Tax-efficient investing

Tax-efficient investing doesn't mean tax-free investing. It means that once an asset allocation is determined, it should be set up in a tax-efficient manner, while at the same time being mindful to not let the tax tail wag the dog. An asset's tax efficiency is affected by both its expected return and the tax rate on such return. Remember that taxes are one aspect of investing that you can control. While there is no "one rule fits all" concept, the strategies presented here are mostly intended to provide guidance to investors in the accumulation phase (saving for retirement).
Generally investors should take full advantage of registered (tax-sheltered) accounts before investing in non-registered accounts as this is the most tax efficient strategy. If you cannot fully tax shelter all of your investments, you need to be aware that Canadian tax laws treat various types of investment income differently. The goal of this article is to guide you on how you might reduce (or minimize) the taxes you pay by strategic placement of investments among various investment accounts. This is also know as "asset location". A word of caution, Canadian tax laws are sufficiently different from American tax laws that advice written for Americans is inapplicable or even wrong when Canadian investing is considered.
==Prioritizing investments==
Prioritizing investments is sometimes a challenge for investors who are able to place their investments in several different kinds of accounts. Investing in a prioritized order can maximize the tax efficiency of a portfolio (pay the minimum amount of taxes). It can also maximize matching funds from employers and government grants.
==Tax treatment of different investments==
There are three main types of investment income: interest, dividends, and capital gains, and these are taxed differently in non-registered accounts. Also, dividends are taxed differently depending on their provenance (Canadian versus foreign). Different types of investments generate different types of income:
* Cash investments, such as savings accounts and money market funds, generate interest
* Fixed income investments, such as bonds and guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), generate mostly interest (selling bonds before maturity can create capital gains or losses)
* Equity investments such as common shares and preferred shares can generate dividends and capital gains (or losses)
* Commodities create capital gains or losses
===Interest and foreign dividends===
Interest, foreign interest, foreign dividend income, and other investment income go on line 121 of your federal tax returnCRA, Line 121 - Interest and other investment income, viewed November 23, 2019. This income is taxed at your usual marginal rate, i.e. an extra dollar of interest income is typically equivalent to an extra dollar of employment income.Jamie Golombek & Debbie Pearl-Weinberg, A Portfolio Less Taxing: Understanding the Taxation of Investment Income, CIBC Financial Planning and Advice, September 2019, viewed November 26, 2019
===Canadian Dividends===
Dividends received from Canadian corporations go on line 120CRA, Line 120 - Taxable amount of dividends (eligible and other than eligible) from taxable Canadian corporations, viewed November 23, 2019. These dividends are taxed more lightly than interest and foreign dividends, due to the dividend tax credit (further explained below).
===Capital gains===
Capital gains are generated when a security is sold at a price higher than the adjusted cost base. Capital gains are reported on line 127CRA, Line 127 - Capital gains, viewed November 23, 2019 and also receive a different tax treatment. An inclusion rate, currently 50%, is applied to the capital gain before tax is calculated. In other words, a dollar of capital gains will be taxed at half the rate of a dollar of interest. Capital gains can be offset by capital losses.
===Marginal tax rates===
Putting it all together, the actual tax rates applicable to each income source vary by province or territory and with income level (see Tax rate calculators), but are generally in accordance with the following progressionFor example, see taxtips.ca's Basic Canadian Tax Calculator, viewed November 23, 2019: 
:
Marginal Tax Rates
Type 	Examples
Highest 	Interest income, RRSP withdrawals, dividends or distributions from non-Canadian sources
Intermediate	Capital gains, Canadian eligible dividends in high tax brackets
Lowest 	Canadian eligible dividends in low tax brackets
Deferred 	Return of capital that reduces the adjusted cost base (ACB) (eventually payable at capital gains rates)
Tax-efficient asset allocation places the highest taxable sources of income into non-taxable accounts whenever possible.
