Parliament’s prorogation means government bills will have to start from scratch when the House starts sitting again on March 24. That leaves previously announced — but not yet enacted — changes to the capital gains tax inclusion rate and 2024 charitable donations deadline in doubt.
Financial planning software firms like Conquest Planning and Snap Projections have confirmed that their applications account for these uncertainties.
The Liberal government announced an increase in the federal capital gains inclusion rate to 66.67% from 50% in the 2024 Budget, and more recently announced a charitable donations extension to Feb. 28, 2025.
Conquest Planning has provided a toggle between the two capital gains inclusion rates since May 2024. The default option is the existing 50% rate until the new proposed rate becomes law, said Ken Lotocki, chief product officer with Conquest. The charitable donations extension is also included in that toggle.
Advisors can also see a chart showing the impact of the proposed capital gains tax change’s impact on a client’s portfolio. “We’ve given our users the ability to compare and contrast different things when they’re having these types of conversations [with clients],” Lotocki said. “You can just turn things on and off and play around with it.”
Snap Projections’ default capital gains inclusion rate is set to 66.67%, but advisors can change that with one click. “We speak with our users regularly on this, and we have found they are overwhelmingly using the new rates to remain conservative while this policy remains in limbo,” Snap Projections said in an email.
Snap Projections’ software allows users to model cash flow in a future year while claiming it for a current year, so there’s no additional feature needed to respond to the proposed charitable deduction date changes.
IPC to deliver digital proposals through CapIntel
Investment Planning Counsel (IPC) has adopted CapIntel’s platform for client-advisor engagement, the fintech company recently announced. IPC will be one of the first firms to deliver CapIntel’s digital client proposals.
Clients will be able to access digital proposals through an interactive web link, rather than the traditional presentation in static PDF format, said Rob Crnkovic, co-founder and chief revenue officer.
CapIntel has worked with Quadrus, the exclusive dealer for Canada Life Mutual Funds, since 2021 and Canada Life acquired IPC in 2023. About three-quarters (more than 700) of IPC advisors have started using CapIntel, Crnkovic said.
CapIntel initially offered a non-connected product to Quadrus in 2023 and spent 2024 integrating it with Quadrus’s other tech tools, Crnkovic said. The experience helped CapIntel create a fully connected platform of IPC right out of the gate.
RBC builds AI platform with Cohere
RBC has partnered with enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) firm Cohere to build a generative AI platform called North for Banking, the bank announced this month.
It integrates Cohere’s proprietary models with RBC’s internal platforms to create a customized version of Cohere’s financial services industry platform, said Ivan Zhang, co-founder of Cohere, in a release. “By prioritizing security and data privacy protections, companies can have peace of mind as they deploy it internally at scale.”
Big Six Canadian banks have ranked among the global top 25 for AI adoption, with RBC coming in third overall.
Toronto investment firm adopts d1g1t
Toronto-based investment management firm Virgo Digital Asset Management (formerly Arxnovum Investments) has adopted d1g1t’s wealth management platform to plan active strategies and complex portfolios for accredited investors, d1g1t said in a release. Virgo can also generate regulatory CRM2 reports with d1g1t to ensure compliance.