taxdetective-Sandusky-Register

My friend Esther writes a good synopsis of considerations about software for accounting for investments

http://accountant.intuit.com/practice_resources/articles/accounting/article.aspx?file=efk_QBInvestments-1

I am available for individual consults on starting up a Quicken file to track your portfolio. 

If you aren't aware of the stop loss and superficial loss rules for identical property holdings in registered and unregistered accounts, it may be time to research the investment accounting requirements for calculation of adjusted cost base required by the Income Tax Act.

Here's some information about the services I provide, and a link to some articles Canadian MoneySaver published that I wrote about investment accounting:

http://www.taxdetective.ca/growyournetworth.html

Thanks to Faber LLP from Edmonton AB for pointing out that the payment button for the series of five working paper videos was broken!

Here's the link to purchase the series at a substantial savings;

http://www.taxdetective.ca/catalog/item/6427752/9153145.htm

This is the link to purchase the Microsoft OneNote sample starter notebook discussed in the series:

http://www.taxdetective.ca/catalog/item/6427752/9166280.htm

In case you missed this series, and even if you attended, I forgot to mention that in QuickBooks, it's possible to choose to "Print to OneNote"? What's so cool about that?

In Microsoft OneNote, you can use the Paint features to create circles, arrows, colors, sticky notes, marking up your report before sending it on, by email that page directly from OneNote?

If you haven't experimented with OneNote yet, I encourage you to give it a trial run. Many of the participants on the five part series were totally enchanted with the idea of using this program to create paperless, in the cloud, on the web, or shared over the network, working paper files, procedure manuals, and other collaborative documents.

Maybe is as good an answer as you'll get from me.. Maybe if you meet the criteria for claiming the arts credit, because tutoring is listed as an activity, but there are caveats about claiming. 

Best to check out the requirements for programs at this webpage.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/ddctns/lns360-390/370/menu-eng.html

And don't get your knickers in a knot if you can't claim it, because it's only $75 (15% federal tax rate for credits x $500)

Oh yes, if you're a parent with a child with a disability, it could be as much as $150 (15% federal tax rate for credits x $500 plus a $500 bonus if you spent anywhere from $100 to $500).

Ok kiddies, math camp is in your future....

Understanding how the disability tax credit and child tax benefit programs work is confusing. It took me years to persuade CRA it was necessary to show the Supplementary Disability Tax Credit for children as an information page.

Infirm takes it's meaning from the dictionary. There is no definition of infirm in the Income Tax Act.  It's up to your qualified medical practitioner to determine if you are 'infirm' and to document that infirmity, by describing the nature, commencement and duration of said 'infirmity'

The Family Caregiver Amount requires your doctor document the infirmity of your dependent in writing and there are special requirements for documentation of infirmity for children under age 18. The letter should indicate that the child by reason of a mental or physical infirmity, is and is likely to be for a long-continued period of indefinite duration, dependent on others for significantly more assistance in attending to personal needs and care when compared to children of the same age.

The challenge will be persuading your dependents to ask their physician to document their infirmity. If you thought that labelling someone as disabled was difficult, try explaining to your aging parent, a dependent sibling, or your teenage child that you would like them to ask their doctor to write such a letter declaring them to be infirm, all so you can pay $300 less tax per person. Good luck on that.

And yes, if you have the disability tax credit, that's not the same as infirm. Disability is actually worded and defined in the Income Tax Act as an 'impairment in ability'. You could have an impairment in ability but that may not mean you meet the criteria of infirm.  You for example, might be blind or hearing impaired, or you may be confined to a wheelchair, but definitely that doesn't necessarily make you infirm, given that the definition of infirm is weak or feeble. In the case of the wheelchair, you could be an incredible athlete, winning trophies at the Olympics. Are you considered infirm?  I guess only your doctor knows for sure.

This is only half of the story.  Click here for the link that explains how the transition out from 12% will work. 

Next up:  BC will announce how sales taxes will be implemented.

The family caregiver amount was added to five categories of dependents and you'll find the credit explained on the TD1 form.

In addition, CRA has a webpage that explains the credit and how to document that claim is found on this page