money
matters

THE following is a
selection of readers’

questions.

“DP heard that when I dic,
the government will take
40% of my estate. Es that
righ” —

At the moment, there are
no estate taxes or death
duties in Canada. If vou
own your home and have
investments like term
deposits and Canada Savings
Bonds — all in your name
— the only major expense
when you die should be the
probate fees charged by the
province.

But there could be an
income tax bill if you have
investments that have gone
up in value since you first
got them or crystallized
your capital gains exemp-
tion, or if you have any
money left in an RRSP or
RRIF (registered retirement
savings plan or income

north shere

BUSINESS _

Lets say vou dic on fune
20. Your income between
Jan. ] and June 201s
$20,000, You have $45,000
in vour RRSP or RRIF on
June 20, And your invest-
ments (other than your prin-
cipal residence) shaw a capi-
tal gain subject to tax of
$36,000 at June 20.

Depending on any
deductions that could be
claimed, your taxable
income in the vear of death
could be around $92,000 —
that's $20,000 plus $45,000
plus $27,000 (75% af the
$36,000 capital gain).

So Orrawa would certain-
ly geta fair chunk of money,
although probably not anv-
where near 40% of your
estate.

SUE
“Town revenue property
which has gone up in value.
If I move in and live there a
while and then sell, can I
avoid the capital gains tax?”
— SP.

If you are renting the
place where you now live,
you might be able to desig-
nate the revenue property as
your principal residence for
up to four years (or possibiy
longer). That would reduce
and could even etiminate the
capital gains tax when you
sell. Ask your fucai tax office
for its Principal Residence

bulletin and its Rental
Income tay guide. Hf you
own the place where you
now five in other words,
vou already have a principal
residence --- vou cannot
avoid paying tay on vour
protic

res
“L noticed in vour column
you said vou should have
organized a power of atter-
fey for cour mother sooner
than you did. How does one
judge when the time has
come?” = MLB.

You can set up a power
of attorney at any time (1
encourage people of all ages
to look inte this, But you
should arrange safeguards so
it can be used only when
needed.

Talk to a lawyer or notary
to make sure vou understand
what's involved in designat-
ing a power of attorney.

— Coprright 1998 Mike
Grenby

Mike Grenby is a colusn-
nist and independe ng person:
al financial adviser; he'll
answer questions in this cal-
nun as space allows but can-
nar reply persoanlly — contact
hin at P.O. Bax 50029, Sonth
Slope R.P.O., Burnaty, B.C.
VS] 5G3; e-mail mike@qren-
by.com and see previons
columns at Mike’s website,
wimgrenty.com

news

Adam Korbin

Wednesday. October 7. 1993 — North Shore News — 17

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are Tuesday,
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Terry Greene, 8.B.A., BF, P.
Registered Financial Planner
Are you concerned about how
the recent snarker volatility is
affecting the value of your port-
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your retirement and/or desire

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fund).

Best project catches all bugs

From page 16

be necessary to document such information as
the item’s installed location and the contact
name of maintenance personnel or users.

It is important te stress that at this point in
your project you should exclude nothing, and
make no judgements about a system’s status
(compliant or otherwise). The best Year 2000
project will be the one that catches all the
bugs and by including all of your potential
problems now, you will have a more effective
program.

You should make use of some sort of track-
ing system for your inventory. A simple inven-
tory control procedure using numbered stick-
ers or some other means of identification and
some pre-printed forms will do for many orga-
nizations.

A simple database will make the job of
tracking cach item easier, but a clipboard and
some paper will do (depending on the size of
the job). To inventory things like your PC
software there arc a number of excellent tools

ore rnd
X A

Own one and you'll understand.

¥ Luxury model
V Auto trans.
, Y Leather trim
V Power sun roof
¥ 100 watt Bose system
¥ Plus many other features

available chat will quickly scan the hard drive
ofa PC and inventory its software (although
they can be rather costly).

Because your organization will continue to
acquire and/or dev ‘lop new systems through-
out the life of your Year 2000 Project, new
Year 2000 problems may enter your organiza-
tion even as vou are fixing, existing problems.
C Consequently, you may be required to repeat
your inventory more than onee. At the very
least you must make everyone in your organi-
zation aware of the potential to import new
Year 2000 problems and encourage them to
prevent turther problems.

Ina future article we will discuss setting
your Year 2000 priorities using the inventory
data.

Darryl Craig is the president of Raven
Engineering, a Canadian company that pro-
vides Systems Exgineering, Software Support
and Logistics Services, They are currently assist-
ing several of their clients to solve their Year
2000 problems, Contact Craig via e-mail at
deraig@Raven.ce

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