The TSX composite closed at a record 36,759.29 on August 13, and gold has traded above $4,395 an ounce this month. Non-registered accounts holding energy, materials, or gold-miner positions bought years ago are sitting on unrealized gains large enough to tempt a sale. The capital gains inclusion rate increase that was supposed to make that decision more expensive was cancelled in March 2025, and the rate has stayed at 50% ever since. That cancellation did not touch two other mechanisms that respond directly to the size of a realized gain.
The AMT Math Nobody Cancelled
The Alternative Minimum Tax includes 100% of a capital gain in its calculation, against a 2026 basic exemption of $181,440. Regular tax includes only 50% of the same gain. The federal AMT rate is 20.5%, which is higher than the effective federal rate of 16.5% that the top marginal bracket applies to a capital gain under the regular system, calculated as 33% multiplied by the 50% inclusion rate. A client with adjusted taxable income above the exemption who realizes a large gain this year can owe AMT even though the headline inclusion rate never moved.
The AMT is a parallel calculation, not a permanent additional tax. Amounts paid can be recovered against regular tax owing in future years, within a seven-year carryforward window. That recovery depends on the client having enough regular tax liability in those future years to absorb the credit, which is not guaranteed for a retiree whose income drops after the sale that triggered the AMT in the first place.
The second mechanism applies specifically to clients receiving Old Age Security. The government's own recovery tax formula, applied across a range of net income levels, shows how quickly the reduction compounds once income clears the threshold.
A retiree with 2025 net income of $120,000 loses $3,982 in OAS for the July 2026 to June 2027 period. The same math applies to 2026 income for the period beginning July 2027.
The OAS Clock Runs a Year Ahead of the Sale
The OAS recovery tax threshold for the July 2026 to June 2027 payment period is $93,454, based on 2025 net world income. Full recovery, the point at which OAS stops entirely, arrives at $152,062 for ages 65 to 74 and $157,923 for ages 75 and older. A client selling a concentrated position today adds that gain to 2026 net income, which does not affect the recovery tax already in progress. It sets the threshold test for the July 2027 to June 2028 period instead, where the comparable income limit is $95,323.
That one-year lag is the part that gets missed. A retiree who sells in August 2026 to lock in this year's TSX and gold run will not see the OAS reduction show up until their pension deposit changes more than a year later, by which point the connection between the sale and the smaller cheque is no longer obvious without the client's own records in front of them.
Why the Cancelled Increase Does Not Settle Either Question
Both mechanisms were built to respond to the size of a capital gain regardless of what inclusion rate produced it. The AMT counts 100% of the gain by design, independent of the 50% regular-tax figure. The OAS formula counts net income, and a capital gain taxed at 50% inclusion still adds its full taxable portion to that figure. Neither calculation reopens or reconsiders the inclusion rate question that was resolved last year. Both were already running before that debate started, and both are still running now that it has ended.