What's New -> What's New 2008

What's New by Month in 2008

December 2008

2009 Automobile expense limits for business will be unchanged from the 2008 limits.

2009 Rates for tax-exempt automobile allowances paid to employees are unchanged from the 2008 rates.

2009 Rates for automobile taxable benefits are unchanged from the 2008 rates.

Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) - The deadline for 2008 RDSP contributions has been extended to March 2, 2009.

TFSA - designating a beneficiary in the TFSA contract - the ability to do this may not yet be available.

2009 Federal Budget - You can provide input online to the Department of Finance, to help establish priorities for the Federal Budget, which is to be presented on January 27, 2009.

Fuel Efficient Vehicles - The Federal ecoAUTO Rebate Program, and some provincial sales tax rebate programs, are coming to an end on December 31, 2008.

Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) - Other resources - CRA has published a very detailed and useful information sheet.

RRIF minimum withdrawal 25% reduction for 2008:

CRA has indicated that financial institutions can apply the proposed change prior to the legislation being approved.

Our RRSP/RRIF calculators have been modified to accommodate the reduction.

Employer-provided parking may be a taxable benefit to employees.

Overpaid CPP contributions and EI premiums - An employer can recover these overpayments, within time limits, by filing an application for a refund.

Marital status - Not sure what marital status to report on your tax return? See our revised article on Filing With a Spouse.

Defining your goals - Life too complicated? Too many decisions to make? Read our revised article on defining your goals.

November 2008

Federal Economic and Fiscal Statement - Proposed reduction to 2008 minimum annual withdrawal amounts for RRIFs and variable benefit money purchase RPPs.

Making in kind withdrawals from RRSPs and RRIFs, which can be transferred to a TFSA if desired

Glossary - Added definition of "in kind"

2009/2008 Canadian Tax Calculator now available for all provinces and territories excluding Quebec.

2009/2008 Quebec Tax Calculator now available.

RRSP Contribution Limits - This article has been revised regarding foreign employment income.

Reporting Foreign Amounts on your Canadian personal income tax return.

Tax Credits - Tables of non-refundable personal tax credits for 2009 are now available.

Tax Rates - Tables of marginal tax rates for 2009 are now available.

BC Dividend Tax Credit - Table of marginal tax rates for 2008 to 2012 for enhanced dividend tax credits has been revised re the 2008 personal tax rate reduction announced in October.

BC Property Tax - A new temporary property tax deferment program was announced, as well as the locking-in of property assessments (not property taxes) at 2007 levels for one year.

Saskatchewan Tax

- personal tax credit increases

- previous sales tax credit becomes low-income tax credit, with increased benefits

- graduate retention program opened up to eligible post-secondary graduates within and beyond Canada

BC Tax - tables of non-refundable personal tax credits for 2008 have been revised to reflect the lower BC tax rate.

Canada Pension Plan (CPP) - premium rates and pensionable earnings levels for 2009.

Employment Insurance (EI) - premium rates and insurable earnings levels for 2009.

October 2008

Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) - The tax-free savings accounts will be available January 1, 2009. Learn about contribution limits, withdrawals, taxes payable and other details.

BC Economic Plan - personal tax reductions retroactive to January 1, 2008, accelerated small business tax reductions and several other changes. Marginal tax rate tables and Canadian Tax Calculator revised to include the reduced personal tax rates for 2008.

Manitoba government services - link added to the Residential Tenancies Branch, which details the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants. The site also publishes the rent increase guideline, which has been set at 2.5%, effective January 1, 2009.

Employment Insurance - Information added regarding EI benefit repayment (EI clawback)

Manitoba Tax - The new primary caregiver refundable tax credit becomes available January 1, 2009, following a 3 month qualifying period.

Legal Resources - Links added to Canada Pension Plan and Regulations, and Employment Insurance Act and Regulations.

Foreign firms paying employees or self-employed contractors working in Canada - what tax deductions must be withheld?

Commission employees who are able to claim expenses should complete a TD1X form, so that their expenses are taken into consideration in the calculation of the income taxes deducted from the commission.

Are you working a temporary or part-time job, and will have low income for the year? File a TD1 form with your employer so that no income tax will be deducted.

September 2008

Canada Gazette - Canada's official newspaper, gives you an opportunity to have a say in all regulations proposed in Canada.

Unclaimed property - Links added to unclaimed property databases in the US, for those of you who may have unclaimed property there.

Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) - Human Resources Development Canada has published a Review of RESP Industry Practices.

August 2008

Ontario new Life Income Funds (LIFs) - the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) has published a new document explaining the new LIFs, with new unlocking provisions, which were available beginning January 1, 2008.

