Announced October 9th (but not yet passed into law) both the fitness credit and the art credit for 2014 will be $1000 each. Be sure to keep receipts.
The government has initiated some movement on the election promise of employment income splitting for families. A somewhat disappointing limit of $2000 per year was mentioned. This may be the first step toward an incremental change over a longer period of time and as such can be very exciting news!
YEAR END TAX TIPS:
Canada Disability Tax Grant: The government will provide a grant of up to 300% on contributions made towards a disabled beneficiary. Contributions can be made until the calendar year in which the beneficiary turns 49 years old. The grant is made on any contributions made by December 31, 2014.
RRSP withdrawals: If you have had an unusually lower income in 2014 it may be beneficial for you to withdraw some of your RRSP’s before December 31.
Tax Loss Selling: If you have had taxable capital gains in the preceding three years it may be advantages to sell `losing` stock before December 24th 2014. The losses can be carried back to claim a refund against capital gains over the previous three years (to 2011). You may re-purchase the losing stock back but allow a period of 30 days between transactions.
Small Business Owners: Consider paying your children or spouse a reasonable amount for work performed in your business. Activities may include cleaning, website development, answering the phone and making appointments, managing emails, filing, sorting, data input etc. Keep track of the hours work and payments made. A yearend bonus can be made for services provided in 2014.