The CRA TSlip Saga: An Update

This tax season has been particularly challenging for both taxpayers and tax professionals. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) provides tax information slips—such as T3, T4, T5, and their variations—through secure online portals: My Account and Represent a Client (RAC). This year, there were lots of problems with these portals, and now, it appears, CRA is not being quite transparent about when the slips were actually visible to clients and that doesn’t seem fair. Here’s an update on where we stand now.

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Electronic filing is all the rage in Canada, as close to 750,000 more people chose to file their returns electronically in the 2016 tax filing season, for the 2015 T1 returns. One compelling reason: the average tax refund of $1678 hits your bank account sooner when professionals use EFILE or individuals use NETFILE. Close to 10 million people had those cheques electronically deposited.

In case you missed it, Finance Canada released draft legislation for consultation on July 29, the Friday of the August long weekend. Responses must be received by September 27. Of particular interest to investors: the implementation date for new taxation on switches in corporate-class mutual funds appears to be pushed back to January 1, 2017. And there’s much more than that to be aware of.

There are several tax credits that students, their parents and teachers should be sure to claim on their 2016 tax returns. Here’s a synopsis of them; the trick is to keep documentation for the claims now.

In the end, it was a philosophical battle that tested who is best responsible for the future of retirement savings in Canada: only 18.6% of respondants to Knowledge Bureau’s July poll question answered yes when asked, “In your opinion, is the enhanced CPP a better retirement savings plan than putting the equivalent amount of premiums into a TFSA?” The remaining 81.4% voted no—in favor of the tax-paid contributions to a tax-exempt savings vehicle over mandatory, partially deductible contributions to a taxable fund.

Knowledge Bureau is pleased to welcome Portfolio Strategies as the Exclusive Sponsor of the Distinguished Master Financial Advisor Graduation Luncheon at the Distinguished Advisor Conference, November 6-9 in San Diego. Portfolio Strategies’ President, Mark Kent, will be on hand at this prestigious event to congratulate graduates and present them with their designation pins and special gifts.