Move Non-Registered Stock Portfolio to Spouse?

[SW20 MR2]

I've been building a dividend portfolio for that past few years, and all of the holdings are currently in a non-registered account under my name. Would it be beneficial in any way for me to transfer all of the holdings into a non-registered account in my wife's name? FWIW, my gross income is about double her's ($120k vs $60k). Also assume that RRSPs and TFSAs are all maxed out.

Am I correct in assuming that, after the dividend tax credit is applied, we're paying taxes on my marginal tax rate as opposed to her's?

[Spudd]

You're currently paying taxes based on your income, yes. But I think you cannot transfer to a spouse without tax implications as well. Otherwise everyone would be doing it all the time to save on taxes.

[SW20 MR2]

I don't want to make things too complicated, so I will just leave them be. That being said though, I suppose that if I add any new positions moving forward, I will put them in her portfolio to start off with.

[Spudd]

What you should do is the following. Pay all household expenses from your salary. Let her use her salary to invest. This is fully within the law. If you take money from your salary and invest it in her account, that's where things get shady.

[Young&Ambitious]

Spudd nailed it.

[Square Root]

What you should do is the following. Pay all household expenses from your salary. Let her use her salary to invest. This is fully within the law. If you take money from your salary and invest it in her account, that's where things get shady.

ie the dividends will be attributed back to you. Interspousal loans could help for future purchases.

[cardhu]

I don't want to make things too complicated

Its not really a matter of making things complicated ... its just that there's no benefit to doing what you propose ... you're paying the taxes now, and you'll continue paying the taxes after the transfer, and even if you add new positions in her name going forward, but leave the existing positions alone, you'll still continue paying the taxes.

What everyone is referring to here are the "attribution rules" ... google that phrase and you'll find copious reading ... in a nutshell, these rules mean that between spouses, it makes no difference whose name you put investments in ... if you earned the income that bought the investments, then you pay the taxes on the investment earnings ... but income splitting is a worthy goal, and there are a variety of legitimate ways to accomplish it ... spudd and sqrt have mentioned the two most common and accessible ... these are the way to go.