Almost half of all Canadians have opened a tax-free savings account, according to a survey released last week by CIBC. That’s a remarkable take-up considering that TFSAs haven’t even been around for four years. That’s the good news. The bad news is that about half of those people aren’t actively contributing. According to the survey, 47 per cent have not put any money into the plan this year. What’s more,…
Contribution rules for a popular tax shelter continue to perplex ordinary Canadians, despite a year-long information blitz by the Canada Revenue Agency and the big banks. The agency sent out almost 103,000 letters to holders of tax-free savings accounts this month warning they likely over-contributed in 2010 — and now must pay additional tax. That number is up sharply from the 72,000 letters issued on June 1 last year for…
One of the main benefits of RESP accounts is the federal Canadian Educational Savings Grant (CESG). This grant is 20% of any eligible contributions in an RESP account. How the RESP Grant System Works Let’s say you open an RESP account for your bouncing new baby and contribute $1,000 into the account. Your financial institution will send the account and contribution information to the Canadian government for grant approval. If…