Travis Chalmers

This just in! For this last Basics article (for a while, at least), let's have a look at why dividends are taxed strangely. Hint: they aren't.

My newest Basics article attempts to explain how trusts work in Canada. They're a bit complicated to explain in a small space, so please let me know if there's something you aren't following.

After a long hiaitus, here's a new entry in my "basics" series of tax education articles.

My newest Basics article attempts to explain how trusts work in Canada. Theyre a bit complicated to explain in a small space, so please let me know if theres something you arent following.

In this Basics tax article, we are starting to get a little more into the weeds. When we are asked if something should be a capital gain or not, the answer is always "it depends" before we apply this four-point test.

In my latest "basics" article, I talk about the challenges of arbitrage between RRSPs and TFSAs. As with anything tax planning, the relationship status between these two is set to "its complicated".

After a long hiaitus, heres a new entry in my "basics" series of tax education articles.

Travis Chalmers Tax has reached 200 "Likes"! Thanks, everyone!Travis Chalmers Tax has reached 200 "Likes"! Thanks, everyone!

Quebecs Regions Hi everyone! There seems to be a bit of confusion as to what the Quebec government means when they ask us not to travel between "regions". Ill clarify that for you. Please share if this was surprising to you, or if you think people in your network arent aware of the key concepts here - theyre not at all obvious. Quebecs "regions" are actually legally-defined super-municipalities administrated by the province. The main use of these areas by the government ...is to deliver services, but theyre often used for things like area code allocation (think when 450 was initially created), and the production of tourism documents. Montreal is one such region, and Monteregie is another such region. Each region comprises a number of local municipalities. Montreal, for instance, includes *all of the cities and boroughs on the island of Montreal, plus the village of Sennevile*. Just off the southern and western shores of Montreal is Monteregie, which includes municipalities such as *Vaudreuil-Dorion, Hudson, Valleyfield, and Granby*. And to the North of Montreal we have the regions of Laval, Lanaudiere, and Laurentides. So if, for example, you live in Vaudreuil, the governments prohibition against travel to another "region" means that one cannot, in fact, enter the island of Montreal unless one falls within one of the exclusions for the travel ban. Travel to Granby for groceries is OK, but travel to Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue or Baie dUrfe is not - even though its a lot closer to many of you than Granby is. By contrast, if you live in Senneville, it appears to be OK to go as far as Montreal North without violating the ban. Quebec only has the resources (at the moment) to enforce travel restrictions between certain distant and more vulnerable regions. The inter-region prohibition remains, however, even for crossings that are not being policed. If you disagree with the above interpretation, after reviewing my sources below, let me know! Sources: --Regions of Quebec https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_regions_of_Quebec --Montreal Region https://en.wikipedia.org/wi/Urban_agglomeration_of_Montreal --Monteregie Region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont%C3%A9r%C3%A9gie --Directives from Government https://www.quebec.ca//2019-coron/instructions-directives/ --Further detail on administrative regions in Quebec https://en.wikipedia.org//Administrative_divisions_of_Queb

In response to the impact of COVID-19 on financial markets, which is lowering the value of investment portofolios that many seniors rely on, the government anno...unced today that it is reducing required minimum withdrawals from Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs) by 25 percent for 2020. See more

Tax deadline pushed back about a month: https://nationalpost.com//government-extends-tax-deadline-

More CanCon (and a tax) coming to streaming services?

2020: a small tax cut for almost everyone (if you earn less than $140,000 per year). Check out my blog for an explanation:

Your tax rate is probably lower than you think it is. Find out why!

The Liberal government has proposed a tax cut for Canadians who earn between $12,299 and $199,999 per year. Ive summarized the proposed rules here: https://www.chalmers.tax/po/government-proposes-300-tax-cut

If youve yet to vote and still dont know what each party proposes, you can see their main tax proposals as well as links to each platform at my blog. Whoever you pick, please get out there and pick *someone*! This is an important election for all Canadians. https://www.chalmers.tax/blog/search/election

For those of you who were curious, the Conservatives relesed their platform. Ive updated the post on their tax promises. https://www.chalmers.tax//conservative-party-tax-proposals

On the Conservatives plan to repeal the major SMB tax reforms passed by the Liberal government during its term. People in the tax community had been quite upset with the initial proposals. The ones finally passed recently are dialed back significantly, but do end up taxing many small business owners more. Unless he was quoting from some kind of statistical analysis, however, the $50k tax cut for millionaires line seems to be misleading. A very simplified summary is at the l...ink below. https://www.cbc.ca//scheer-trudeau-tax-cut-millionaires-in

Ive read through all of the political parties platforms (if they have one) and extracted their main tax-related promises. If you want to see how a given partys proposals could affect you, head over to my blog. UPDATE: the Conservative party shared its platform, so that post is updated to reflect additional tax proposals. #cdnpoli #bq #cpc #gpc #lpc #ndp #ppc... https://www.chalmers.tax/blog/categories/election-promises

Supreme Court going back to the tradition of travelling courts? Hopefully not a flash in the pan. If this is a routine thing, Canadians will have a better understanding of our excellent legal system without having to make the trip to Ottawa. CTV News: Supreme Court sits outside Ottawa for the first time in its history. https://www.ctvnews.ca//supreme-court-sits-outside-ottawa-

Lots of tweaks to the tax rules are coming up. If any of the bullets might affect you, I strongly suggest that you respond to the call for consultations, and send a copy to your MP. Deadline: October 7. https://www.fin.gc.ca/n19/19-084-eng.asp

If you receive or grant employee stock options, the current proposed changes to the tax treatment of stock options is something to follow. For employees of non-CCPC that are not startups, the proposals limit favourable tax treatment on options having a fair value over $200,000. Note that these rules are not yet final.... https://www.fin.gc.ca/n19/19-066-eng.asp

Dean of my law school writing an article on Quebecs "secularism" law.

Im building my website. Its a work in progress, but if you have any ideas on how I could improve it, I am all ears. www.chalmers.tax

Working with the Income Tax Act and programming, and living with an English Literature professor, has made me obsessive over clarity in all of my legal writing. Why leave "even number" to interpretation when "if the number divided by two(2) is an integer" is as clear as possible? I mean besides the obvious reason of practicality. And also that "even number" is pretty hard to misinterpret. I am also a big fan of the Oxford Comma, despite what some of my colleagues in the field... of editing would have you believe. There was actually a case recently on the Oxford Comma - which made it clear that there was a list instead of two separate items (e.g. "eggs, toast, and jam", which is most definitely three items, instead of "eggs, toast and jam", which could be 2 or three items). Its gotten so bad (good?) that I am starting to see ambiguity everywhere in legal writing - even when its clear what the author intended to write. Whats the happy medium? I always err on the side of crystal clarity, but often at the expense of readability and practicality. Other lawyers err on the side of readability, because it is very important for clients to know what is in a document. Thoughts? Tips?