We have updated to December 2007 our table of historical returns on investments, which includes stocks, bonds, t-bills and, for comparison, the Canadian CPI. The table now shows returns for 5, 10, 20 and 50 years, where available.

Sheltering RRSP withdrawals - we have made some changes to the ShelterRRSPs.xls worksheet. Tax rates for Newfoundland & Labrador have been reduced to the revised rates for 2008, pension income amount for Nunavut has been increased to $2,000 as per their 2008 budget.

July 2008

Investment Return Calculator has been modified to allow input of more transactions, and to allow transaction descriptions.

Registered Disability Savings Plans: The Canada Disability Savings Act Regulations have been published, and the RDSP articles have been revised accordingly.

Glossary item added: Assistance holdback amount (re RDSPs).

Qualified investments for RRSPs and other registered plans: Link has been added to the Department of Finance information on designated stock exchanges.

June 2008

New Net Worth Calculator.

Loan and mortgage calculator changes:

- more compounding frequency choices

- more payment frequency choices

- amortization period up to 40 years

- shows effective annual interest rate

Federal Budget 2008 - Bill C-50 received Royal Assent on June 18, 2008.

Glossary item added: Interest rates, including effective and nominal rates, and compound interest.

Calculators:

- Mortgage vs RRSP calculator has been modified to include the effect of income taxes.

- Present and future value calculator now shows the effective annual interest rate.

Tax Rates: Federal and Provincial tax comparison table updated for 2008 tax rates. Shows total income taxes on various levels of employment income, federally and in each province.

BC PST errors: Make sure you don't pay PST unnecessarily on Energy Star® refrigerators, clothes washers, and freezers.

Capital gains exemption for qualified small business corporation shares - link added to CRA technical interpretation.

May 2008

Capital gains exemption for qualified small business corporation shares could be unavailable when the shares are sold to a non-resident or to a public corporation.

BC Climate Action Dividend: Link added to more information on the BC government website.

Provincial Budgets: Northwest Territories 2008 Budget tabled May 22, 2008.

Saskatchewan personal tax credits - links added to Government information on graduate tax benefit programs.

Business page: 2008 Corporate income tax rates - general and small business.

Federally regulated Life Income Fund - unlocking changes are now in effect.

Canadian Tax Calculator has been updated for provincial budget changes which affect 2008.

April 2008

Provincial Budgets: Both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador presented their budgets on April 29th.

Registered Disability Savings Plans

Federal 2008 Budget - Explanatory notes regarding Bill C-50 were made available April 23, 2008 on the Department of Finance website.

Prince Edward Island 2008 Budget tabled April 23, 2008.

Alberta 2008 Budget tabled April 22, 2008.

Shelter RRSPs worksheet - will not work unless you have the Excel Analysis ToolPak enabled.

Government benefits, programs and services - we have added links for Canada and each province and territory for:

- government website home pages

- consumer protection information

Provincial Budgets: Prince Edward Island 2008 Budget to be released April 22, 2008 at approximately 3pm.

Glossary items added: age of majority, accounts payable turnover, accounts receivable turnover, aged accounts receivable, day's sales outstanding, and inventory turnover.

Provincial Budgets: Alberta 2008 Budget to be released April 22, 2008 at 3pm.

Manitoba 2008 Budget tabled April 9, 2008.

New topics added to the Manitoba tax page.

Manitoba Dividend Tax Credit: Table added to show the combined federal/Manitoba marginal tax rates for eligible dividends resulting from the Federal changes to the dividend gross-up from 2010 to 2012.

Persons with Disabilities - we have created a new page with links to all topics on our site related to persons with disabilities.

March 2008

Canada Revenue Agency has a new Quick Access e-service through which you can easily check the status of your personal tax information.

Filing Your Return

- Article on claiming attendant care expenses has been rewritten.

- New information added to article on medical expenses for other eligible dependents.

- Both of the above articles include tax-saving information regarding the fact that the dollar limits on the expenses apply per taxpayer, not per patient. If a dependent is financially supported by more than one taxpayer, each of those taxpayers can claim up to the limit.

Ontario 2008 budget tabled March 25, 2008.

BC Dividend Tax Credit: Table of future marginal tax rates now shows the combined federal/BC marginal tax rates for eligible dividends.

Provincial Budgets: Yukon 2008 budget tabled March 20, 2008

Filing Your Return: Canada employment amount tax credit.

Pension Income Splitting: New information added, new link added to CRA information.

Saskatchewan 2008 budget, tabled March 19, 2008, provides increased disability-related tax credits, and new Graduate Retention Program.

