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2017 Federal Budget: Much Ado About Nothing
For the Financial Services community, the 2017 Federal Budget will more be known for what it did not contain rather than what it contained. The increase of the Capital Gains Inclusion rate from 50% to 66% or 75%, the taxation of health and dental Benefits to employees, and any changes to the principal residence exemption […]
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The Taxman Cometh: Financial Strategy in an Increasingly Hostile Tax Environment
The perpetual arms race between increasing and decreasing taxes in Canada, alongside the use of strategies that help taxpayers pay less of their hard earned dollars to government coffers date back to the birth of our great country. Keeping said arms race flourishing are changing governments and tax policies. Imagine this: You’re a […]
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A New Year, a New GBL
2017 is officially here, and GBL is excited! After 50 years of hard work in the actuarial industry and building GBL from the ground up, our Founder, Gordon Lang is handing over the reins of GBL to new management. Don’t worry – Gordon isn’t going anywhere! He will still be an integral part of GBL. […]
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2016 Federal Budget: The Middle Class Budget
On the election trail in 2015, the Liberal Party proposed a series of changes to eliminate certain benefits for higher income earners, to focus on cuts to the middle class and to increase spending on infrastructure and other special interest groups. On March 22, 2016 the first steps of this game plan were put into […]
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RCA and professional athletes
For the financial planner, there are a number of unique concerns to address when providing overall compensation strategies for professional athletes such as NHL or NBA players: The athlete will have a comparatively short career, likely lasting a decade or less. Salaries are considerable during this time period with sizeable increases as the athlete’s career […]
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The New Face of GBL
A Greek philosopher once said, “No great thing is created suddenly”. He must have been referring to a website! After many months of hard work we are finally set to unveil with pride our revamped website, which incorporates our new brand and tagline. We’re pretty pleased at the way it turned out. Hope you are […]
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Alberta Hikes 2015 Personal and Corporate Taxes
Alberta has introduced new tax brackets including a personal top marginal bracket of 15% that will be phased in for the 2015 tax year, and increased the corporate income tax rate to 12% (from 10%) effective July 1, 2015, among other changes. These amendments are consistent with election campaign promises made before Alberta’s election on […]
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Upcoming Changes to BC Pension Legislation
The New Act The new Pension Benefits Standards Act (the New Act) will come into force September 30, 2015 and going forward all pension plans in British Columbia are required to adhere to the New Act. What are the changes for IPPs? Individual Pension Plans (IPPs) are generally set up for connected persons (individuals who […]
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Valuations of Interests in Family Trusts
A family trust is created as either an inter vivos trust, established during the lifetime of the donor, or a testamentary trust, established in connection with a will. The retained income in an inter vivos trust has always been and will continue to be taxed at the flat top-tax rate; however, testamentary trusts receive favorable […]
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GBL’s Fraser Lang Featured in Morningstar Story
For self-employed professionals — such as doctors, dentists, lawyers and architects — the tax savings from using a personal or private corporation are well known. By incorporating their business, they can either retain earnings or pay dividends, thus managing the amount and timing of personal income taxes. A less well known but also effective tax-efficient […]
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