Succession and Estate Planning

Gifts to customers and expenditures like the cost of sending customers holiday cards are deductible in most countries against business or self-employed income. If you’re self-employed, the expense comes out of your income from self-employment.

Homeowners and rental property owners in some countries can fully deduct interest paid on home mortgage loans against their total income or rental income respectively.

You can earn a tax break if you are taking classes for your career. Your expenses are deductible as an itemized deduction. This deduction, however, is limited to the amount of your qualified education expenses, subject to different tax rules in different countries.

In many countries like the US, you can deduct allowable medical expenses. If you and your spouse file separate returns, you can claim expenses you paid for your spouse if you were married either when your spouse received the medical services or when you paid the expenses. Of course, if you file a joint return for a tax year, any expenses paid by either of you that year would be deductible.

You can have significant tax savings by averaging your income. If you know your income will be lower next year, you could arrange your fiscal year-end bonus to be paid after the start of the new fiscal year. Consider postponing the sale of your investments until next year, or offset the gain with a loss from the sale of other investments. These methods can save you from the high cost of paying tax at the next higher marginal rate. Harris Fraser offers access to tax professionals for most major jurisdictions.

Harris Fraser offers access to tax professionals for most major jurisdictions.