With 2023 coming to a close, there are a few things you should consider when it comes to preparing your taxes.

Aaron Ruston is a financial advisor with Purposed Financial.

"As we get to near the end of the year, if you have investments outside of an RRSP, or a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA), and you're down below what you went in with, consider selling them off. In some cases, selling when it's down is actually going to trigger what is called a capital loss that you can use in the future if you have investments that brought about a capital gain. It's really a way to do some real great tax planning that could save you some tax in the future."

Ruston says planning on an ongoing basis is very important and can save you considerable amounts of tax dollars.

Charitable giving is another aspect to consider as year-end approaches.

"If you have an organization or a couple that you'd like to give money to, donate it before December 31 midnight and you'll get about 47 cents back on each dollar that you donate," mentioned Ruston.

It's also important to make sure that you've got your medical expense records together for the year that you're going to deduct.

Ruston had some final advice about TFSA's.

"If you have TFSA room, you can put it in. That you can carry forward. It's always good to get it in at year-end and often what you will find, as the new year is kicking in, if you're making a deposit, you might even get the advantage of all the money going into the RRSP's to get a little bit of a run to the upside in your investments."

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