Investment Q&A

Q: Are the "dividends" paid by these two Purpose ETF's taxed as eligible dividends? Thanks.

Q: In some of your recent replies you are encouraging investors to harvest tax losses in this market. Why??

I have no capital gains to offset this year, nor do I have gains from the last 3 years that I can carry losses back to offset. I have been mostly a buy and hold investor.

Why should I sell some of the good quality companies that you hold in your BE portfolio or have strongly recommended in the past just to generate a loss? E.g. I am now down on all of these despite holding some of them since 2011: ENB, BNS, TD, SLF, FTS, BCE, T, CCL.B, DOL, PPL

Q: Last year, I purchased a number of ETFs to reduce risk. With the recent stock turmoil, they are all in significant loss positions. If possible, I would like to crystallize my losses now for tax purposes. However, I am comfortable longer-term with my portfolio's geographic and sectoral allocations, and do not want to change my set-up.

Am I allowed by the CRA to claim a tax loss in a non-registered account if I sell an index ETF (e.g. VSP - Vanguard S&P 500 index hedged) and immediately purchase an ETF from another company which represents the same index (e.g. ZUE - BMO's equivalent S&P 500 hedged index ETF), or is this considered a superficial tax loss?

Thanks again for all of your excellent advice and insights.

Q: Hi,

What type of account (cdn, us, rsp, tfsa) should I hold reits in to minimize taxes?

Thanks

Q: Thank you to all at 5i for all your efforts and guidance.
I am contemplating some tax loss selling and would like your input regarding the following,
sell ENB, PPL, SYZ and replacing in order with TRP, KEY and ABT. After 30 days I will consider (and probably) revert back to ENB and PPL. Not sure if I will do the same with ABT back to SYZ.
Comments, suggestions input please (suitability of replacements, plan to revert back, etc.) that will help me move forward. I like to buy, hold and rebalance as necessary but I can use the tax losses to good advantage. Retired income investor with 3 to 4 years already covered as this plays out.
Thank you so much for your help!

Q: would any of SHOP GSY or CSU be suitable for a RRIF ? or should they be in a TFSA ?

Thanks

Q: Am I right in thinking that I can carry forward any tax loss I incur? Given that I've no current gains to offset, I'd like to prepare for some selling later on. Is this wise?

Q: Hello 5i team
Thanks for working through this mess.
I have BCE, ENB, EIF, FSZ, MG, PBH, SPB in a non registered. I can sell these for a tax loss presently but should I, and if I do should I replace them with similar dividend players or risk 30 days to buy them back? This might fall into the personal decision category but if there is any comments or advice that you could provide please.
Thanks
Jeremy

Q: What do you think about tax loss selling of shares of Lightspeed? My purchase price is significantly higher than the current share price.

Q: How would you approach the situation where you want to "buy into the dip" but you also have an attractive tax-loss selling opportunity on the same security? Is there any rule of thumb here or it's really a judgment call?

Q: With this massive sell off, I am considering selling positions in to crystallize the tax loss, and immediately purchase similar companies to not miss out on future gains or realize any actual losses. Do you see any issues in this strategy and if not, do you have a couple suggested equal (or relatively equal) swaps in each sector? The banks are an obvious one, what about swaps for the tech, industrial, healthcare, utility companies in your model growth portfolio ?

Thanks for the great service!

Scott

Q: Hi 5i,
I am not 100% clear on stock and ETF's allocations for investment plans. Take as many points as needed to answer the questions below. I apologize in advance for the length of the question.

As a Canadian investing through a Canadian site (RBC in this case), split into CDN and US sections (moved CDN funds to USD and paid the exchange), which stocks and ETF's should be allocated to RRSP (CDN or US sections), TFSA, & Non-Registered accounts?

As an example, an RBC RRSP account is split into CAD and USD segments. If I purchase VWO in USD on the US segment instead of VEE on the CDN segment do I retain the 15% withholding tax? If I purchase VWO in CDN funds on the CDN side of the RRSP, what happens to the 15% withholding tax?

Is there a tax difference when filing a CRA 1135 form. e.g if VWO or VEE are 100+k CDN value: VWO on the USD segment or VEE on the CDN segment or VWO on the CDN segment.

If a US stock has a dividend, should this ever be purchased on the CDN side of the RRSP or in a TFSA? .. e.g. CRM with a small dividend or AMGN with a larger dividend

Can you please assign the best allocations (RRSP, TFSA, Non-Registered) to examples a the bottom of the question.
e.g. Non-dividend Growth US stocks (Googl, AMZN): TFSA, RRSP
This tells me that AMZN is best in the TFSA for growth, and in an RRSP purchased in CDN or US funds is the same effect other than currency at the time of purchase.
If a stock or ETF should be in CDN or US sections can you note that as well? e.g. RRSP(CDN or US).
It is a lot to ask so limited examples below will hopefully reduce the effort.

5i recommendations
Non-dividend Growth US stocks (e.g. Googl, AMZN):
US small Dividend Growth (e.g. IWO):
US Foreign ETF (e.g. VWO):
CDN ETF with US stocks and other int'l stocks (e.g. VEE):
CDN High Dividend (e.g. CDN Utilities/Reits/ETF's):
US High Dividend (e.g. US Utilities/Reits/Medical/ETF's)
All World ETF (VT):
All World ETF (XAW):

I very much appreciate your service and time to answer questions.

Jerry

Q: I am looking to follow the S&P 500. I am not sure what etf is best to use. I have seen you recommend VFV in Q&A but your model etf portfolios hold ZSP. Is there one you would choose over another? Is there another option I should consider? If you can advise if it is best to put in a register or unregistered account. I have room in both my TFSA and RRSP.

Thank you for the great service.

Q: Hi,
Multuiple questions here, please deduct the credits you think are appropriate.

1) Can you please explain when it makes sense to hold a hedged version of an ETF
2) If one holds a Canadian ETF with US holdings, how does taxation work? Does it change whether they are held in a cash acct, TFSA, or RRSP and how?

Q: Hello,
Question regarding the 30 day rule on repurchasing a stock that was sold for a capital loss. I sold Enb.to for a small capital loss in a non registered account.
If I decide to re-purchase the stock within the 30 day period I understand that the capital loss is not allowed, as I sold for a very small loss that really does not matter.
My question is; what if any any other penalty or other issue to consider before re-purchasing (my example enb.to) for a much lower price than I sold it for?

Thanks,
Randy D

Q: morning guys:
I bought a couple names with the dip but had to use my line of credit to do so . Am I able to claim the interest on next years taxes as I borrowerd to invest . If so is there a calculation that is used to determine how much interest i can claim .
Thank u

Q: Are there any tax issues when holding an ETF like VGG or other US dividend paying ETF's in a TFSA account?

Thanks,
Patrick

Q: Hello,

In what type of account would this be most tax efficient please?
The $USD component has confused me.

Cheers

Q: Hi!
A few times there has been mention of 5i members declaring the subscription for a deduction for their income tax return.

Hoping someone would know under which section this can be done using Ufile?

Thanks.

Q: Hi there,
When there is a corporate takeover and one receives a fraction of the new shares, that fraction of a new share may be paid out as "cash in lieu". Is that cash in lieu treated as a capital gain/loss or is it considered dividend income?
Thank you.