==Non-registered accounts==
===The dividend tax credit===
Common share and preferred share dividends from most Canadian corporations are eligible for a dividend tax creditTaxtips.ca, Dividend Tax Credit, viewed December 9, 2012., which significantly reduces the tax rate in non-registered accounts, particularly in the lowest tax bracket. For this reason, such shares are preferably held in non-registered accounts (assuming all registered accounts are already full). After 2005, most dividends from public corporations are eligible, and thus known as eligible dividends, for the enhanced dividend tax credit, with dividends from Canadian controlled private corporations, known as non-eligible dividends, are subject to the regular dividend tax credit. You should also note that there are two parts to the dividend tax credit, the federal dividend tax credit (Line 425 on your federal tax returnLine 425 - Federal dividend tax credit, viewed December 9, 2012.) and a provincial or territorial tax credit.
===Tax loss harvesting===
If you sell a property or security on which you have a capital loss calculated using an adjusted cost base to determine your cost, you are allowed to deduct that loss from your capital gains, provided that you or a related entity does not buy and continue to hold the property or security for the 30 days preceding or 30 days following the sale.Income Tax Act, Taxable Capital Gains and Allowable Capital Losses, section 54, viewed February 1, 2020. However, you can use those losses to reduce your taxes due by selling one security and immediately rebuying a similar but not identical security.John Heinzl, How to effectively use tax-loss selling to lower your tax bill, The Globe and Mail, November 17, 2017, viewed February 12, 2018Jamie Golombek, Here's how to make the most of tax-loss-selling season, National Post, November 22, 2019
For example, suppose you hold an exchange-traded fund (ETF) such as the iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETFBlackRock, iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF, viewed Dec. 26, 2014.Morningstar.ca, iShares S&P/TSX 60, viewed Dec. 26, 2014., which tracks 60 of the largest stocks in the TSX and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol XIU. Further suppose that you had suffered a large paper loss on that holding. You could sell your XIU position and immediately repurchase a similar dollar amount of XIC, which tracks a different stock index (the S&P®/TSX® Capped Composite Index) yet offers similar (but not identical) performance. You would have then captured the loss and could use it in the current tax year, while still maintaining a similar position so that you could benefit from future gains.
It should be specifically noted that, if a security is sold at a loss from a non-registered account and repurchased within 30 days in an Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), the tax credit from the loss will be disallowed and the loss deemed to be zero.
===Charitable donations===
It is possible to actually zero the taxes due on a security on which one has a significant capital gain by donating a portion of the shares to charity.T. Cestnick, A great stock sale idea: Zero taxes and help a favourite charity, Globe and Mail, May 13, 2006.Financial Wisdom Forum, Doing Well by Doing Good, viewed Feb. 17, 2009. A calculator that estimates the portion to be donated can be found here.
===Bond taxation===
Conventional bonds that trade at a premium above their face value ("premium bonds") should not be held in a non-registered account because of unfavourable taxation. In addition, strip bonds and Real Return Bonds (RRBs) will require payment of taxes on returns accrued but not paid as they are treated as prescribed debt obligations as described in paragraph 7000 of the Income Tax Act.Government of Canada, Justice Laws, ACCRUED INTEREST ON DEBT OBLIGATIONS, viewed January 25, 2014.
====Prescribed debt obligations====
Unless held in a registered account, the tax treatment and record keeping requirements of strip bonds and Real Return Bonds is complex.
The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency has indicated that purchasers of strip bonds will be treated as having purchased a “prescribed debt obligation” within the meaning of the Regulations. Accordingly, a purchaser will be required to include in income in each year a notional amount of interest, notwithstanding that no interest will be paid or received in the year.Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC), Strip Bonds And Strip Bond Packages, viewed January 25, 2014.TaxTips.ca, Technical Interpretation 2002-01231650, viewed January 25, 2014.
Accrued Inﬂation Compensation for a series of Real Retun Bonds must be included in a your income in the manner described under "Canadian Federal Income Tax Considerations", notwithstanding that payment in respect thereof will not be made until Maturity for such series.Bank of Canada, Real Return Bonds, viewed January 25, 2014.
