Once the new year begins it won’t be long before you start having to sweat over your taxes. Nobody wants to be thinking about taxes right now, especially with the holidays approaching, but now is the best time for you to take action to ensure you trim the most off your tax burden next year. After all, it will be this year’s financial decisions that affect what you will be paying in just a few short months. With gift buying stresses, bad weather, and the day-to-day annoyances that occur no matter what time of year it is, you probably don’t want to be thinking about taxes. But if not before the taxable year is over, when?
tax tips
Your first $200 of donations made to a registered charity results in a 15 per cent federal tax savings. For every dollar over $200, you receive a 29 per cent tax credit.
Donation Limits
Your donations cannot exceed 75% of your net income. The only exception is in the year of death or the immediate preceding year and then donations can be 100% of net income.
If you are an investor it is important for you to know about capital gains and capital losses, and how they affect your taxes. Check out these commonly asked questions to find out more about how capital gains will affect you.
Can you explain capital gains tax?
A capital gain is the appreciation in value of a capital property, when sold from the date of purchase. Basically, if you bought a stock for $10 and you sell it for $15, you would have a $5 capital gain. A capital loss would be the opposite; a capital property that loses value when sold from the date of purchase.