New Consultations: Modernizing Tax Rules for Charities

As the last remnants of a scrumptious Thanksgiving weekend subside, it is appropriate to take a look at the health and issues surrounding the charitable sector in Canada.  Serendipitously, the federal government is seeking your views on how the tax rules for registered charities and the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) administration of these rules could be modernized.  A new consultation was launched on October 8 and here’s what the government wants to know, by December 3, 2026:

This tax year might well represent the least expensive one for a while.  While there is some economic good news, the long term forecast for tax rates is grim, given current debt levels.  Two authoritative research papers, one from the past and one more recent, tell us why paying attention to tax planning and savings this year will help Canadians manage future tax risk.

Are you frustrated with long wait times for CRA responses or unsure if the answers you have been given are right? Although the CRA has recently hired a third party to give “general” answers about pandemic supports on the T1, professionals need to be precise when filing. Having fast, authoritative access to tax questions helps down the line at tax audit time, too. That’s the role of Evergreen Explanatory Notes, available 24/7, in your professional toolkit. 

Now is the right time to consider a career in professional bookkeeping, as small business owners in Canada need your help to navigate the repercussions of the pandemic and its fallout. Meet the high demand for qualified practitioners to take the burden of bookkeeping and CRA remittances off their shoulders. Become a credentialled bookkeeping services specialist.

The federal government has changed its mind: at least some of the self-employed people who received the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) based on erroneous instructions from CRA no longer have to repay the benefits. But the heavy audit response following the pandemic emergency provisions has resulted in a tax quagmire for many. Tax specialists can help.

Kudos to the CRA. They may just have heard your feedback on our January poll where the vast majority of advisors suggested that the CRA should cut people some slack.  Yesterday they did, with the announcement that interest relief would be available for taxpayers who made under $75,000 and received pandemic support benefits in 2020. There is more good news, too, for refundable tax credit recipients.

It appears that $2 a day adds up to millions of dollars in tax costs for the government.  The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) released the costs of the new simplified home workspace expenses on February 4, now estimated at $260 million. The costing provides some interesting insight on expense filing by employees.