Wildfires: Apply for Taxpayer Relief Provisions

It may not be the first concern, but Canadians affected by wildfires may worry at some point about the tax consequences of lost records or missed filing deadlines – the next one on June 16 for those filing T1 returns with proprietorship income. Fortunately, the CRA offers Taxpayer Relief Provisions when there are circumstances beyond a taxpayer’s control, including natural disasters, serious illness or death in the family, or errors made by the CRA, which may trigger penalties and interest due to late or incomplete tax filings. Here’s what you need to know.

It’s worth repeating: filing tax returns on time can really pay off.  About 225,000 Manitoba residents aged 65 and over will be mailed a one-time $200 refundable tax credit cheque in May to help defray pandemic-related costs. But the catch is that you must have filed a 2018 tax return. If you did, you’ll automatically receive the money. Late filers aren’t completely out of luck. But you guessed it; they’ll get it much later.

Tax professionals typically take the stance that Canadians should file their taxes ASAP, especially to get a tax refund, qualify for refundable tax credits and reduce interest costs on balances due.   But an interesting phenomenon occurred in our last poll, when we asked: “Do you like the federal government’s tax filing and balance due extensions to June 1 and September 1, respectively?”

Knowledge Bureau is pleased to announce the publication of a new certificate course, Personal Pension Planning For Corporate Owner-Managers, by JP Laporte, CEO, INTEGRIS Pension Management Corp  and Mark Taucar, CFA, Porfolio Manager, Accilent Capital Management Inc. The PPP® offers many legal features to protect small business owners and their family in these challenging times, and for these reasons every financial advisor needs to know more about this plan.

We couldn’t have predicted the devastating economic effects of the pandemic on small businesses when we wrote the book, Defusing the Family Business Time Bomb.  But if there was ever a time for families to address the issue of what to do next in guiding their business out of stormy waters, it’s now. This is the book to help you and your clients through it. Here’s how my co-author, Jenifer Bartman describes the opportunity:

Eligible businesses can start applying this week (April 27) for the 75% Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and there is some great news for many Canadians: employees can be re-hired retroactively if they were laid-off anytime from March 15 due to COVID-19. However, those employees may need to repay their CERB. Here are some details.

The details behind the Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program (CECRA) were finally announced on Friday, April 24. This new measure will be implemented at the provincial level to provide loans and/or forgivable loans to enable commercial property owners to reduce rent charged to their small business tenants by 75% for the months of April, May and June. But the program won’t be in place until mid-May, unfortunately.