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 month of June was a bad one for tax practitioners who have perpetrated fraud. Tax evasion can attract fines of up to 200% of the taxes avoided plus other administrative penalties, including gross negligence (50% of taxes owing) and late filing (up to 10% of unpaid amounts).

The changes to the CPP agreed upon this week by eight of Canada’s Finance Ministers (Quebec and Manitoba have not yet agreed), will help Canadians contemplate how much is enough for their retirement. To answer this question, it is important to first reflect on longevity statistics in Canada and, second, on the amount of money required for adequate income in retirement.

We love sharing feedback from our recent graduates. This week we feature the success of Mrs. Delores Moskal from Yorkton, Saskatchewan, who recently graduated from the Business Valuation for Advisors course.

Knowledge Bureau is pleased to announce that Craig Dowden, the top-rated speaker at DAC 2015, will speak at this year’s Distinguished Advisor Conference, Nov. 6-9 in San Diego. Early registration is now open until June 30. An outstanding agenda of 18 illustrious speakers has now been released.

The quest for highly qualified, professional bookkeepers with sharp tax knowledge and financial stewardship skills is an important one, yet they are hard to find.  Knowledge Bureau’s professional certification and designation programs fill that gap and add value to tax, bookkeeping and financial services offices.

"It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquility and occupation which give you happiness." Thomas Jefferson