Time’s Up: CRA’s 100 Day Mandate for Improvement

After years of frustration on the part of tax professionals and taxpayers alike, the Finance Minister ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to clean up its act in 100 days. Specifically, the improvement plan was to run from September 2 through December 11. Finance Minister and Minister of National Revenue, Francoise-Phillippe Champagne instructed CRA to fix “unacceptable wait times and service delays.” Time’s up this week and CRA has released an update on progress. What gets measured, gets done. Let’s see what CRA’s metrics show. 

Three important initiatives were announced by Finance Canada this week:  a US-dollar denominated global bond issue and second, more significantly the launch of North America’s first trading hub using Chinese currency, the renminbi or RMB, which is poised to take a leading position as a global trading currency, after the US Dollar and the Euro.

As of March 1, 2015 just over three million personal tax returns had been received by CRA and not surprisingly, only 13% of these returns were paper-filed – everything else was filed with CRA electronically. 

The agenda for the June Distunguished Advisor Workshop (DAW) is starting to fill up.... have you filled out your application form yet?

Saskatchewan Finance Minister Ken Krawetz brought forward the 2015-2016 budget for the province March 18 and as expected announced a surplus.

As a professional, you can work the room like a professional.

If you have been shocked to find a balance due rather than a refund, be sure to file your return before midnight April 30 to avoid late filing penalties. This is an important first step in keeping more money, even if you can’t pay your bill immediately.