Newsletter

Retirement Planning for Private Corporations in the New Tax Environment

Canada’s Finance Minister recently released a Consultation Paper entitled “Tax Planning Using Private Corporations”. This paper outlined the government’s proposals to limit the use of perceived tax loopholes in the current tax system available to private corporations. The challenge remains: How to minimize the portion of income from private corporation payable to the owner and his family that is taxed at top marginal rates.

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How Do I Access My Individual Pension Plan Assets?

Most of the focus on IPPs is on how much can be contributed. Equally important is to understand how to get

access to your money – whether you retire, die, or even terminate the plan early. This article summarizes all the options available.

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Pension Plan Design for Smaller Employers

Smaller employers have the same need to include a pension plan in the total compensation package of their employees as larger employers – attraction, retention, engagement, obligations to long service employees, etc. However, many smaller employers must also be focused on cost stability, risk management and administrative simplicity.

As a result, a capital accumulation plan (“CAP”) has been the vehicle of choice for smaller employers. CAP plans can come in two variants – a defined contribution (“DC”) pension plan or a group registered retirement savings plan. However, a CAP plan is not an effective way to provide retirement benefits. This newsletter discusses how a much more effective solution, a defined benefit (“DB”) pension plan, could work for a smaller employer.

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We Want to See You! Let’s Skype

Together, let’s embrace technology that helps us connect – to discuss, share and collaborate.

What is Skype
Skype is a video conferencing software that is widely distributed and easy to use. It has been around for almost twenty years, and recently gained popularity by joining with Microsoft Office. In fact, it’s already downloaded and ready to use on almost any new device.

Why use Skype
The value of face to face communication is beyond measure. By using Skype, we can connect with you and your clients on a more personal level when you need us.

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Demystifying Individual Pension Plans

Getting Serious About Accumulating Retirement

Existing programs such as RRSPs are incapable of accumulating the gap in required assets in a relatively short time frame. Fortunately, there is an attractive solution. For business owners, incorporated professionals and executives, the Individual Pension Plan, or IPP, represents a superior vehicle for accumulating retirement assets.

Despite their numerous advantages, IPP’s remain one of Canada’s best kept secrets. This article will attempt to demystify IPPs.

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Target Benefit Pension Plans in Alberta

Alberta passed legislation in 2014 to permit registration and operation of target benefit pension plans (TBPP) for single employer pension plans and non-negotiated multi-employer pension plans.

A TBPP is neither a defined benefit pension plan (DB) plan nor a defined contribution (DC) plan but can include the best features and can eliminate the negative features of both DB and DC plans. A TBPP operates with a fixed contribution designed to produce a desired, or target, defined lifetime pension at retirement. If economic and/or demographic experience is not as favourable as predicted, benefits can be temporarily reduced to maintain the full funded status of the plan. Benefit reductions are restored when plan experience improves. Aggressive risk management approaches are applied to reduce the probability that benefits earned in the past will ever have to be reduced.

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RCAs: Still Relevant in 2016?

A unique aspect of RCAs is the refundable tax concept where one-half of all contributions and investment income earned by the RCA Trust is remitted into a Refundable Tax Account (RTA) administered by CRA. The RTA does not earn any investment income. Any investment income earned by the RCA Trust loses its investment character (i.e., for example, dividends and capital gains lose their preferential character). The RCA receives refunds from the RTA when benefits are paid. $1 is refunded from the RTA for each $2 paid in benefits from the RCA Trust. Clearly, the purpose of the RTA is to limit the tax-deferral effectiveness of an RCA and make the entire structure effectively tax-neutral.

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