for RRIFs, RRSPs and TFSAs qualify for a tax deduction?

Could you confirm that if I hold securities in foreign securities such as Berkshire and have bank deposits in foreign currencies one is required to declare any amounts exceeding $100,000. Is this amount at cost or retail value of the security. Is this calculated in Canadian currency? Are foreign investments held in registered accounts (RRIFs, RRSPs and TFSAs exempt of this declaration. Could this be avoided by holding Canadian securities that have foreign investments such as TD, Brookfield (BEP.UN, BPY.UN, BIP.UN, BAM.A)? How does one calculate the value considering the volatility of the exchange rate if it is to be converted to Canadian currency?
I assume it is calculated on the cost of the security to avoid the volatility of the security.

Q: Hi Peter/Ryan can you tell me if there is benefit or a drawback in holding a trust in a TFSA more specifically BAM or BEP.UN. I was thinking of adding one of these. Which would be a better addition to a TFSA to reap the greater reward. Thanks, Nick

Q: My question has to do with investment allocation in accounts in order to minimize tax burden. Bellow is what I have been able to piece together. Could you please comment on my list? Also, what would you say is best in a CCPC to minimize taxes?

Thanks!

RRSP:
Interest bearing (GIC, Bonds)
US dividend stocks
US ETFs of underlieing US stocks

TFSA:
Interest bearing (GIC, Bonds)
Growth stocks (ie capital appreciation stocks)

Taxable account:
Non US foreign stocks
ETFs of underlieing foreign stocks
Preferred shares

CCPC (Canadian Controlled Private Corporation):
Interest bearing (GIC, Bonds)
Growth stocks

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.

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

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.

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

Q: I own several Canadian stocks in my TFSA that pay dividends in USD. Are the dividends eligible for the Canadian dividend tax credit?

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?

Q: Are dividends from USA ETF's held in a RRSP exempt from withholding tax just like USA stocks are? Thanks. Peter

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.

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?

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

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?

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.

Q: Would you know if MDIV (a US etf) qualifies as a holding in a Canadian RRIF?

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.

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

Q: Are the fees for the Portfolio Analytics membership tax deductable