加拿大华人论坛 加拿大生活信息TFSAs vs. RRSPs (By GORDON PAPE)

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One of the dilemmas facing people who only have a limited amount of money to invest is whether to opt for a new Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or stick with the well-established registered retirement savings plan. It's not an easy choice and there are a number of variables to consider. In my new book Tax-Free Savings Accounts: A Guide to TFSAs and How They Can Make You Rich I have devoted an entire chapter to this question. Over the next couple of weeks, I'll explain some of the key issues involved in making a decision on which plan is best for your personal needs. To begin with, it's important to understand that TFSAs and RRSPs are two different creatures from a tax and savings perspective. In the jargon of economists, TFSAs are so-called TEE plans ? taxed, exempt, exempt. That means the money going into the plan has already been taxed, but earnings within a TFSA are tax-exempt, as are all withdrawals.In contrast, RRSPs are so-called EET plans ? exempt, exempt, taxed. Contributions are tax-free because they generate an offsetting deduction. Investment income earned within an RRSP is also tax-free. But all the money that comes out is taxed at your marginal rate, regardless of its source. That means you’ll pay more tax on capital gains and dividends earned within an RRSP than you would if those same profits were generated in a non-registered account.In the 2008 Budget Papers that explained the TFSA concept in detail, the Department of Finance included an example that suggested there is no after-tax advantage in using either TFSAs or RRSPs for retirement savings. Based on their assumptions, both produced the same net after-tax return and both were equally superior to saving in a non-registered account. The assumptions they used were as follows. Amount invested: $1,000Tax rate (going in and coming out: 40 per centTime frame: 20 yearsAverage annual compound rate of return within plan: 5.5 per centBased on these, Finance concluded that at the end of the day when money was withdrawn, the net after-tax return in both the RRSP and the TFSA would be 5.5 per cent. There's one very important point in their illustration that needs to be explained. The Department of Finance bases its after-tax rate of return calculation not on the amount invested but rather on what Finance defines as “forgone consumption.” This is the amount actually saved. In both cases, the investor starts with a gross $1,000. With the TFSA and the unregistered account, $400 is taken by taxes, leaving $600 in savings. That’s straightforward enough, but the RRSP calculation is more complex: It appears at first glance that $1,000 is the amount saved because that’s what is paid into the plan and no tax is assessed because of the deduction generated. But the accepted way to make apples-to-apples comparisons in such situations is to examine it from the perspective of how much money a person could have spent if he or she had not made an investment. Using this approach, the “forgone consumption” is $600 in all cases. So the calculation of returns in both scenarios is based on $600. For consistency, I'll stay with that approach in the analysis that follows.Remember that Finance assumes the average tax rate going in and coming out of both plans is 40 per cent. But if you change those basic assumptions, the end result can be quite different. Let’s manipulate the numbers and consider the various outcomes. We’ll begin by assuming that the contributor’s marginal tax rate is lower in retirement than when she was working ? 40 per cent during her working years, down to 30 per cent after retirement. Keeping all the other assumptions the same, we find that while the average annual after-tax return in a TFSA remains at 5.5 per cent, in the case of the RRSP it rises to 6.3 per cent. This is due to the fact less tax is paid on the money when withdrawn. So in this situation, the RRSP is clearly the better choice. This means that higher-income people who expect their tax rate to be lower after retirement should top up their RRSPs first before investing in a TFSA.Now let’s see what happens when the tax rate after retirement is higher than when a person was working. We'll assume that the tax rate while working is 30 per cent but after retirement it is 40 per cent. There are a number of situations in which this might be possible, for example if a person works in a low-tax province (e.g. Alberta) and retires with a large pension plus retirement savings to a high-tax province (e.g. Nova Scotia). In this situation, a TFSA is the better choice, with an average annual after-tax compound rate of return of 5.5 per cent, versus 4.7 per cent for an RRSP. So, to sum up:1. If you expect your tax rate after retirement to be the same as it is now, TFSAs and RRSPs will produce the same net result.2. If you expect your tax rate after retirement to be less than it is now, top up your RRSP before opening a TFSA.3. If you expect your tax rate after retirement to be higher than it is now, saving in a TFSA will produce a better return than making an RRSP contribution. 乔峻(416-835-8805), 以人为本,全面理财

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