Your best month can create your worst tax bill

The problem isn't the tax bill. The problem is when the tax bill becomes a surprise.

One of the most common things I hear from REALTORS® is: “I had a great year, but my tax bill was much higher than I expected.”

The interesting part is that the tax bill usually isn’t the problem, the surprise is. There is no employer automatically setting money aside every pay period. There is no predictable deduction quietly happening in the background. Instead responsibility shifts to you.

The challenge is that taxes often feel far away. When a commission cheque arrives there are bills to pay, business expenses to cover and life to enjoy.

When the tax bill doesn’t arrive immediately, it becomes easy to treat commission as money that is available to spend, until it isn’t.

Your Move This Week

Think about your most recent commission. If CRA had taken their portion that same day, would your spending decisions have changed?