Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 7, 1990, Winnipeg, Manitoba U Canada offers More holidays but higher taxes Toronto up employee pay and benefits in Canada Are catching up to those in the United states and canadians have More holidays and Shorter work but still pay More according to a recent consulting firm Hewitt associates says it did the study because free Trade will mean More companies opening or closing operations across the or at least worrying about new foreign willingness of employees to Transfer across the Border May hinge on whether their benefits and total compensation after tax will at least be if not in the Hewitt study the company found that hourly compensation costs in Canada in dollars were 98 per cent of those in the United states for manufacturing production workers during this was up from 83 per cent in the study does not say what part of the increase is a result of the Rise in the value of the Canadian Dollar during that compensation costs the figures Are from a comparative measure of hourly compensation costs in the two As developed by the Bureau of labor compensation includes both wages and benefits it is defined As All payments to the worker before de As Well As employer pay ments for either government or com Pany Benefit Hewitt did a further comparison of salaries for five specific jobs it found supervisors did better in but for More senior pay was higher in the United the study expressed All compensation in local included in Are the Cana Dian translations of Dollar Fig the average supervisor in a com Pany with sales of million or More in local currency got in Canada and in the United Iraj investors group Peter Donald Region Man Winnipeg Broadway Region office of investors Syndicate Lim is pleased to announce Peter Eby has received his chartered financial planner designation from the Canadian Institute of financial Peter has achieved a High level of specialized knowledge in Finan insurance and taxation matters which will enable him to provide the Best possible service to his Many Peter has been associated with investors since investors Syndicate limited is a member company of Winnipeg based investors group one of the largest company of its kind in with More than 10 billion of assets under management or administration and client the company offers a comprehensive Range of savings and in vestment products to individuals and corporations across the average Toronto Secretary earned compared with his or her Chicago counterpart at a Vic president of human re sources got in Canada and in the United the biggest differences were with chief executive in the United cos got an average compared with for percentage increases in salaries were higher for 1989 in Canada than in the United these data corroborate the trend of Canadian hourly labor costs rising to near Hewitt one of the cultural differences Between the two countries is reflected in the relatively longer periods of paid time off in the study after five years of 99 per cent of Canadian employers Grant three or More weeks of paid Vaca compared with 71 per cent in the United Canadian work weeks Are also slightly averaging 36 to 40 says compared with 38 to 40 hours in the United an Ontario couple earning would also pay about five per cent More of Gross income in taxes than their counterparts in new York faster vesting on the subject of employee Bene the paper says d employer sponsored pensions in Canada Are required to provide much faster vesting than in the United this Means an employee does not have to be with the company As Long to be Able to take benefits with him if he d government pensions in both countries provide about the same level of replacing about 40 per cent of the average d a major difference is in medical because employer sponsored health plans Are often the Only source of costs of medical benefits have been soar deductibles in plans Are often us or us a compared with Zero or in stockbroker Dies at 99 West a Ernest described by former president Ronald Reagan As the oldest Active stockbroker in the United has died while getting ready to go to he was who boasted of helping clients through both the 1929 and 1987 Stock Market died last he would have celebrated his 100th birthday he kept regular office hours at Colum and Meredith in Hart Ford and new Britain until his bom in in Brainard began work As a stockbroker after the first world he started his own Brainard and after a Happy client provided him with seed the firm was liquidated in when he joined Colum and Mere Stock Market courses every tuesday evening from to 5 weeks topics new Mutual technical Market trading economics rasps and much course Bigins to Isdio 16 Cost 770444 Miry Call Bill Graham 9426141 watch for different coupons every Day in the free press throughout from Chicken big savings on a variety of Chicken menu items family special with Coupon included 16 of Zumout Trench coleslaw 4 6 to 6 flood it participating Check to Coupon expires applicable sales tax extra pizza medium 2 Topping with this Coupon s6 our pizza includes cheese plus any 2 other toppings of your Choice Good at participating Chicken delights Coupon expires applicable 1990 sales tax extra up photo fast food credit hungry customers can Purchase vouchers from this Burge Chain Bank ing machine at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and use them in amounts of or at one of the Mcdonalds Chain of restaurants that offers the similar machines Are also in place at a Mcdonalds outlet in and in two supermarkets and one pharmacy in keeping mileage log vital when claiming Auto expenses if you Are a commission Sale a self employed or an employee who is required to use a vehicle to carry out duties of employment or self employ you May already know that there Are numerous deductions that May be taken on the tax return for Auto such expenses include Gas and repairs and licence and insurance interest on car payments or lease and capital allowances the latter three items subject to special what Many taxpayers fail to real ize is that the claim for automobile expenses is based on distance driven for use of the therefore it is mandatory to keep a log of All travels business and personal to accurately pro rate total Auto expenses on the tax Challenge figures such an automobile log or Lack of one has been the undoing of Many taxpayers perfect returns during an unless you can prove that the deduction taken on your return for Auto expenses is Revenue Canada can Challenge your figures and reduce or disallow there Are a few simple rules to meeting such audit requirements d begin today to keep track of the Kilometres on your odometer at the Start and end of every if Possi d during the enter the Dis Tance driven on All destinations in Evelyn jacks the indicating whether they were for or personal what Are purposes As opposed to personal use to driving to and from your place of employment is consid ered personal so is stopping off at the Bank or grocery store on your Way Home from salespeople who travel directly from their Home to a clients Home or other meeting May write off this trip it is also important to note that employees will Only be allowed to claim Auto and other employment related expenses if the employer requires such expenditures via the employment this fact must be verified on the tax return with the submission