Time’s Up: CRA’s 100 Day Mandate for Improvement

After years of frustration on the part of tax professionals and taxpayers alike, the Finance Minister ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to clean up its act in 100 days. Specifically, the improvement plan was to run from September 2 through December 11. Finance Minister and Minister of National Revenue, Francoise-Phillippe Champagne instructed CRA to fix “unacceptable wait times and service delays.” Time’s up this week and CRA has released an update on progress. What gets measured, gets done. Let’s see what CRA’s metrics show. 

The 2021 Federal Budget proposed to allow Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPCs) to write off up to $1,500,000 of “eligible assets” per year if the assets were purchased between April 9, 2021 and the end of 2023.  However, when the legislation was introduced in Bill C-19 (but not yet  passed), the parameters had changed. 

Knowledge Bureau’s May CE Summit featured a review of the appropriate time to consider trusts in planning and in particular, spousal trusts.  The instructor presentation, led so expertly and enthusiastically by Carol Willes, MBA, LLM, TEP, underscored some important issues, discussed below in an excerpt from the Advanced Retirement and Estate Planning course, now available with the instructor-led presentations, for students who wish to study online. 

Did you miss the May 18 Virtual CE Summit? You can still sign up for the Advanced Retirement & Estate Planning Update Course and access the live speaker recordings from the event and save $200 on tuition.  Plus, don’t miss our next CE Summits this fall. Get the best pricing of the year: tuition pricing as low as $295 when you enrol to attend 4 events!  Get low rates on Team Member enrollments too! 

Best-selling author Doug Nelson, CFP, CLU, MFA™, RWM™, CIM, is a 27-year veteran of the financial services industry in Canada with a singular vision for his readers:  Don’t just “do” retirement…instead “Master Your Retirement”!  He wow’d the audience at the Virtual CE Summits on May 18, and he has some upbeat advice for those still worried about the one big question all retirees have. 

We have big news for you: a special incentive for new subscribers to Knowledge Bureau Report! Invite your team, colleagues, associates and others in your circle of influence to stay in the know and you will be entered for a chance to win a ballot to win any of the following prizes:

By May 3, the CRA received a total of 25,857,885 returns filed by Canadians – 94% of them electronically - which is 83% of the total returns filed last year. The average tax refund is $1,987: a jump from last year’s average of $1,878.  What that means is that the CRA is increasingly holding on to more of Canadians’ money throughout the year – about $165 a month – which could be put to good use in inflationary times.  With 17% of returns left to file in advance of the June 15 deadline for proprietorship, it’s also important to note that those filers who owe so far have also paid a substantial chunk.