==Registered accounts==
It is usually recommended that fully taxed securities (i.e., those that pay interest) be placed inside registered accounts, in particular RRSPs.Taxtips.ca, Which Investments Should be Held Inside vs Outside Registered Accounts?, January 25, 2020, viewed January 28, 2020Jamie Golombek, Rethinking asset allocation, National Post, January 17, 2012, viewed January 28, 2020.Dan Bortolotti, Do bonds still belong in an RRSP?, MoneySense, April 25, 2014, viewed January 29, 2020 This conventional wisdom has been sometimes challenged in recent years due to low interest rates (e.g., ).
Nevertheless, at the very least, securities in which interest is deemed but not received such as compounding Guaranteed Investment Certificates, strip bonds, and RRBs should be held in registered accounts, rather than in a non-registered account.
===RRSPs, RRIFs, LIRAs, RDSPs, and LIFs===
These accounts all share the characteristic that any withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income.
===RESPs===
Registered Education Savings Plans (RESP) withdrawals are partially taxed in the hands of the student, who may pay little or no tax by using the basic personal exemption and the tuition credits. The original capital contributed to the plan was from after-tax savings, so its withdrawal is tax free, provided the beneficiary has started post-secondary education.
===TFSAs===
Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA) differ from other registered investments in that no tax is due on withdrawn funds. They are compared with RRSPs here.
As discussed in the following section, foreign tax deducted at source (such as from most non-Canadian investments) is not recoverable in a TFSA. Although the dividend tax credit on Canadian securities is also lost, this loss is generally moot (except for those with very low incomes who have a negative income tax rate on dividends) since no tax is payable on TFSA holdings in any case.
==Death and taxes: spousal rollovers==
===Non-registered accounts===
Upon death of a taxpayer, all non-registered assets are considered sold at fair market value (i.e. at the current price).Curtis Davis, Capital gains and losses at death: the spousal advantage, Advisor's Edge, January 2, 2019, viewed January 25, 2020.TaxTips.ca, Deemed Disposition of Property, viewed January 26, 2020. This is also known as a deemed disposition and it often creates net capital gains (i.e. capital gains will likely be larger than any offsetting losses).Jamie Golombek, Death and taxes: Leave your assets to your heirs instead of the CRA, National Post, October 25, 2013, viewed January 26, 2020. Tax on these net capital gains must be paid on the final tax return of the deceased. 
However, the appreciated non-registered assets can be transferred to a surviving spouse at cost, a.k.a. a spousal rollover, if this election is made. The securities have to be transferred in kind. This allows the capital gain taxes to be reported to a later date, i.e. when the last spouse dies or finally sells the assets. Because of this provision, it may be advantageous to place in non-registered accounts investments that the surviving spouse, or his/her financial advisor, will be comfortable holding after the death of the first spouse. This will allow the spousal rollover option to be actually utilized. If instead the appreciated securities are sold, there will be no choice but to pay taxes on capital gains immediately.
===Registered accounts===
Funds from registered accounts, such as RRSPs, RRIFs and TFSAs, can also be transferred to a surviving spouse in a tax-efficient manner. In these cases, the transfers can be made in kind or in cash, so there is no need to worry about whether the surviving spouse will be comfortable to continue holding specific investments.
====RRSPs and RRIFs====
Upon death, for tax purposes, the general rule is that your RRSP or RIFF is considered to have been liquidated at fair market value, and this amount will be included as income on your final tax return.Canada Revenue Agency, Death of an RRSP Annuitant, RC4177(E) Rev. 19, viewed January 28, 2020.Wilmot George, What happens when an RRSP annuitant dies, Advisor's Edge, May 26, 2015, viewed January 28, 2020. However, RRSPs and RRIFs can be transferred ("rolled-over") to a surviving spouse or common-law partner. This defers taxation to a later date, when the surviving spouses makes withdrawals or dies. Note that RRSP rollovers are not always the best option.Wilmot George, RRSPs at death: Do tax-deferred rollovers make sense?, July 9, 2018, viewed January 28, 2020.