of the employ resigned declaration of employment conditions Dat the end of every rec Ord total distance driven for person Al and total distance for Busi d save All receipts including Cash Gas and individual charge card vouchers for or or washes and sort into Dat tax total expenditures for car motor club Winnipeg free january 11 alternative to life annuity proposed one of the offshoots of pension Reform has been the growing number of individuals with locked in due to earlier or entitlement to employer being coupled with earlier for in if you terminate employment after completing five years of service this drops to two years As of you Are fully vested in your pension benefits earned after these benefits Are locked in and must be taken As a deferred life annuity or transferred to a locked in the proceeds of a locked in resp must be used to Purchase a life annuity at retirement and cannot be taken out in any other the basis of the traditional pen Sion plan is to provide a retirement income for so the requirement to Purchase a life annuity with the proceeds of a locked in resp is a logical it was Only natural that individuals with locked in rasps would soon Start comparing their Only option with the options other Wise available under unlocked these options include Cash annuities and registered retirement income funds or As they Are commonly the designed to be totally depleted by the time the Retiree turns age has been growing in popularity due to such features As flexible amounts and in vestment for Many the disadvantage of possibly outliving your assets is outweighed by the advantages a Trif can otherwise in response to complaints by individuals with locked in rasps about the inflexibility of the life annuity re the Canadian association of pension supervisory authorities commissioned a study on possible alternatives to the life Annu the study recommended an alter native termed the life income fund or the Lif would provide a lifetime income while still allowing an individual investment control Over his or her retirement the actual amount of annual income would fluctuate each depend ing on investment earnings and on the annuity Factor applicable for each years this would allow you to control How your assets were and to Benefit from that similar to a one major difference Between a Lif and would be who is entitled to receive the remaining assets on the retirees under the the remain ing assets can be transferred to your spouse or paid to your this would not be the Case with the where the remaining assets would be retained by the financial institution holding the Lif to offset the Cost of providing Lifs to individuals living longer than similar to the Reserve for life annuity payments held by insurance although response to the Lif concept has been mixed due to certain perceived the Quebec pension authority has included provision for the Lif in its reformed pension legislation which was enacted in june of this the legislation provides that the normally required life annuity May be As prescribed by by an other life pension which can vary in the regulations to the re formed Quebec legislation will be released in 1990 and it is expected that they will contain the basis on which Lifs can be the actual basis of the As to be outlined by the Quebec Regula will be of interest to other provincial pension commissions and to individuals lobbying for an alter native to the life if the Lif proves to be workable in it is Likely to be adopted by other provinces looking for a More flexible option on retirement for pension Janice Penner is corporate financial services for investors License fees and other operating expenses Are Gas rebate dont forget to claim the Gas tax rebate if you Are a qualified Driver including physically handicapped persons who cannot use Public trans persons who earn income from office or employment and who Are allowed to deduct the Cost of gasoline on their tax and certain members of the fixed expenses Are com these include interest charges up to a maximum of or per depending on when your vehicle was lease costs up to a maximum of or per depending on the Date the lease was entered into and capital Cost allowance based on maximum costs of or in again depending on the Date of the total of All operating and fixed costs Are then prorated by the number of business Kilometres drive Over the total Kilometres driven during the the result of this proration is your deductible Auto the Start of a new year is the Best time to resolve to keep an Automo bile distance log taxpayers might even be surprised to find that by keeping the deductions in Evelyn jacks is a director of education at u r tax corporate Stock buybacks dont always pay off Montreal up companies whose shares Are chronically weak on the Stock markets have recently devised a new tactic buying Back their own but the which began in Wake of the 1987 Stock Market crash and has recently picked up does not always pay say Market it has become fashionable on the Exchange some companies just dont know what else to do to put life into their said Marcandre in charge of institutional sales at brokers Levesque Beaubien at the Montreal Exchange Dur ing the first three quarters of last 88 companies announced their intention to proceed with what is called a Normal course issuer meaning that they will buy their shares As they become available on the open Canadian exchanges limit buy backs to five per cent of the total shares in one the amounts thus vary from one company to Alcan aluminium which recently announced a share buyback can Purchase up to million Worth Noranda or Bombardier the aim generally voiced by companies is to Shore up the Price of their they May want to please discouraged by a weak performance of their they Hope that in withdrawing some shares from the principle of Supply and demand will Force the prices but the theory does not always hold in few of the companies which announce a share buyback actually carry through with at the Montreal Exchange last Only 40 out of 88 companies which adopted a repurchase pro Gram Ever got around to buying any of As of Only 20 of these had bought More than a third of the allowable some of the companies Lack the Money because business has slowed others Are waiting for a better while others had no intention of carrying out their some companies think its enough just to announce a buyback program to attract investors anxious to catch a rising commented Lyle portfolio Man Ager for brokers Nesbitt when a company does buy Back a Large number of its the Impact on share value is in some the Issue Rose a in it created a ceiling around a Given said you also see issues that continue to investment counsellor Stephen Jarislowsky is in favor of buy a share buyback can increase the earnings per share simply be cause there Are fewer shares out said but there Are also psychological effects the company demonstrates Confidence in he added that buying Back shares can be a Good investment for a especially if the shares Are the buy Back is a Good option when there is a surplus of it is often better to invest in ones own shares than to launch into a risky the of is that the Money tied up in shares cannot be used to expand the and May suggest a Lack of enter prise by the according to such a company would be better off to revise its investment policies and be a Little More ;