The Taxletter: Your RRSP's - Good Planning

It's the start of 2017 and a brand new year. However, for your RRSP purposes, it's still 2016 until the end of the day on March 1, as that is the deadline to make your contributions for 2016. And if you are still unsure as to what you should be doing when it comes to making the most of your RRSPs, below are some key tips in managing and contributing to your RRSP. 

Tip #1 - Take full advan- tage of spousal RRSPs. A spousal RRSP is simply an RRSP where you make contributions, but the plan is in your spouse's name - i.e., owned by him or her. It's a relatively straightforward way to split income. When you contribute to an RRSP in your spouse's name, you receive a per- sonal tax deduction. But since the RRSP belongs to your spouse, amounts received from the plan generally will be taxable to your spouse, not you.