Time is Running Out for First-Time Home Buyers to Save in 2024

Owning a home, once almost considered a right of Canadian citizenship, has become a more distant dream for millions. The high cost of housing, coupled with a desperate shortage of supply, has turned the notion of home ownership into a near impossibility for many Canadians and those who have arrived in our country more recently.  The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA) can help but it’s important to open an account before December 31, 2024 to create and preserve the contribution room.

There’s a new way to experience a Knowledge Bureau Education – completely risk-free! We just launched a new DMA™ Program Orientation experience to give you a feel for our Distinguished Master Advisor (DMA™) Designation Programs in each area of specialization and help you take the next step on your new pathway to specialized credentials. Take ten minutes and check out the Introduction to the DMA™- Retirement Income Services Specialist Program Orientation. Your experience includes an Orientation video, free course and calculator trials, and a special offer valid for 2 weeks from the launch date. Check out the details here:

In February we asked KBR readers to weigh in on the following poll question: “The RRSP deadline for the 2023 tax year is February 29. From a wealth planning perspective, do you think middle aged Canadians should invest in a TFSA instead?”. The opinions were mixed with 64% answering “yes” in favour of the TFSA over the RRSP. As always, the important details are in the insightful comments left by our readers from the tax, accounting and financial services, and many pointed out it depends on “Know Your Client”.  Check them out:

Short term rental ownership has doubled from 7% to 15% in the period 2017 to 2021.  The federal government plans to deny tax deductions otherwise claimable to reduce income earned in the case of non-compliant short term rental owners starting in the 2024 tax year. This measure  introduces significant complexity to an already perplexing tax regime for real estate owners and their accountants at a time when the outlook for growth in this market may be subsiding.  Here’s what we know and why there may be a good argument for scrapping this tax entirely:

Times are tough but there are some things that are just too important to pass up on.  One of them is the RRSP contribution for the 2023 tax filing year.  The final deadline for reducing your 2023 taxes is February 29 this year.  That’s a Thursday and here are 9 great reasons why you shouldn’t miss this opportunity.

Expecting a tax refund or GST/HST payment?  You may not get it if you owe money to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), including repayments of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and other pandemic supports you may have received.  Here is what you need to know and why contacting the CRA is so important to get on better financial ground in 2024:

How does a person know whether a trust exists or not? The answer to that question can at times be more complicated than you’d imagine.  There are occasions where a written document, such as a Will, very clearly purports to establish a “trust” but fails to do so. There are other occasions where there is no written document present at all, but nonetheless a trust relationship is deemed at law to have arisen.  In some provincial jurisdictions, a trust to hold land cannot be validly created unless there is a written document in place.