====TFSAs====
After death, TFSA assets can be transferred to your spouse or estate tax-free.Taxtips.ca, Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) - Death of the TFSA Holder, viewed January 28, 2020.Jamie Golombek, What happens when a TFSA holder dies?, May 2018, viewed January 28, 2020 So as is the case for RRSPs/RRIFs, for tax planning purposes, there is no need to worry about whether your surviving spouse (or estate) will be comfortable to continue holding specific investments.
==Death and taxes: US estate tax exposure==
===What's the issue?===
Canadian residents (who are not US citizens) may be subject to US estate tax if they die owning certain US assets, such as shares of US corporations, US real estate and US business assets. If you are a non-resident from the US point of view but have more than 60,000 USD worth of "U.S. situs property" upon death, your executor will have to file a US estate tax returnBDO Canada LLP, Tax Bulletin - U.S. Estate Tax Issues for Canadians, May 21, 2021, viewed September 30, 2021.US Internal Revenue Service, Some Nonresidents with U.S. Assets Must File Estate Tax Returns, updated April 2021, viewed September 30, 2021. (even if no tax ends up being payable).
The Canada-U.S. income tax convention ("treaty") provides some relief for Canadians, who benefit from an exemption similar to that available to US citizens and residents.. This means that under applicable legislation, Canadian residents will have a US estate tax liability only if their worldwide assets are valued at more than $11.7 million (as of May 2021). These amounts change regularly. A US estate tax return will still need to be filed though.PWC, Tax Insights: Estate tax update – US estate tax exposure for Canadians (2018 edition), March 2018, viewed October 1, 2021.
===Filing the US estate tax return===
This filing must be done by the executor within 9 months of death and typically requires professional help.TaxTips.ca, US Federal Estate Tax May be Payable by Canadians, revised May 20, 2021, viewed September 30, 2021. It involves "disclosing detailed information about all worldwide assets of the decedant and providing their U.S.-dollar values (determined according to U.S. tax principles).Advisor's Edge, 4 structures to protect Canadians from the U.S. estate tax—updated, February 20, 2018, viewed September 30, 2021. The relevant IRS forms include 706-NA, 8833 and 8971.
===Eliminating or lowering your liability===
Canadian investors may be able to mitigate their US estate tax exposure by holding Canadian domiciled index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for their US equity exposure.Financial Wisdom Forum, US estate taxes and Canadian mutual funds, viewed January 25, 2015. This is applicable also to ETFs investing in international equities or emerging markets equities: if you buy them on US exchanges, you are probably increasing your US estate tax exposure, but if you buy them on Canadian exchanges, you are probably not.
Vanguard Canada's explanation is that "the investment product (such as an ETF) is generally opaque". So an ETF listed on a Canadian exchange "with an investment mandate based on U.S. stock indexes allows investment in the U.S. stock market without triggering U.S. federal estate tax because the investor is deemed to be investing in a Canadian situs asset -- the ETF -- rather than looking through to the location
of the assets in the underlying portfolio of the ETF".Vanguard Canada, [clients’ exposure to U.S. federal estate tax], updated 2016, viewed October 2, 2021.
==Foreign withholding taxes==
Foreign withholding taxes are a somewhat complex and confusing topic. In the context of asset location decisions, keep in mind that Canadian taxes are likely to have a much more significant impact on long-term after-tax investment returns than foreign withholding taxes. Therefore, withholding taxes may be more a consideration for product choices than for asset location decisions.
