Investment Q&A

Q: Hi, I'm not sure of you do Tax questions or not. I am a new DIY investor (March 2017). I currently have Cash, RRSP, and TSFA accounts, all with CAD and USD capability. I did not do much tax research before I started building my portfolio. Currently I hold all my US equities and us funds in the USD Cash account (about 15% of portfolio). Now it seems to me from a tax point of view this is the worst possible place to hold US securities. Of course if I want to use the US cash then it's the only place I should actually put it. But I don't think I will need to use the US cash any time soon. So it seems to me that despite the 15% withholding tax the TSFA would be the best place for US equities, since the US gains are much higher than Canadian, and I could get the money if I do need end up needing it. Does that make sense? Would it be prudent to put a portion of both RRSP money and TSFA money into US funds accts with the CAD relatively strong right now? I have cash available in both accts to do so, but would be raising my overall US funds to about 25%. Thank you.

Q: I'd appreciate your opinion of the effect the new Canadian Tax Laws will have on our Small Cap Technology Stocks.

Q: Hi 5i - If something were to trigger a broad based repatriation of profits for US companies, do you see any names that would see a significant bump?

Q: My concern is the US is going to move to close tax loopholes on companies doing most of their business in the States, but headquartered in other countries. What companies you cover might be negatively impacted in this case?

CXI and BYD are two that spring to mind.

Thanks as always for your great work.

Phil

Q: Hi Guys, Sometimes, I am just stunned by the innovative time we live in and the rapid pace of unique and new technologies.....SolarWindow would be the perfect example of this.

SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. is engaged in the development of transparent electricity-generating coatings for glass and flexible plastic. The Company is developing two sustainable electricity generating systems: SolarWindow and MotionPower. The Company's SolarWindow technology provides the ability to harvest light energy from the sun and artificial sources and generate electricity from a transparent, coating of organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells applied to glass and plastics. The Company's MotionPower technology harvests kinetic or motion energy from vehicles when they slow down before coming to a stop and converts this captured energy into electricity.

AMAZING.........they harvest energy from a coating on windows from sun and/or from motion. They can reduce the power needed for a 50 story building by 40%.

The stock trades on the NY/OTC and closed today at $5.09 up 8%. Do we have anybody in this space in Canada? The stock seems to be spiking right now but if it cools down a bit any thoughts on the stock for investment?
Thanks Team. Chris

Q: Are dividends from income trusts protected from taxes if they are held in a tfsa.

Q: I recently sold a stock in my RRIF with a small loss. May I buy it in my non-registered account before the delay of 30 days ? If not, what happens if I proceed to the purchase.

Many, many thanks,

Jacques

Q: Good Morning: In my non-registered account I hold a number of equities on the Cdn. side of the portfolio that pay their dividends in USD. I am thinking about moving some or all of these over to the US side as a means of capturing some USD income. I am not particularly concerned about currency impact believing that over the long term the ups and downs will average out given the current vs historic USD/CAD relationship. My question here is simply whether or not there is some aspect of this move that I have not considered -- e.g. tax implications, buy/sell issues, etc. As always, thanks for your opinion.

Q: I have plenty of dividend income and am now interested in adding stocks or ETFs which pay distributions as RoC. Would you have a list of tax effective equities? And what are your views of using stocks/ETFs with a high Return of Capital as a means of improving the tax effectiveness of portfolios? I have heard experts on BNN who are not in favor of RoC but I tend not to agree since my biggest expense is tax.

Q: If I wanted to buy some Amazon stock, in which account should I purchase it ?

Q: If I sell a US stock held in a US account but leave the cash in the account and buy another stock how would I report the capital gain to the CRA? Thanks.

Q: Good Morning: I am thinking of increasing my position in ZWH and have been reading your responses to past questions on this etf. You note that approx. 50% of the dividend is in US dollars and therefore is susceptible to the US govt. withholding tax (in a non-registered account which is where I would be buying it). However, I assume that this amount would be recovered at tax time since that is the normal process for withholding tax on US dividends. I want to buy this fund with Cdn. dollars because the Cdn. dolar is up recently and it seems to be like buying US equities at a reduced rate. Am I correct in both these regards?
In the same vein, do most brokers automatically exchange the dividend payouts into Canadian dollars (no doubt charging their clients an exchange fee) and is this negotiable with your broker? Many thanks for your help.

Q: Hi Peter, Ryan & 5i Team
Re: Income Tax
When writing Covered Call Options; what is the tax rate on the money received? Income, Capital Gains, or It Depends?

Q: I don't have any US exposure and would like to add 10% of my portfolio to ZWH in my Cash account (non registered). Are the dividends eligible for the dividend tax credit? Are they paid in US funds and would there be any withholding tax? Do you have a better suggestion to get US exposure with a decent yield.

Q: Hi,
ORT stopped trading a few months back. I have a small holding left in this. Is there any possibility of this stock trading again and if not what is the procedure to have this removed from your account?

Q: Hello
Need some advice please. 62 and recently retired. RRSP's are almost maxed out but only a few k in TFSA account.
As my income is now at its lowest point (CPP),I'm
thinking I should start moving some RRSP funds to my TFSA?
I'm considering a mix of ETF's such as VAB,VCN,XAW or perhaps some of your Income stocks and funds such as CPD,XHY,BCE and BNS.
Note that I do hold most stocks in the balanced portfolio.
Thanks for your great service.
Gary

Q: I own XTC, which is currently down 15% in my portfolio. I'm considering locking in a capital loss for tax purposes, then purchasing MG, which has shown a much better trend and better earnings results. Do you think locking in a loss in XTC (possibly to re-purchase after 30 days), and purchasing MG would be a reasonable move at this time?

Q: Hi Team, Thanks for answering our non-stock related questions. Here's a link to share on T1135 form for those holding US
stocks.
http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=614998&email_access=on&chk=2148090&q=1533092

Q: In your response to Stephen you state that ZWH in a RRSP incurs a non-recoverable US withholding tax on the dividend - I hold ZWH in a RRSP and receive $0.095/share/month, the same amount as stated on the BMO website. Am I missing something here?
Thanks

Q: Good morning, If I sell ZWH, VGG and VIG in taxable accounts and replace with ZWA and VGH (both hedged and in Cdn dollars), will this trigger the disallowed tax loss? i.e. are they too similar to replace within 30 days? If so what would be a better solution? What would be your suggestion for US representation at this time?
Thanks for your never ending help.
Ted