How spouses with joint accounts ought to declare capital losses

Ought to I determine to promote and take the loss, I’d repurchase an identical safety (promote VGRO and purchase XGRO). My understanding is that as a result of these observe completely different indices, it’s kosher with CRA.

My query is said to the tax loss. Is it calculated with CRA individually for my spouse and I or is it mixed?

—Andrew

Reporting capital losses as spouses with joint accounts

One factor you’ll have to think about, Andrew, is that if the 2 joint non-registered accounts are literally joint accounts or if one belongs to you and one to your spouse. Typically, spouses can have separate accounts for tax functions, they usually make them joint accounts in title just for administrative and property planning functions.

The rationale for that is the excellence between authorized and helpful possession. Authorized possession is whose title is on an account or asset. Useful possession is who technically owns it. When you have a joint account that’s funded by just one partner’s earnings, the account might be joint legally, however beneficially solely belong to the contributor partner for tax functions.

Some spouses will establish whose account it’s by whose title is listed first. For instance, Andrew and Andrea’s account could be Andrew’s for tax functions, and Andrea and Andrew’s account could be Andrea’s.

When an account is legally joint, both partner can entry and commerce on the account, and if one of many spouses dies, it passes on to the survivor. So, administratively, joint possession has advantages, however you possibly can and will report the earnings based mostly on the respective contributions of the spouses.

If one account is beneficially yours and one account is beneficially your spouse’s, Andrew, any losses triggered needs to be reported by the partner who realizes the capital loss. And if the joint accounts are cut up 50/50, you and your spouse ought to report any losses as 50/50. A typical mistake is pondering you possibly can select whose tax return to maneuver the losses to, however it doesn’t work that manner.