As 2016 is slowly but surely coming to a close, it will soon be tax season again.
I want to broach on the biggest RRSP myths that are still circulating around.
- A contribution equals a tax refund. Sorry to disappoint you here, but this is simply not true. A contribution will lower your income tax payable, but does not necessarily trigger a refund. It depends on your income and situation in general. Also, your refund will never be for the full amount you contributed.
- RRSPs are tax free. No, they are not. An RRSP is a tax-deferred account. It is like “contribute now, pay later”. You only pay taxes when you withdraw from the account. The only 2 exceptions when you won’t pay taxes is within the Home-Buyer Plan or the Lifelong Learning Plan. That being said, under these 2 programs, you have designate a minimum repayment amount each year when filing your tax return. If you don’t, you will be taxed accordingly.
- Dividends and capital gains within an RRSP are not taxable. This is by far the biggest myth around. If you have stocks, ETFs or mutual funds, you may be paying taxes on any dividends or capital gains. It all depends on the country the stock/ETF/mutual fund is from. If Canadian, then yes, you will not pay taxes on any dividend or capital gain. Canada also has an agreement with the United States regarding dividend-paying US stocks held in a Canadian RRSP. These are not subject to taxes either. For the rest, the area can definitely be more gray. Many countries levy a tax on dividends paid to non-residents. If there is no tax treaty with Canada, CRA will levy additional taxes. Because an RRSP is a registered account, you won’t be able to claim the Foreign Tax Credit.
- Everyone needs an RRSP. If you are in a low tax bracket or have a pension plan at work, you won’t benefit from an RRSP. If you are in a high tax bracket, you need to figure out what your tax bracket will be when you retire. If it is expected to remain the same, the RRSP is probably not the way to go either. With the clawback on the Guaranteed Income Supplement, you may end-up paying more income taxes! The RRSP is best suited for medium or high earners whose tax bracket will be lower upon retirement, and who don’t have an employer pension plan.
- An RRSP loan is a good idea. Not necessarily. As I indicated above, your refund will never equate the amount you contributed. Unless you can reimburse your loan in full quickly, you will pay interests on said loan. You also can’t deduct the interests paid on the loan, because you can’t do so on registered accounts. Your RRSP also needs to return quite a bit more than the interest rate on your loan.
There are plenty of other misconceptions about RRSPs, but these 4 are probably the most common ones.
The Money Savvy Blog 