Investment Q&A

Q: Does it ever make sense to shift funds from a TFSA to a RRSP for the purposes of reducing your tax bill (ie receiving a better refund)? Under what conditions might it be appropropriate? Or does short term gain of a tax return undermine the long term power of a TFSA?

Q: I just made a direct transfer of a US security from my margin account into my TFSA. What exchange rate do I use to calculate how much room I have left on this year's max contribution?

Appreciate your insight.

Paul F.

Q: For US taxable capital gains, US dividends and US withholding taxes, does the CRA allow a taxpayer to use the average foreign exchange rate for 2024 when preparing  the income tax return for 2024???......Tom

Q: To my big surprise the monthly income from XDIV is classified as "interests" income at BMO Investorline and not as dividends income. A T5 slip will confirm this in a few weeks but in your view should it be interest or dividend? Thanks.

Q: Good day, 5I. Is it ok to sell a ETF in a RIF and repurchase immediately in a TFSA. There would be no capital gains or losses to claim. Thank you.

Q: As a follow up to my question on January 8 regarding ETFs you suggested ZSP to represent S&P 500
Would HXS be a better alternative since there will be no withholding tax in the TFSA as per asked by Danny boy on January 10?

Q: I hold BAM, BIP.UN, BIPC, BEP.UN, BEPC and BN in a non registered account. For September and December dividend payments, I noticed that a withholding tax was applied to BIP.UN. For tax purposes, would any of the 6 stocks listed be better off in a registered account?

Q: Just double checking….. I sold TD on Dec 6 but as that was a Friday, it settled on Dec 9. TD goes ex-dividend on Jan 10. As my sell settled on Dec 9, am I correct that the earliest I can buy TD to avoid the superficial loss rule is Jan 9 (day 31) and this should settle on Jan 10 as the 9th is a Thursday, thus allowing me to get the dividend?? This is a follow up to an earlier question where it was indicated I could repurchase TD on Jan 8 but I suspect that did not take into account the delayed settlement date due to the weekend.

Thank you

Q: Hi, I sold CSU and DSG in RESP and withdrew all money out of RESP account to trading account distributed between myself and kids. Kids will be paying tax on EAP ( growth ) amount. Can i /kids buy CSU and DSG again without waiting for 30 day period?

Thanks

Q: Hi Folks

I believe Novo Nordisk is Danish. If I was to buy Novo Nordisk on the US exchange (NONOF:OTC PINKl what kind of withholding tax should I expect on the dividend. And should I hold it in the RRSP to avoid this tax?

Thanks

Stuart

Q: Just thought you might want to know this. I talked to the CRA today about trading in your TFSA account and they said a few trades a month are fine.

Merry Christmas.

Q: What is the timing on sales for tax losses?

Q: for tax purposes in Canada, is a Canadian money market fund ETF profit taxable as income or capital gain. Thanks. Merry Christmas to all there.

Q: I understand that VGT and XLK are extremely popular US technology ETF's.
I also understand that many popular US exchange ETF's are extremely tax efficient If I held these in my taxable account will there likely be capital gains/losses declared annually? If so, where can I find this historical information?
Would my broker provide this tax information annually to help me prepare my tax return?

Q: Recently you answered my question regarding US dividend WHT on Canadian domiciled ETF issues (Vanguard Canada, RBC Ishares etc) and noted that withholding taxes are owing on distributions since the Canadian ETF is simply holding the US ETF and the taxes would be levied when distributions are paid by the US ETF to the Canadian ETF.

Some follow up questions:
- I am assuming that the WHT would apply even if the Canadian ETF is held within a registered account?
- Does the WHT explain part of the difference in yield when comparing the US ETF and the Canadian ETF? For example - VIG yields 1.69% while VGG yields 1.17%. Assuming also that the higher MER on VGG also explains part of the yield difference??
- Given these factors - the WHT and higher MER - why would anyone choose the Canadian version of the same ETF. Further to this - In another question posed by Jacques - you point out that the Canadian ETF ZSP would be preferable to VFV since it holds the stocks directly and not thru the US ETF VOO....thereby avoiding WHT's for registered accounts. However - when you look at VOO - the yield is about 26 bp's higher than either VFV and ZSP....again why would you not just buy VOO.

Many thanks

Q: What is the recommendation to own in a registered account? What is the difference between these 2 securities?

Q: I have two questions re: tax loss selling. I have a three year old gain that I can offset by selling the above holdings.

1. First please help me with the math. If I buy a stock for $100, sell it for $90, I have a loss of $10 which would mean I can expect a $2.50 tax loss at a 25% rate. Does this mean that if I wanted to buy the stock back after 30 days, I would only be better off if I buy it back at less than 92.50 per share? Do you have a threshold whereby you must be down by a certain amount to justify a tax loss sale? e.g. 20%? Unless of course you are walking away from a company.

2. Which of the companies listed would you consider buying back after 30 days? I have too many holdings as it is so may just let them all go unless something is particularly interesting. I am overweight technology, underweight everything else but otherwise have a broad mix of funds and stocks.

Q: If I sell Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP.UN:CA) that I hold in my RRSP, will I have to pay the 10% U.S. withholding tax on the total proceeds? As you know this tax was implemented on Canadian Limited Partnership companies last year, but I do not know if BEP.UN has taken steps to avoid it. Thank you

Q: I am starting a non-registered portfolio. I would like exposure to the US tech market.
Here are 2 questions:
What are the tax implications of an ETF? (I have read several suggested documents in the Questions section of your website but I am still not sure about the tax cost). Are there any costs other than the MER to hold an ETF?
I am looking at XSP, XUS, VFV.
Thanks.

Q: Hello. I would like to add to an answer given today about selling TD Bank shares with significant capital gain and Tax mitigation

Asked by Dave: "Can you suggest any way to mitigate/reduce any tax hit if I were to dump my TD shares?"


If an investor is so inclined, it is beneficial to Donate shares where upon donation there is zero capital gains tax and the full amount of the share sale value is considered a charitable donation.

With annual charitable donations, I have been running off gains this way for years.