New: Personal Support Workers Tax Credit Coming Soon

Personal support workers will receive billions in increased wages from federal/provincial governments in B.C., Newfoundland and Labrador and the Northwest Territories.  Those workers in other provinces will now get a raise too, but they will have to wait until filing their 2026 returns in the spring of 2027 to cash in, according to an October 27 pre-budget announcement.  Here are the details:

At a time when 48% of Canadians say they are $200 away from insolvency*, an important tax question arises: why are tax refunds so large? The average as of December 31, 2019 was $1740. That’s $145 a month missing from Canadians’ pockets that could help mitigate the cash crunch. Worse, those refunds won’t start flowing until after February 24, the day CRA starts accepting E-filed returns. Fortunately, there is good news: working with a tax specialist can help reduce the wait times and increase refunds, too.

The new Basic Personal Amount proposed on December 9, 2019 is very complicated. The calculations on the TD1 forms and their accompanying worksheet will challenge even those with pride in their financial literacy. What do tax and financial advisors think: is this tax change an improvement to our tax system? You may be surprised at the verdict in last month's poll.

Life insurance and Estate Planning professionals across the country were recently shocked to discover that traditional gifting of life insurance policies to charity is now considered “trafficking” by the British Columbia Financial Services Authority.

The news is big: first, we are delighted to announce the winner of a free registration to The DAC Acuity Conference in Niagara Falls this October 28-30. Next, we have  a Valentine’s Day gift  for you! And last but not least, something to make you smile: check out the DAC photo gallery of the highly successful 2019 DAC in Puerto Vallarta. Guess who had the most fun?

Did you miss the Winter CE Summits? You can purchase the CE Summit January Advanced Tax Update Journals for your team for only $395. Plus, you get the new assignments included for free. Here's why Winter attendees encourage you to get yours:

Last week at the CE Summits in Vancouver, an interesting question arose with regards to the deductibility of gifts left by a deceased taxpayer to a specific charity in his will. Would that specific bequest qualify for the donations tax credit on the final return, a trust return or both? It turns out, the answer may be neither.