New Brunswick 2008 budget tabled March 18, 2008, with no income tax changes.

Nova Scotia: Information added re volunteer firefighter tax credit.

Quebec 2008 Budget tabled March 13, 2008.

Schedule added of upcoming Provincial/Territorial Budgets.

Provincial Budgets: Nunavut 2008 Budget details.

Federal Budget 2008: Notice of Ways and Means motion tabled in the House of Commons on March 11, 2008, to implement most of the 2008 budget measures.

Tax shelter donation arrangements: CRA has revoked the charitable status of a provider of tax shelter arrangements.

RRSPs: Can a spousal RRSP be rolled into a non-spousal RRSP?

Save Money: Check to see if there are unclaimed bank balances that belong to you or a relative.

Investing:

Our article Recommended stocks/ETFs for your RRSPs has been revised to include recommended stocks/ETFs for outside your RRSP.

New article - Beyond ETFs

February 2008

RRSPs: How to get money out of your RRSPs tax-free (sort of) - includes a calculator.

Federal 2008 Budget: Higher taxes on dividends eligible for the enhanced dividend tax credit, new Tax-Free Savings Accounts.

BC Dividend Tax Credit: Table added showing revised marginal tax rates for eligible dividends when the BC dividend tax credit rate reduction and personal tax rate reductions are combined with the federal reduction of the dividend gross-up.

Filing Your Return: Private school tuition fees

BC 2008 budget: more information added re property taxes, First Time Home Buyers Program, and provincial sales tax changes.

Provincial Budgets: BC tables 2008 budget on Feb 19, 2008. See also our BC 2008 budget page. BC personal tax rate reductions for 2008 are now reflected in the Canadian tax calculator, tables of marginal tax rates, and tables of non-refundable tax credits.

2008 Federal Budget will be tabled on February 26, 2008.

GST: Tax refund for visitors to Canada - this program was cancelled, but there are certain circumstances in which the refund is still available for short term and/or camping accommodations purchased after the cancellation date.

Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB): How to apply for advance payment of the WITB for 2008.

Pension Splitting: New article added regarding the pension income tax credit and form T1032.

BC PST: Link to information regarding taxable and exempt products for BC farmers.

Filing Your Return: New article on how to get back a CPP/QPP or EI overpayment

Provincial Sales Tax - sales to non-residents: In some cases, the QST paid by a Canadian non resident visitor to Quebec can be recovered.

Government benefits: For each province and territory, there are now links to health care plan information.

January 2008

Working Income Tax Benefit article revised to add information on the different factors used for this calculation in BC, Quebec and Nunavut.

Canadian Tax Calculator: Now includes calculation of the refundable working income tax benefit (WITB)

RRSPs/RRIFs: How much money do you need to retire?

Stocks and Bonds: Borrow to Invest

Calculators: New Borrow to Invest calculator lets you see the advantages of borrowing to invest in stocks and ETFs. Works for all provinces and territories, including Quebec.

GST/HST: Input tax credits (ITCs) on vehicles used by partnerships and individuals - clarification added regarding GST/HST rate to be used when calculating the ITCs based on capital cost allowance.

Wills and Estates: Reorganized, added information on probate fees by province/territory with links to the source of the information, added links to provincial/territorial web pages with information on wills, probate, and what to do in the event of a death (where available).

CPP and EI premiums: New link added to Canada Revenue Agency page on employment benefits and payments which are not subject to EI premiums.

Washing trades in registered accounts may soon be a thing of the past - one brokerage firm now provides the option of holding US dollars in registered accounts.

Get started on your 2008 tax planning - both the Canadian Tax Calculator and the Quebec Tax Calculator now include 2008 rates.

GST/HST: In the article on Who has to collect GST/HST, added information on "Associates" for purposes of determining requirements for GST/HST registration, plus a link to a CRA online questionnaire.

Individual Pension Plans: Links added to Federal Court of Appeal cases which upheld CRA's decision to retroactively revoke the registration of two IPPs to which significant funds had been transferred years earlier from defined benefit pension plans.

Filing Your Return: Information added re provincial/territorial child amount tax credits for children under 18 or for children under 6.

2007 personal income tax packages are now available on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.

Dividend tax credit rates for 2008 added to the tables of rates for the enhanced dividend tax credit, and small business dividend tax credit.

Tax Rates: Tables now show 2008 and 2007 tax rates. 2006 and earlier rates are still available.

Child Fitness Tax Credit: Updated the information on provinces which provide this or a similar credit.

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Revised: November 16, 2024