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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2005-01-05, Page 2020 Exeter Times -Advocate Wednesday, January 5, 2005 Christmas trees can be recycled in Zurich By Carmel Sweeney ZURICH CORRESPONDENT ZURICH - Hope that everyone had a nice Christmas and got together with all their family and relatives. As usual the Sweeney family was kept busy coming and going to various places during the holidays. Christmas Eve din- ner and open house at night began our celebration before going to midnight mass. Then in the evening on Christmas Day was the annual URI Sweeney and Gelinas family get-together at the Maple Woods Apartment in the common room hosted by Marie Gelinas. Boxing Day was our own family turkey dinner at the home of our daughter, Carrie Eybergen in Grand Bend. It seems we were busy right up until the new year, as our children and their families took turns coming over to our home for sup- per. Mary Lou Denomme held Christmas dinner for all her family members Dec. 25 at her home in Zurich. The children and families of the late Clarence and Beattie Geoffrey held their Christmas dinner together at the Zurich Complex on Boxing Day hosted by Kevin and Shelley Geoffrey. John and Bridget Groot held their Christmas dinner Dec. 19 at Pine Lake Trailer Park in the hall which was deco- rated lovely for the occasion. Fifty-five family members attended. Due to the snowy weather ten people were unable to get there because they got stuck in the snow. Francine and Mike of Noel in the Village had a lovely Christmas dinner and get- together for staff and friends at their home last Thursday evening. On New Year's Day they held a dinner for all the Klopp family. Diane Klopp of Barrie along with her niece, Heidi Klopp and a girlfriend spent last week in New York. The descendents of Joe and Mary Martin held their Christmas party and dinner at St. Peter's Lutheran Church fel- lowship hall Dec. 27. CH NEWS The family of Keith and Helen Gingerich celebrat- ed the holiday season with their children and grandchildren on New Year's Day at the Zurich Mennonite Church Hall. The lucky winners from the holiday draws held at J & L Variety were adult, James Debus, won a package of jam and jelly; children, Ryan Willert, a teddy bear with candy. The Zurich Agriculture Directors meet- ing will be this Wed., Jan. 5 at the Zurich Complex at 7:30 p.m. The next auxiliary meeting will be Tues., Feb. 1 at 6:30 p.m. in the auditori- um at the Blue Water Rest Home. Laurene Corriveau and Viola Ramer are in charge of the program. Membership dues of $5 will be taken for the year. Everyone is most welcome to attend. Come out and bring a friend. The Golden Agers are meeting Mon., Jan. 10 at the township hall at noon. Women are to bring along a sandwich for lunch and the committee in charge will supply dessert and coffee. Plan to attend their progressive euchre party coming up Jan. 24 at the township hall at 7:30 p.m. Cost is $3 at the door which includes prizes, lunch and a fun night out. Anyone is welcome to come. May we offer our sincere sympathy to the family of the late Mary Waters of Maple Woods Apartments, who passed away suddenly during the holidays. About 15 relatives from the Zurich area travelled to Tecumseh, Ontario, near Windsor, to visit with Sarah and Ted Robson Dec. 31 and to help celebrate her birthday. Marg Johnston of the Maple Woods Apartments is recuperating at Queensway Nursing Home. We wish her a speedy recovery and also wish her a belated happy birthday Dec. 31, 2004. We all had a great time at the New Year's Eve dance held in Dashwood Friday night with live band Rural Routes who kept everyone up on the dance floor. Everyone also enjoyed a delicious lun- cheon prepared by Sheila Miller with the help of Cheryl Gelinas. Christmas trees can be recycled in Zurich until Fri., Jan. 7, by taking them to the waste pile behind the complex on East Street. Belated happy birthday wishes to Phil Dietrich on Dec. 31 and Art Miller on Dec. 26. Also to Meagan Sweeney who is 21 years old on Jan. 7; the Gelinas twins Justin and Jacqueline on Jan. 7 and Marie Gelinas on Jan. 11. Muffin Time and Coffee Hour is being held again every Tuesday morning from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Zurich United Church. Men and women are welcome to come out and visit with friends. The annual Regier family get-together was held this year on New Year's Eve at the home of Karl and Mary Regier with brothers and spouses attending. Audrey Smith hosted dinner for all her in-laws on New Year's Day at her home. The Smith Clan had fun together and fin- ished the day by playing cards Pat Todoroff spent the Christmas holi- days with her son Paul and family in Tennessee travelling with daughter and husband from London. Joe and Nancy Becker and daughters of Dashwood spent some of the Christmas season in the Dominican Republic. There will be another Flu Shot Clinic at St. Boniface School in the gym Tuesday morning, Jan. 11. Call the school at 236- 4335 for more information. There will be a Zurich Minor Athletic Hockey Tournament at the Complex Sat., Jan. 8; due to this there will be no skating lessons that day. Michelle Denomme, daughter of Cindy and Francis Denomme, continues to enjoy her experience living in Belgium for her year in the Rotary Youth Exchange Program. During a school break in November she vacationed at a resort in the Canary Islands with her host family Denomme recently spent four days in Rome with other Rotary exchange stu- dents from Canada, United States and Australia. While in Rome the girls saw the Pope during his Sunday address, the Sistine Chapel as well as other popular tourist attractions. Denomme celebrated Christmas in Belgium with her host fami- ly and travelled to Paris to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends. Helpful tax tips to assist you for the 2004 year By Irene Pawlik, B.Sc; B.Ed; B.Comm. FINANCIAL CONSULTANT 1) Deduct all interest possible It's no secret that you're able to deduct interest when money has been borrowed for business or investment purposes. You'd be surprised, however, at how many tax preparers miss out on claiming certain interest costs. In particular, interest on brokerage or margin accounts, or interest charged on Canada Savings Bond payroll purchase plans is often overlooked. And don't forget: where an investment has gone sour and is no longer held by you, a portion of the interest on money borrowed to acquire that investment might still be deductible. There's good news for those whose focus is capital growth; there was some question in the past about whether you could deduct your inter- est costs where you were investing for capital gains, not primarily interest or dividends. The Supreme Court of Canada decision in Ludco Enterprises v. Canada estab- lished that your primary objective can be capital growth as long as you expect to earn some "income from property" (which includes interest, dividends, rents or royal- ties). 