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57 - Wednesday, November 15, 1989 - North share News

BUSINESS

SNEAK PREVIEW OF 1989 TAX GUIDE

Think about filing early

“WHAT'S NEW for 19897"" §

Q

)

eems like a funny question to

ask as the year draws to an end -- until you realize the
question applies to the 1989 income tax return.

Kevenue Canada usually sends
out the new return and tax guide
around the end of the year, or ear-
ly in the new year. But | managed
te ect a sneak preview of the guide

now,

dollars
and sense

Michael Grenby

Naturally, most of us would
rather enjoy the upcoming holiday
season first before thinking about
filing our 1989 tax returns. But if
you absorb a few bits and pieces
now, then the job won't be such a
shock early next year.

(Subscribers to faxation Today
have just received a draft of the
1986 Ti General Tax return
prepared by U & R Tax Services,
of Winnipeg.

(‘We base our draft cach year
on provisions in the federal budget
arid have established a pretty good
track record for accuracy,’’ said
Evelyn Jacks, the newsletter’s edi-
tor and vice-president of U & R —
toll-free 1-800-665-5144 — which is
involved in a pilot project to elec-
tronically transmit com-
puter-prepared tax returns directly
to Revenue Canada.)

The new income tax guide
highlights more than a dozen
changes for 1989. Among them:

¢ Good news. You can use the
quick-and-easy Tax Tables to find
the tax you owe if your taxable in-
come is up to $55,605 (subject to
certain guidelines). Last year, the
limit was onlv $27,500; if you ex-
ceeded that, you had to complete
the detailed tax calculation on
Schedule 1.

*A anew form will help you
calculate your annual interest on
compound Canada Savings Bonds.

You can also use this form to
switch to the annual accrual from
the cash method. That means you
choose to report your interest
every year instead of every third
year, if that larger amount of in-
terest would push you into a higher
iax bracket. Such a form used to
be provided but was dropped in
the last couple of returns.

*RRSPs. Ottawa still seems
determined to allov' you to roil
over up to $6,000 of your monthly
registered pension plan or DPSP
income (but not CPP or OAS} into
your spouse’s registered retirement
savings plan. Perhaps there will
have been an announcessent about
this oft-delayed proposal by the
time you read these words. Al least
the new tax guide is confident this
$6,000 spousal RRSP roilover wilt
take effect for 1985.

Another change: if you took a
lump sum pension payout this year
when you left an employer, the
money had to be rolled directly in-
to your RRSP if you wanted to
defer the tax.

in the past, you could have
taken the cash, then claimed an
offsetting deduction by puting
some or all of the money into your

RRSP before the March 7 con-
tribution deadline of the following
year.

¢ Ottawa also appears determin-
ed to press ahead with its new
nuods and services tax, You will
receive a new GST eredit (GSTC)
application form with the sched-
ules.

“To be eligible to receive the
GSTC payments in December,
1990, and April, 9, please
complete the application and send
it in with your 1989 income tax
return, even if you have no in-
come,” says the tax guide.

ets your income for this year
going to be at least $50,000? Then
you might have to give back some
of any family allowance or old age
security pension payments you
received in 1989.

The key figure is your net in-
come — your total income from
page one of the return {including
the grossed-up, taxable amount of
dividends} mninus about a dozen
*‘deductions from total income’*
(like pension and RRSP contribu-
tions, union dues, child care ex-
penses, allowable business invest-
ment losses, exploration and de-
velopment expenses, and the new
“attendant care expenses’’ incur-
red to enable you to earn income).

Once this net figure hits $50,000,
you start having to pay back farni-
ty allowance and OAS.

© You now claim medical ex-
penses on Schedule 4, which has

Allan V. Newbury, C.A.

W. Ralph Vipond, President of
Nishael Deane & Associates
Ltd. is pleased to announce
that Allan V. Newbury, C.A.
has joined the company as a
tax planning consuilant.

Mr. Newbury, who was born
and raised on the North Shore,
has been a member of the tn-
stitute of Chartered Accoun-
tants of B.C. since 1975, and
since that time has held a
number of senior appointments
in the accountng field. His ex-
perience has included six
years as a Senior Manager for
Waterhouse and
their Richmond

Price
Manager
office.

In addition to a wide variety of
experience in the accounting
area, Mr. Newbury has specific
experience in the area of
owner-managed businesses.
At Michael Deane and
Associates Ltd., he will
specialize in personal anid cor-
porate taxation and financial
planning.

of

Michasl Dean
& Associates Lid.

1849 Lonsdale Ave.

N. Vancouver
Phone 987-3338

mare room to hist the details. But
you no donger have to list
charitable donations; simply put
the total on tine 340 and atuach the
receipts.

* $f you invested in a tax shelter
on or after Sept. bo this year and
you are chiming a related dedue-
tion for 1989, you must: provide
the fas shelter identification
number. Check now that you have
this number to avoid delays when
you file your return.

*Bad news. The federal indi
vidual suriax has been increased to
four per cent cn the first $15,000
of federal tax and 5.5 per cent on
anything over that.

nee

Based locally, Mike Grenby
writes a money column which 4p-
pears in newspapers across
Canada. Mike will respond to
readers’ questions and story ideas
through the paper. Write to Mike
Grenby, Money Columnist, North
Shore News, 1139 Lonsdale, North
Vancouver V7M 2H4. Mike cannot
reply individually, but will answer
as many of ycur letters as possible
in his column.

Take a Leap into
the Future ...

with Capilano College's new Appied
Information Technology program.

Find out how your career can be enhanced
by an intensive program in communication
theory and practise using state-o-the-art
interactive computer technology,

Come to an information meeting
Thursday, November 16 at 7 p.m. in
Room AI!7 to learn more about it. (This
program is so far ahead of its time,
employers are already enquiring about its
graduates.)

Cali 984-4911 tor more information.

CAPILANO
COLLEGE

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