Investment Q&A

Q: I am retired with no pension. I invest primarily in Canadian Dividend stocks and have in effect created my own "pension income" that is taxed at a "low rate" thanks to the Dividend Tax Credit. With our current Federal Government's massive deficit spending and their recent plan to implement "tax fairness" measures directed at private corporations I am very worried that there next tax grab will include elimination or reduction of the DTC despite the fact that the DTC compensates for taxes paid by the corporation and that dividends are paid out of retained after tax profits. If this were to happen, I think there would be a significant negative market reaction since I think the DTC creates considerable demand for Canadian dividend payers. Do you agree and if so which sectors or type of companies do you think would be most impacted? Thanks

Q: If I sell a stock in a non registered account for a loss and want to buy it back in my RIF account do I have to wait the 30 days to be eligible to claim the capital loss?
Thank you Ian.

Q: Are covered call ETF's okay to put in a non registered account vs TFSA & RRSP from a tax perspective vs regular dividend etfs? Does this make things more complicated when filing?
Also what is the opinion of 5i regarding PDF?

Thank you!

Q: Good afternoon,
I need to sell some losers in a taxable account. I have had WCP for a long time and would like to sell to capture a loss. Could you comment on replacing it with RRX immediately to maintain exposure to energy, or would I just wait the 30 days and re-buy WCP.
Thanks as always.
Ted

Q: Hi team,

Just a quick question: If in a taxable account, dollar for dollar, my profit is the same as my loss, do I still have to pay taxes on my profit? or would it be completely cancelled by my loss?

Have a wonderful weekend!

Q: Reference to important note to John Sept.11 (misc) stating that US stocks in a Cdn ETF will pay the 15% with holding tax (even in a RRSP)) and is not recoverable.

So if I want to own an unhedged SP 500 ETF in my RRSP I should buy one that is listed on an American stock exchange to avoid the non recoverable 15% tax ? Thanks

Derek

Q: Hi,
What's the best account to hold VEE?

If you want to hold an emerging market ETF, then is it just a fact of life that there will be withholding taxes? Or is there some way around that?

Thanks,
Robert

Q: Hi, guys
I'm not sure if you're familiar with this company, Smart Global, but its performing well and I'm wondering if you have any comments amd thought the group might be interested. (exoensive but has good support)
Cheers,

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.