2) Remember 1994 elections You may recall that Canadians were allowed to make a special election in 1994 to use up the $100,000 life- time capital gains exemption. In effect, that election sim- ply bumped up the adjusted cost base of your properties on which the election was made. If you sold any of those properties in 2001, make sure you're using the new, higher, cost base when calculating the taxable capital gain. This will reduce the tax bill. Similarly, where an election was made on flow- through assets such as mutual funds, an "exempt capital gains balance" was created. This balance can be used, until the year 2004, to offset capital gains distributions from those funds, or gains on the sale of those funds. If you haven't used your exempt balance by 2004, it will be added to the adjusted cost base of those particu- lar mutual funds, in which case you won't be able to use the exempt balance any longer to offset capital gains distributions from the fund. 3)Track reinvested distributions Don't forget that any reinvested distributions from your mutual funds held outside your RRSP or RRIF should be added to your original adjusted cost base of the mutual funds. It's easy to forget this - particularly if you're preparing your own tax returns. Keeping track of the new adjusted cost base each year will mean you will avoid a double -tax problem when you finally dispose of your mutual funds. Where can you get the information on these reinvested distributions? Check the periodic statements you received from your financial adviser or mutual fund company. 4) Consider transferring dividends Suppose for a minute that your spouse has received Canadian dividends, but has very little income. In this case, the dividend tax credit might be worthless to your spouse since it may not be needed to reduce his or her taxes to zero. It's possible in this situation to have the divi- dends reported on the tax return of the high- er income spouse — you. The benefit? You'll enjoy a higher spousal tax credit since your spouse will now have even less income to report. Ultimately, you'll pay less tax. To be sure, you can take advantage of this dividend transfer only where it's going to result in a higher spousal cred- it for you. This could mean tax savings for the family - although a calculation should be done to see if you would be better off. The calculations can be made easy by using tax software, or hav- ing a tax preparer crunch the numbers for you. 6) Claim allowable business investment losses Let's face it, a high percentage of small businesses don't survive in the long run. It's unfortunate, but true. If you own shares in, or have lent money to, a small business corporation and the business has gone sour, there may be tax relief available. I'm talking about claiming an allowable business investment loss (ABIL). In many cases, your accountant may not even realize that you have made this type of investment, let alone lost money at it - so be sure to make the fact known if you're using a tax preparer. An ABIL is calculated as 50% of the money you lost, and can generally be deducted against any type of income (not just capital gains) although some restric- tions may apply where the capital gains exemption has been claimed in the past. If you think you're eligible to claim an ABIL, your best bet is to speak to a tax pro to make sure you file the right information with your tax return. 7) Consider deferring deductions One thing you will want to avoid is bringing taxable income below $7,756 for the 2004 tax year. After all, there are no taxes to pay below this level of income. If you have discretionary deductions available, such as RRSP deductions or capital cost allowance, these should be postponed to a future year if they would otherwise bring income below the taxable threshold of $7,756. You may even want to postpone the deduction if it's going to bring your income below $32,184 - the level at which your marginal tax rate jumps from about 22 per cent to about 30 per cent. By using the deduction against income over $32,184 you'll save more tax. You see, a tax deduction will save you tax equal to your mar- ginal tax rate. 8) Avoid recurring losses Here's the deal. If you report business or rental losses for more than two or three years, you should expect the taxman to sit up and take notice. The Canada Custom and Revenue Agency computers are programmed to flag tax returns that repeatedly report losses. Ask around and you'll no doubt meet someone who has been reassessed in the last few years. You see, the taxman insists that you have a reasonable expectation of profit from your business or rental activities. Without this expectation, don't be surprised if your losses are denied. If you're concerned about being reassessed, make sure you've prepared forecasts showing when you expect to start making a profit, then do all you can to make the venture profitable — including paying down any mort- gage that might be creating large -interest deductions. 9) Claim all donations on one return This is not exactly rocket science, but you'll enjoy greater tax savings by claiming all charitable donations on one spouse's tax return, rather than having each spouse claim some. The reason? Donations over $200 in the year offer greater tax relief, and you'll maximize the donations over that level with this strategy. Generally, I like to claim the donations on the return of the higher -income spouse, although in many cases it won't make a difference. 10) Claim medical expenses on the lower- income return You'll be entitled to claim medical expenses over a cer- tain threshold. That threshold is 3% of net income, or $1,755 for the year 2004, whichever is less. By claiming the expenses on the return of the lower-income spouse, the credit available will be increased. The name of the game here is sidestepping the tax- man. Taking advantage of all deductions and credits at the last minute will help. Happy tax savings!