Podcast: Automatic Tax Filing - Will It Work?

Last week Taxpayers' Ombudsperson François Boileau  tabled his annual report:  In Pursuit of Better Service: Taxpayers Deserve More.  once again, it was nothing short of scathing, as CRA received its highest number of complaints in the last three years.  Calling our “completely nuts” Income Tax Act a potential barrier, he is nonetheless pushing for automatic tax filing as a potential solution.  A new episode of Real Tax News with Evelyn Jacks & Friends available next week, will feature guest Gillian Petit, Ph.D. - author of a great report, Welcome News for Lower-Income Canadians, but There’s More to Do - which takes a deeper dive.  Consider the following:

Payroll must be right and it must be on time for two reasons:  to keep your employees and to keep out of expensive and time-consuming audits from CRA.  That’s way it can be a sound investment for any small business to insist on professional certification in advanced payroll management.

"Shortly after completing my DFA designation program, I was approached by a Turbo Tax recruiter to apply as a remote tax advisor. After completing their application process of a written exam and phone interviews I was offered the position over the other 700 plus applicants." Liam Pollard, MFA™, DFA - Tax Services Specialist™, Saskatchewan

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”  Albert Einstein

There are so many reasons to count our blessings as Canadians; in the financial arena, one of them is the growth in Canadian wealth over time. While we are behind the US by 22% in terms of wealth per adult ($270,200 vs. $344,700), in Canada wealth has grown at an average rate of just under 6% in the period 2000-2016, and an average of 6.5% since 2010. Why are we so lucky?

Last week Knowledge Bureau Report discussed who’s eligible to make a moving expense claim. This week: what’s deductible and what’s not?

Are you using your automobile for work or for your own business? Perhaps you are unsure whether you should make a claim for auto expenses this year; or maybe you suspect you aren’t claiming everything you are entitled to. This is a good reason to see your tax advisor, and make sure you are prepared to make a full claim.