[janus10]

my wife has a Spousal RRSP at iTrade. Unfortunately, her periodic monthly contributions are automatically being tagged as Spousal contributions. She called up and was told that only if she creates a Scotia account and uses it to fund her contributions will their system automatically and correctly assign the contributions to her.

Has anyone successfully got iTrade to smarten up? Do other brokerages make the same default choice rather than put checks in place to ensure the contribution is handled correctly?

I've already maxed my contributions this year AND I don't want to run into a situation where unwittingly my wife withdraws from her RRSP and her recent contributions end up being deemed spousal, thus attributing the withdrawals to me.

 

[livewell]

my wife has a Spousal RRSP at iTrade. Unfortunately, her periodic monthly contributions are automatically being tagged as Spousal contributions. She called up and was told that only if she creates a Scotia account and uses it to fund her contributions will their system automatically and correctly assign the contributions to her.

Has anyone successfully got iTrade to smarten up? Do other brokerages make the same default choice rather than put checks in place to ensure the contribution is handled correctly?

I've already maxed my contributions this year AND I don't want to run into a situation where unwittingly my wife withdraws from her RRSP and her recent contributions end up being deemed spousal, thus attributing the withdrawals to me.

I don't think your wife can contribute to her spousal RRSP, she can only contribute to her own RRSP. I don't think a spousal RRSP can be combined with a personal RRSP (Probably due to the attribution rules you mentioned.)

 

[Soon Forget]

I don't think your wife can contribute to her spousal RRSP, she can only contribute to her own RRSP. I don't think a spousal RRSP can be combined with a personal RRSP (Probably due to the attribution rules you mentioned.)

Yes, they can be combined. When contributions are made to a spousal RRSP they are designated as either a Spousal contribution or a Personal contribution.

 

[Sasquatch]

As the name says, "spousal" plans are just that. You contribute to your spouse's RRSP and you get to deduct the contributions from your taxes, end of story. If your wife wants the deductions she has to open her own RRSP plan.
Maybe you're confusing it with withdrawals. If she withdraws any money within the first 3 years(I think) of contribution, the spousal contributor(you) pays taxes on it. After 3 years the taxes will be payed by her.