taxes

To paraphrase the Canada Income Tax Act, Section 181.2, taxable capital (for companies that are not financial institutions) is the excess capital a company has in its possession that exceeds its investment allowance for the year. Taxable capital includes capital stock, retained earnings, long term debt, advances received, surpluses, reserves, etc. The exact definition can be found in the full text of the Income Tax Act available online at http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/frame/cs/I-3.3//20090714/en or http://www.iijcan.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-1-5th-supp/latest/rsc-1985-c-1-5th-supp.html. Historically, taxable capital has been used to identify and tax “large corporations” that hold excess cash. Because the tax on capital is often viewed as a punitive tax, Canada and its provinces are phasing it out. While some provinces still levy this tax, the federal government has administered a 0% rate beginning in 2008. Despite the 0% tax rate of taxable capital, taxable capital remains an important parameter because it is a determinant for tax deductions and tax […]