By Trevor R. Parry,  M.A., LL.B,LL.M (Tax), TEP

Special to the Financial Independence Hub

For many Canadians, the state of our beloved national game reached a nadir when none of the seven NHL franchises qualified for last year’s playoffs. This wholesale failure has given rise to the over-analysis and questioning that only a nation of amateur general managers could produce.

What’s the armchair consensus about the source of Canada’s poor performance? Some would-be GMs decry economic maladies they believe are unique to the Canadian franchises, while others bemoan the current lacklustre state of the Canadian dollar — while still others point to punitive rates of taxation introduced by federal and provincial governments in recent years.

While the first two factors may be the likely cause in the delay in awarding an expansion franchise to Québec City — which, as a Habs fan, I am particularly distressed by as we await the return of our primordial enemy — the latter factor, whilst a reality, can largely be eliminated through recourse to a financial strategy that has now existed for fully 30 years.

Introducing the RCA

In 1986 the federal government amended the Income Tax Act to include the Retirement Compensation Arrangement rules. Better known as an “RCA,” this is the only structure available in Canada that allows supplemental retirement benefits to be funded on a tax-deductible basis. Continue Reading…