E21: Tax-Effective Giving with Ali Spinner

Even though this tax season is coming to a close, it's never too late to start planning for next year! On this episode of The Unlimited Podcast, Alexandra (Ali) Spinner joins Brian to share some tips and tricks for maximizing your charitable donations.

Brian and Ali discuss Ali's "Three W" framework for giving, alternative donation methods, different avenues for philanthropy, how Ali became known as the Tax Ninja, and much more!

Ali is a Partner in Crowe Soberman’s Tax Group, a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and leader of the High-Net-Worth tax practice. Her practice focuses on helping wealthy families and high-performance professionals structure their affairs in a tax-efficient manner. She works closely with her clients to ensure that their short and long term personal, financial, estate, and philanthropic goals are carefully considered in their planning. Ali brings a high level of passion and warmth to her practice and enjoys building deep relationships with her clients across generations.

Ali’s broad technical expertise includes domestic, cross-border, and international tax matters for individuals, trusts, estates, and corporations. She is experienced in complex estate and trust planning, post-mortem planning, corporate reorganizations, and the preparation of Canadian tax returns and compliance forms. Her transaction advisory experience includes tax due diligence and business purchase and sale structuring. She has testified in Ontario court and has been recognized by the court as an expert in taxation matters.

Ali has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting and tax and estate planning. In 2022, she was elected as a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario. The distinction of Fellow formally recognizes her exceptional service to the professional and to the broader community.

Ali is a past lecturer in the Commerce Program at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, CPA Canada’s In-Depth Tax Program, and the School of Accountancy Tax Program administered by CPA Ontario.

In 2020, Ali was the recipient of the Award of Excellence presented by the Jewish Foundation’s Professional Advisory Committee. In 2016, she was a winner of the M&A Advisor Emerging Leaders Award (Top 40 Under 40). In 2015, she received the CPA Ontario and the Institute for Management & Innovation at the University of Toronto’s Alumni Award. She is also a 2002 recipient of the Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award from the University of Toronto.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro and Disclaimer

3:02 How did Ali become the Tax Ninja?

5:15 How does Ali balance conservative vs. aggressive tax strategies?

7:54 What's happening inside the CRA?

11:53 What is tax-effective charitable giving?

16:04 The first W: What?

27:54 The second W: Where?

30:06 The third W: When?

32:40 Setting up private foundations

39:30 Donor Advised Funds

45:36 If Ali could do anything, what would it be?

46:47 Outro