Back to School Tax Breaks

Like tax season, back-to-school season rolls around annually with certainty. But in today’s inflationary environment, the start-up costs for getting the family organizing for the school year may seem daunting. The good news is that tax and financial advisors can help clients understand their tax planning options and manage all the receipts that can lead to tax breaks later in the spring during tax filing time. Here’s a primer of topics you may wish to discuss:

Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) are indexed quarterly. However, the indexation factor for these purposes for the second quarter—April to June 2016—is nil so there will be no raise in the monthly benefit amount for that period. But that doesn’t mean consumer spending didn’t cost more last quarter, as reported by Statistics Canada, especially for food, alcohol and tobacco.

As government budgets close one tax advantage after another, it pays to do some tax planning now as you complete your 2015 tax return. Tax time is a great time to prepare a financial assessment through a sound interview process with your advisors. That’s because it’s a great opportunity to review financial affairs of the family as a whole.

Cecil Baldry-White, CEO of Alitis Investment Counsel, believes there are six major challenges that wealth advisors face in attaining higher returns and longer term performance for their clients in today’s difficult investment environment, and he believes we must meet these challenges head on.

Small business forms the backbone of the Canadian economy, yet only a minority of businesses successfully pass to new owners. Sophisticated strategies are needed to ensure greater success in the transition of business ownership.

Recent Panama Papers leak started broad discussion on tax systems and the underground economy.

"Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud." Maya Angelou