==Is asset location worth it?==
Relative to holding the same asset mix across all accounts, asset location strategies have been estimated to potentially add on the order of 0.07-0.3% per year in after-tax returns, depending on the methodology of the study.Benjamin Felix, Asset Location: Promising Theories vs. Practical Applications, August 13, 2018, viewed February 2, 2020.Benjamin Felix, Asset Location & Uncertainty, December 13, 2017, viewed February 2, 2020 Seven basis points on a $50k portfolio is $35 a year in potential extra returns, which for most people, will clearly not be worth the added complexity. However if the investor uses the more optimistic 30 basis points estimate on a $500k portfolio, the $1.5k a year in potential extra return might justify the effort. Note that given the uncertainties involved in obtaining these estimates, there is no guarantee that the actual extra after-tax return, relative to holding the same asset mix across all accounts, will actually be positive. One critic of asset location strategies argues that calculations in which such strategies come out ahead typically ignore downside risk.Post by longinvest in Financial Wisdom Forum, January 30, 2022, viewed on the same date.
Holding the same asset allocation accross all accounts, perhaps using asset allocation ETFs, is also a lot simpler to execute: 
For those who want to try the hard way, read on!
==Tax-efficient asset allocation==
Two asset location tables are presented in this section. The first table has more detail on fixed income investments and different types of Canadian equities, and was compiled before TFSAs became a factor, so "Registered account" mostly means RRSP or RRIF. It is taken from Shakespeare's Primer"Shakespeare", Tax Efficient Asset Allocation, viewed Feb. 18, 2009. Modified to Wiki format and updated. (with permission of the author).
:
Tax-Efficient Asset Allocation
Asset class 	Non-registered account	Registered account
Canadian Common shares or ETFs 	Usually best 	OK
Canadian Preferred shares 	Yes 	No
Tax-Deferred Canadian REITs/Trusts 	OK 	If necessary (e.g. for RRIF)
Income Trusts with Low Tax Deferral 	If necessary 	Yes
Canadian Stripped Bond 	No 	Yes
Canadian nominal Bond 	If necessary 	Yes
Canadian Real Return Bonds 	No 	Yes
US/Foreign Equity (high-dividend, low-growth)	If necessary 	Yes
US/Foreign Equity (low-dividend, high-growth)	Usually best 	OK
US/Foreign Normal Bond 	If necessary 	Yes
US/Foreign Stripped Bond 	No 	Yes
US TIPS Bond 	No 	Yes
The second table (simplified from ) distinguishes US stocks from international stocks, integrates TFSAs, but has less detail on different fixed income categories.
Rule of thumb 	Justification
Fixed income in RRSP 	* Interest taxed at full MTR * Lower expected returns should lead to lower minimum RRIF withdrawls
Canadian equities in non-registered account 	* Canadian dividends taxed at more favorable rates
International equities in TFSA 	* International stocks tend to have higher dividend yields * Foreign dividends are fully taxable
US equities in RRSP (not but before fixed income)	* A US-listed ETF of US equities will avoid withholding tax
==Building a tax-efficient portfolio==
Once a portfolio design is decided upon, perhaps with the help of an investment policy statement (IPS), the investor will be tasked with placing the components in a tax-efficient manner. Some examples will be used to show the process.
===RRSP versus non-registered===
The first four examples assume that an investor can only invest in a RRSP (or RRIF) and a non-registered account. We are voluntarily ignoring TFSAs for these four examples.
The general approach is that the RRSP (or RRIF) is filled first in reducing order of tax rate, with what's left going to the non-registered account.
====Example 1. The four-component portfolio====
The first example will be based on a four-component index portfolio. The investor decides on an asset allocation of 40% Canadian bonds, 20% Canadian equities, 20% US equities, and 20% international equities. His investment room is 50% non-registered and 50% RRSP.
