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Investment Q&A

Not investment advice or solicitation to buy/sell securities. Do your own due diligence and/or consult an advisor.

Q: When filing your income tax return and you have to declare stocks sold in a particular tax year from an open account ( T5008) the CRA requests the Adjusted Cost Base for those stocks/sales. Can I as an individual calculate the ACB or do I have to have my financial institution provide it? If I can calculate it what backup material do I have to provide?
Read Answer Asked by John on March 27, 2019
Q: Good mornng,
Thank you for your prompt and very helpful answer to my question re: Mutual funds/ETFs that do not pay any DISTRIBUTIONS and only generate CAPITAL GAINS.
As a follow up to your general HORIZON Total Return ETFs recommendation, what are your thoughts in terms of appropriateness if I were to split the amount to be invested in each of my minor grandchildrens' Non Registered in-trust accounts as follows: 50% in HXS.CA and 50% in HXT.CA? Your comments/thoughts on these specific ETFs would be most appreciated. Feel free to recommend other ETFs as need be . Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Francesco on March 25, 2019
Q: would you confirm for me if it is correct that DSC can be deducted from capital gains as outlays and expenses. and would be claimed using schedule 3 when completing my income tax return? thank you
Read Answer Asked by Brenda on March 25, 2019
Q: Concerning Canadian Cies (like FFH or TRP ), paying dividends, but getting a significant part of their revenues from the US or from foreign Cies that they own : Do we get the whole tax credit on their dividends ? Or is it only in proportion of the Canadian portion of the Cie ?
Read Answer Asked by Jean-Yves on March 21, 2019
Q: Does the new digital subscription tax credit apply to our 5i newsletter fees?
Read Answer Asked by Ian on March 20, 2019
Q: Hi, if I hold either of these stocks in a TFSA would they be exempt from any U.S. or foreign tax reporting? From a tax reporting perspective would it be the same as if holding them in an RRSP? Thanks.
Read Answer Asked by Gary on March 18, 2019
Q: In 2018, Metro bought Jean Coutu. I would have preferred to convert a part of my PJc shares into Metro shares in order to defer the capital gain as long as possible. However, I have never received the document offering this choice from Disnat.
I contacted Disnat and the customer service told me that the document with which we had to sign our choice had been sent. I then consulted 2 colleagues who use the Disnat platform and they also confirm that they did not receive this document. The tax bill is important.
Are there any recourse or action to take?
Thank you
Read Answer Asked by Serge on March 06, 2019
Q: Hi,
I would like to read more or get some information on how to
establish strategies to minimize my tax burden and
optimize the disbursement of my investments. Any suggestions on where to start?
Read Answer Asked by Serge on March 05, 2019
Q: If the upcoming federal budget changes the capital gains inclusion rate, would the new inclusion rate apply retroactively to realizations made before the budget announcement in the current tax year? Thank you.
Read Answer Asked by Marco on March 05, 2019
Q: I believe you prefer to have growth equities in one's TFSA. For someone in retirement would it instead be a good plan for a dividend growth investor to use the TFSA to produce regular tax-free dividends for a retiree? If one already has an open account made up of dividend paying stocks, the grossing up of those dividends can potentially create a clawback on your OAS payments. In my opinion, moving as many of those stocks to the TFSA as possible would help reduce this issue. Would you agree?

Thanks.
Jim
Read Answer Asked by James on March 05, 2019
Q: I seem to never take profits in my non-registered account. I currently have an unrealized gain of +69.48% on OTEX. Do you think it's wise to take all or some profits? (I do have losses in 2018.) If I sell OTEX, what is are some good growth stocks with solid financials and good growth prospects. (I happily own CSU in may TFSA.)
Read Answer Asked by Helen on March 04, 2019
Q: A person diligently saves and invests, and is now in retirement. He has a diversified portfolio. He has maxed out TFSA contributions every year. He has a few hundred thousand in an RRSP, which holds good solid US dividend paying stocks. He also has a few hundred thousand in a non-registered account containing a diversified mix of good Canadian dividend paying stocks. He doesn't have a company pension. He does receive CPP and OAS.

He decides to open a RRIF account early (before age 71) and begin taking at least the minimum annual RRIF withdrawals. He wants to take the withdrawals as "in kind" transfers. (He may sell some stocks to raise the cash to pay the withholding tax, if necessary.) He doesn't need the withdrawal amounts as cash to live on so he wants to keep the withdrawal amounts invested in the stock market, hence the in-kind transfers.

The question is: what to do with the terrific US companies in the RRSP that will be converted to a RRIF, and will slowly need to be withdrawn? To transfer the US stocks in-kind to the non-registered account, means that the US dividend income will now be classified as ordinary income, which will be taxed at a higher rate, and there will be a US withholding tax of 15% on the US dividend income. Is one of the options to keep only low or no dividend paying growth stocks in the non-registered account?

It doesn’t seem to entirely make sense to sell the US stocks and start buying more Canadian stocks. If this were done, eventually the portfolio would become too concentrated in Canadian stocks.

What is the best and most tax efficient strategy for this senior?
Read Answer Asked by Helen on March 04, 2019