This show is a Financial Trade Show for the Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Bowser, Coombs, Errington area and is open to the public free of charge.

We have 15 seminars being offered by local professionals on topics as varied as investing, retirement and estate planning, and tax planning.

If you are a financial professional, lawyer, or realtor, or you know anyone who would like to participate, then we are extending our deadline for registration to January 25, 2012.

Oceanside Money Show Registration

If you would like to donate to his cause you can follow this link:

http://ca.movember.com/mospace/1994984/

Will Jay look like this in 7 days?

What you may not know is where your taxes have been spent.

Looking back at the 2010 fiscal year,  if you paid a total of $1,000 of federal tax then your hard earned money was spent on these items:

click for larger image

In this case, for example, $210 of the $1,000 of tax that you paid is transferred to Provincial and local governments while another $193 is transferred to people in the form of Old Age Security pension, Guaranteed Income Supplement pension, Child Tax Benefits and other transfers (EI has been excluded as it is separately funded).

For a more detailed view of where your money was spent you can view this:

click for larger image

Here, we see that out of the $1,000 of taxes paid, $84 was spent on Defence, $121 on interest on our debt, and $97 on transfers for health care.

If you want to know how much you contributed to these government expenditures then pull out your 2010 tax return, look up line 420 and enter it into this Excel spreadsheet: Where taxes go Graph 2010

The Conservative Party of Canada announced today a “Family Tax Cut” in which a couple, with at least one child under the age of 18, could save taxes by sharing up to $50,000 of income between them.

Now, exactly how the mechanics would work on this is not known, and this proposal is dependent upon the Conservatives being in power 5 years from now.

Nevertheless, for interests sake, lets take a look at the potential federal tax savings a couple may derive from this: Family Tax Proposal.

We only look at Federal taxes because Provinces would not have to follow the lead of the federal government.

As you can see in the spreadsheet above, a family where one spouse is making $100,000 and the other is making $0 would save about $3,747 of taxes by splitting their income $50,000 each.

A family with a spouse who makes $60,000 and the other makes $20,000 would only save about $1,332 (by being taxable at $40,000 each).

And, it’s not on the spreadsheet linked above, but for the executive who makes $200,000 while the spouse stays at home to look after the kids? The federal tax savings are about $6,525.

These are meant to be just the numbers, thanks: as usual we make no judgments on policy nor politics.

Especially when we have to put our heads down to finish off another stack of tax returns!

Every indication is that an election is going to be triggered over this budget, or on other matters before Parliament this Friday.

So, rather than talk about a budget that may never be passed into law, lets take a look at the 2011 marginal tax rates which didn’t change with the budget and are unlikely to change in 2011 no matter who, or how, a government is formed: 2011 BC Federal Tax Table.

Of course, if you are curious about what could be if there is no election, then you can read about the proposed tax measures and the plan for job creation.

According to this press release from the government, minimum wage will increase to $8.75 starting May 1, 2011.

It will rise again on November 1, 2011 to $9.50 and finally be set at $10.25 as of May 1, 2012.

For those who work in the service industry and serve alcohol, there is a special rate:

Today $8.00
May 1, 2011 8.50
November 1, 2011 8.75
May 1, 2012 9.00

This applies to all employees who serve liquor directly to customers or guests in licensed premises as a regular part of their work.

The training wage is being repealed effective May 1, 2011 so all employees will be subject to the above rates for their minimum pay.

There are no maximum contributions that can be made to the plan in any particular year, but the lifetime maximum is $200,000.  Contributions are not tax deductible, however, tax is paid only on the income earned in the plan but not until the income is withdrawn.

Another source of growth in the Plan is government grants and bonds.  The Canada Disability Saving Grant is an amount that the government will deposit to the plan matching the contributions made (300%, 200% or 100% based on the beneficiary’s family income). The maximum is $3,500 per year up to $70,000 over the beneficiary’s lifetime (in other words, 20 years of contributions).  These grants are paid on contributions made until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49 years old.

The Canada Disability Savings Bond is an amount that the federal government pays into the RDSP of an individual with a family income of less than a specified amount (in 2010, $40,970 – indexed annually to inflation). The maximum grant is $1,000 for income less than $23,855 (2010) and prorated between $23,855 and $40,970.  The lifetime bond limit is $20,000 and no contributions are required to the plan to receive this bond. However, a plan must be established in order to get this bond.

Payments must be received from the plan by the end of the year that the beneficiary turns 60.  The maximum amount that can be withdrawn each year is determined by a formula based on the age of the beneficiary and plan value.

Contributions must remain in the plan for a minimum of 10 years from the time the last contribution was made in order to not forfeit any grants or bond.  Withdrawals from the plan have no impact on other income tested benefits such as social service payments.  Income tax must be paid on the portion of income, grants and bonds withdrawn from the plan, but not the original contributions.

In the case that the beneficiary is no longer disabled, the RDSP must be closed and all amounts remaining in the plan must be paid out by December 31st following the first full calendar year that they are not considered disabled.  In addition, all grants and bonds must be paid back to the government.

The RDSP must be closed and all amounts remaining in the plan must be paid out to the estate and the plan terminated by December 31 following the calendar year that the beneficiary dies.  Remaining grants and bonds must be paid back to the government.

For more information go to:  Guide RC4460 and the RDSP website.

CRA recently announced that they’ve received information from the government of France about HSBC account holders.  Since receiving the information, CRA has continued to analyze the account data to ensure that the Canadian account holders are reporting all their income for tax purposes.
Exchanging information with foreign countries is one of the ways CRA searches for unreported income in Canada.  Remember that Canadian residents are obligated to report income earned worldwide on their Canadian income tax return.
Canada has income tax agreements with many countries around the world in order to eliminate situations resulting in double-taxation.  It’s important to consult these agreements when reporting income from a foreign country.
If you earn income from a foreign country and are unsure of the tax treatment in Canada, contact us today.
For further information on the current CRA project on HSBC accounts, read the full media release here http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/rlss/2010/m09/nr100930-eng.html