Since bonds are taxed at the highest marginal rate, all of the bond component is assigned to the RRSP, following the conventional wisdom. This leaves 10% of the portfolio as RRSP room. Since Canadian equities have a dividend tax credit and international equities have foreign tax withheld that can be credited against Canadian tax, one way to assign the remaining RRSP room is to fill it with 10% US equities, which are not taxed in an RRSP. His portfolio could therefore be as follows:
*40% Canadian bonds - all in RRSP 
*20% US equities - split between RRSP (10%) and non-registered account (10%)
*20% international equities - all in non-registered account
*20% Canadian equities - all in non-registered account
Another solution would be to shelter the international equities first, since they have a higher current dividend yield than US equities, and therefore attract heavier Canadian taxes on foreign dividends in a non-registered accountCanadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location: Tax Savings Through More Organized Living, August 21, 2017, viewed January 28, 2020Canadian Portfolio Manger blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location Across Canada: Some Rules Are Made To Be Broken, August 28, 2017, viewed January 30, 2010.:
*40% Canadian bonds - all in RRSP 
*20% international equities - split between RRSP (10%) and non-registered account (10%) 
*20% US equities - all in non-registered account 
*20% Canadian equities - all in non-registered account 
One comment on proposals where all the bonds are in the RRSP is that because the government owns part of the RRSP (taxes will be due upon withdrawal), the pre-tax asset allocation and the after-tax allocations are not the same.Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location in a Post-Tax World: RRSPs vs. Taxable Accounts, June 29, 2018, viewed January 30, 2020. Specifically here, the post-tax bond allocation would be less than 40%, since all bonds are in the RRSP. This extra risk may not be noticeable during the accumulation phase.
====Example 2. Adding real estate investment trusts====
In the second example, a four-component portfolio is modified by adding exposure to Canadian REITs, either for greater income or for portfolio diversification. The desired asset allocation is 40% Bonds, 20% US equities, 20% foreign equities, 15% Canadian equities (all of the previous based on broad indexes), and 5% REITs. The REITs offer a blend of tax-advantaged income (due primarily to Return of Capital, which reduces the ACB and defers tax) and fully-taxable income.
If the investor is still accumulating his portfolio and does not need the REIT income, he may wish to place them in his RRSP to avoid current tax, forgoing the tax advantage of the Return of Capital. In this case, again with 50% in an RRSP, his asset allocation would be as follows:
*40% broad bond index - all in RRSP
*5% REITs - all in RRSP
*20% US equities - split between RRSP (5%) and non-registered account (15%)<BR>
*20% international equities - all in non-registered account
*15% Canadian equities - all in non-registered account
However, if the investor is now in withdrawal mode, and wishes to use the REIT income for living expenses, he may instead prefer to have the REITs in his non-registered account, replacing the RRSP content as before with US equities. On the other hand, once the RRSP has been converted to an RRIF and mandatory minimum withdrawals are required, placing REITs within the RRIF will produce cash flow to meet the minimum withdrawals.
Since investments cannot be switched from a non-registered account to a registered account without incurring a tax liability on embedded capital gains, it is important that the investor plan ahead in deciding his portfolio allocation, including the possibility of incurring future taxes.
====Example 3. Preferred shares and high yield bonds====
 
In the third example, preferred shares and high-yield bonds are added to the four-component portfolio. This investor, who is retired, has limited RRSP room and has decided to use preferred shares in his non-registered account to boost income in a tax-advantaged way via the dividend tax credit. His final asset allocation is 40% in a broad bond index, 10% in a high yield bond fund, 10% in Canadian preferred shares, 10% in broad Canadian equities, 15% in broad US equities, and 15% in in international equities. His RRSP room is again 50%.
His most tax-efficient asset allocation would be as follows, placing the high-yield bonds (which have the highest tax rate) in the RRSP first:
*10% high yield bonds - all in RRSP
*40% broad bond Index - all in RRSP
*10% preferred shares - all in non-registered account
*15% US equities - all in non-registered account
*15% international equities - all in non-registered account
*10% Canadian equities - all in non-registered account
====Example 4. Limited RRSP room====
In this example, we will assume the investor wishes to have a 50:50 bond:equity mix, based on the FPX balanced four-component portfolio, but has even more limited RRSP room (25% of the portfolio). In this case, he will use a GIC ladder for part of the non-registered bond allocation. This avoids the tax disadvantages of premium bonds. Preferred shares will again be used for the remaining part of the "fixed income" allocation. The RRSP room is first filled to its entirety with a bond fund or ETF. Everything else must go in the non-registered account:
*25% broad bond index - all in RRSP
*15% 5-year GIC ladder - all in non-registered account
*10% preferred sharesNote 1 - all in non-registered account
*10% US equities - all in non-registered account
*15% international equities - all in non-registered account
*25% Canadian equities - all in non-registered account
===Adding TFSAs to the mix===
With each passing year, cumulative TFSA contribution room grows and these accounts are becoming increasingly important for retirement saving. The following examples therefore add TFSAs into the mix.
