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When you sell your home – claiming the principal residence exemption in 2026 As is commonly known, the purchase of a home represents the largest single financial transaction most Canadians will make in their lifetime. However, buying a home represents much more than a financial transaction, however large that transaction may be. The purchase of […]

Claiming a deduction for legal fees incurred Like most good professional advice, legal fees can be costly. And, adding insult to injury, the need to seek out and obtain legal advice (and to pay for it) is usually associated with life’s more unpleasant events – a divorce, a dispute over a family estate, or a

The CPP post-retirement benefit – deciding whether to continue contributing In 1966, Canadian workers began contributing for the first time to a new government sponsored retirement income plan – the Canada Pension Plan. Today, 60 years later, retirement for most Canadians bears little or no resemblance to the way retirement looked in 1966. At that

Getting help from the tax system for post-secondary education costs Graduation from high school and the start of post-secondary education is an exciting time for both students and their families. Students who are beginning post-secondary education this fall are likely focused on choosing courses for the upcoming fall semester, getting a place in residence or

Making the RRSP decision when you turn 71 One’s 71st birthday is a very consequential event when it comes to retirement planning for Canadian taxpayers, and it’s an event which will be experienced by hundreds of thousands of Canadians during 2026.   While saving for retirement through an employer-sponsored pension plan used to be the “norm”, that

How to respond to a first Instalment Reminder from the Canada Revenue Agency By the time summer arrives, nearly all Canadians have filed their income tax returns for the previous year, have received a Notice of Assessment from the tax authorities with respect to that return, and have either spent their tax refund or, more

When the taxman has a few questions about your return By the time summer arrives, the deadline for filing an individual income tax return for the previous year has come and gone for all individual Canadians. The majority of taxpayers were required to file that return for 2025 on or before April 30, 2026, while

Claiming a deduction for moving costs While the Canadian housing market overall is down significantly from its peak in early 2022, houses continue to be bought and sold, and each such purchase and sale means a move for multiple households. The downturn in residential real estate prices has, in some instances, allowed first-time homebuyers to

A mid-year check-up on your taxes for 2026 Most Canadians are likely of the view, having just gone through the process of pulling together various sources of information on income and deductions and having dutifully prepared and filed an income tax return for the 2025 tax year, that they can happily put the subject of

When household debt becomes unmanageable It’s no secret that Canadian households have, over the past few months and years, been subjected to a series of financial and economic “hits” which have left many such households struggling to maintain their financial stability, or even to meet everyday expenses out of current income. In difficult financial times,