Smart Finance and Money Saving Tips
What is an RRSP Loan?
When you borrow money from the bank in order to contribute to your RRSPs, you are using an RRSP loan. There are different types available. Some need to be paid off within a year, while others you can pay off over a much longer time period. You will often be given a more favorable interest rate if you have your RRSP at the same financial institution that grants you the loan.
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Have you ever discovered that you over-contributed to either your RRSP or TFSA? Then check out the commonly asked questions below to find out what you can do about it. Also check out the information below to help you determine if a TFSA is right for you.
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Although the official deadline has passed now to be able to use your RRSP contributions for the 2010 tax year, it doesn’t mean that RRSP season is over. In fact, it is better to contribute to your RRSP all year round than wait until the last possible minute to put a lump sum into it.
This year I challenge you to set up automatic payments into your RRSP every time you get paid. That way you will not have to burden yourself with coming up with a lump sum every year. If you discover that you still want to put in more, then you can top up your contributions before the deadline, but the lump sum will be far less of a burden.
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Tax time can get confusing with all the various tax slips you get from your bank. It is sometimes hard to keep track of them all. You might be wondering what tax slips you should be expecting in the mail if you have an RRSP.
1. Contribution Receipts – You will only get receipts if you made contributions.
If you made any contributions during 2010 or during the first 60 days of 2011, you will receive one or more contribution receipts from your financial institution. You would have already received the first 60 days of 2010 receipt in the spring of 2010 and you may have already claimed this on your 2009 taxes. However, you will want to watch out for the remainder of 2010 receipt (March 2nd to December 31st) as well as for the first 60 days of 2011 receipt (Jan 1st to March 1st).
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Canadians have until March 1st to make an RRSP contribution towards their Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) in order to take advantage of a tax deduction for the 2010 tax year.
Before you make this important decision, be sure to consider a few things:
Do you have the ability within your budget to make a contribution?
If you haven’t been contributing regularly all year, have you set enough money aside in order to make a lump sum contribution?
If you will be dipping into your emergency funds in order to make your contribution or you will be left just scraping by, then perhaps it is wise to just hold off in making any contributions this year. Why? Because if you are depending on your RRSPs as a back up emergency fund then there is no point in putting money into an RRSP in the first place. There are just too many tax penalties and negative implications for making an RRSP withdrawal.
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If you had to withdraw funds from your RRSP in 2010, the good news is that you still have until March 1, 2011 to make a contribution to help offset your withdrawal. Although you will never get your contribution room back for the amount you took out, at least you won’t suffer as many tax penalties by putting some or all of the money back.
However, before you decide to put the money back, make sure that you can truly afford to do so. If you don’t already have some money set aside for emergencies, then it is probably better to refrain from adding any additional money into your RRSP. Why? Because you are just as likely to end up having to make another RRSP withdrawal and then it defeats the purpose of contributing to an RRSP altogether. Just be prepared to pay some tax in the Spring.
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