====Example 5: TFSA versus RRSP====
Suppose an investor has half her retirement portfolio in a TFSA and half in a RRSP. There is no need to use a non-registered account then. Again, assume a four component portfolio with 40% Canadian bonds, 20% Canadian equities, 20% US equities, and 20% international equities. What is the optimal asset location? This can only be known in retrospect, but consider the following principles:
* asset classes with the highest expected growth rates should go into the TFSA first, because there is no tax due upon withdrawal; this typically means placing stocks in the TFSA
* among the different equity regions, there is no way to know in advance which will perform best
Based on this, one reasonable solution (among others) would be:
* RRSP, 40% Canadian bonds and 10% stocks (1/3 each Canadian, US, International) 
* TFSA, 50% stocks (1/3 each Canadian, US, International) 
There could be an attempt to further optimize this solution by taking into account factors such as personalized marginal tax rates, different expected returns for different equity regions, and foreign withholding taxes, but things get speculative and complicated in a hurry.
Investors should keep in mind that because RRSP withdrawals are taxed whereas TFSA withdrawals are not, the after-tax asset allocation of a RRSP+TFSA portfolio differs from the pre-tax asset allocation.Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location in a Post-Tax World: TFSAs vs. RRSPs, June 11, 2018, viewed January 29, 2020. Specifically, if all of the bonds are in the RRSP, the after-tax allocation is less than 40% bonds while stocks are greater than 60%. However, during accumulation, the investor will not feel the difference: "ignorance can be bliss".
====Example 6: three accounts====
We now look at the same four component portfolio with 40% Canadian bonds, 20% Canadian equities, 20% US equities, and 20% international equities, but this time spread over a RRSP, a TFSA and a non-registered account, each accounting for a third of the total portfolio.
Again the main factor driving asset location decisions is that the TFSA is the best account for stocks, since they have a larger expected return than bonds. The next best place for stocks in the non-registered account, because capital gains are taxed more favorably than interest. Using these principles alone would yield:
*40% Canadian bonds: 33% in RRSP and 7% in non-registered account 
*20% Canadian stocks: 11% in TFSA and 9% in non-registered 
*20% US stocks: 11% in TFSA and 9% in non-registered 
*20% International stocks: 11% in TFSA and 9% in non-registered 
::(totals for each account don't add up to 33.3% due to rounding)
Another possibility where the traditional advice of placing Canadian equities in the non-registered account has been followed would be:
*40% Canadian bonds: 33% in RRSP and 7% in non-registered account 
*20% Canadian stocks: all in non-registered account 
*20% US stocks: 17% in TFSA and 3% in non-registered 
*20% International stocks: 17% in TFSA and 3% in non-registered 
::(totals for each account don't add up to 33.3% due to rounding)
However it is not clear that the "Canadian equities in the non-registered account" rule-of-thumb is universally applicable, since the ideal positioning of the equity asset classes for a certain investor may depend on personalized marginal tax rates, current dividend yields of the different equity indices, and provincial taxes on dividends. The optimization also depends of future rates of returns, which can't be known in advance.
Foreign withholding taxes could also be considered, but again, things get complicated in a hurry.
A simple alternative for examples 5 and 6 would be to invest in a single asset allocation ETF with a balanced profile (a.k.a. a "balanced ETF") in each of the accounts. This solution has a somewhat higher MER and may be less tax-efficient, but it requires no rebalancing across multiple accounts, no specific decision about asset location, and achieves a post-tax asset allocation identical to the originally intended pre-tax asset allocation.
====Example 7: six accounts====
Spouses can consider all of their retirement accounts as a single portfolio for asset allocation and asset location purposes. The more financially inclined spouse might eventually manage six accounts (two TFSAs, two RRSPs and two non-registered accounts). It may be tempting to go for the perfect asset location plan. It may even be tempting to buy individual stocks in the non-registered accounts to try beating the Canadian index and/or to take advantage of potential tax loss harvesting opportunities. But what would happen to this 'perfect' plan if the spouse currently managing the accounts dies or becomes incompetent? Would the surviving spouse be able and willing to learn to manage a relatively complex portfolio? Or would the securities in both non-registered accounts potentially be sold and replaced by something simpler (or different, if using a random advisor), with potential net capital gains implications? The taxes related to these untimely capital gains could outweigh any potential tax savings from the 'perfect' asset location plan.Post by Adrian2 in the Financial Wisdom Forum, November 18, 2019, viewed January 30, 2020
If this is a plausible scenario in your household, and assuming you can do this now without triggering significant capital gains (i.e., it's not too late), consider placing all non-registered assets into balanced ETFs. In several decades, they will likely be worth much more than their cost base. Because balanced ETFs among the simplest ways to manage a portfolio, they increase the odds that the surviving spouse can actually hold on to them after your demise, perhaps backed by general financial planning advice from a fee-only planner. Or the non-registered balanced ETF positions could be transferred to an AUM-% type advisor comfortable with ETFs, which again would avoid selling the securities in the non-registered accounts.
The other four accounts (two TFSAs and two RRSPs) could also be all invested into balanced ETFs, or managed using one ETF per asset class as shown in example 5.
== Tax-adjusted asset allocation==
An argument can be made for applying an adjustment factor depending on the tax status of the account where each asset is located William Reichenstein. Calculating Asset Allocation Baylor University, viewed Jan 16, 2012.. Basically, this takes into consideration that part of the money in each account, or growth thereof, eventually must be paid to Canada Revenue Agency.
Here are some adjustment factor guidelines for various types of accounts:
* TFSA 1.00 (no adjustment)
* RESP 1.00 (no adjustment -- in most cases)
* RRSP / RRIF and similar
** 0.75 if small to medium
** 0.60 if large to gargantuan
* Non-registered personal
** 0.80 if buy and hold for decades
** 0.90 otherwise
* Non-registered corporate (CCPC)
** 0.70 if buy and hold for decades
** 0.85 otherwise
For a US perspective on this topic, see Tax-Adjusted Asset Allocation.
==See also==
*Tax rate calculators
*Canadian-US investing differences
==Notes==
 
==References==
==Further reading==
* 
* 
* 
===Asset location and tax-efficient investing===
*Canadian Couch Potato, Put Your Assets in Their Place, a general explanation of the asset location concept and of tax-efficient investing, March 5, 2010.
*Canadian Couch Potato, Managing Multiple Family Accounts, August 13, 2014.
*Tax-efficient investing, part 1 | Advisor.ca, April 18, 2012.
*Tax-efficient Investing: Part 2 | Advisor.ca, April 18, 2012.
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* PWL Capital (Justin Bender), Asset Location: Tax Savings Through More Organized Living, August 22, 2017
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location in a Post-Tax World: TFSAs vs. RRSPs, June 11, 2018
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location in a Post-Tax World: RRSPs vs. Taxable Accounts, June 29, 2018
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location Across Canada: Some Rules Are Made To Be Broken, August 28, 2017
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location – Part 1: Key Concepts, 2021
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location: Part 2 – The Ludicrous Strategy, 2021
* Canadian Portfolio Manager blog (Justin Bender), Asset Location: Part 3 – The Plaid Strategy, 2022
==External links==
*taxwiki.ca - home
*Canada Revenue Agency - Main menu
*Dimensional Fund Advisors, Foreign Withholding Taxes
Category:Tax planning
Category:Financial planning