CRA’s Callback Service for Tax Pros Pilot

Are you a tax professional with years of experience? Have you ever felt frustrated after calling the CRA, having spent hours on hold, wasting your client’s or employer’s time, only to speak to CRA agents who aren’t qualified to answer your questions? The Auditor General of Canada was equally displeased in a scathing report last fall on wait times and accuracy levels at the CRA. Now a new CRA callback service may come to the rescue this tax season. Here is my experience with the pilot project so far:

Every six weeks the Bank of Canada announces its interest rate policy. Last week, the Bank of Canada maintained the benchmark interest rate at one percent, signaling the continuation of the longest span of inactivity on the issue ever.  

Traditionally, if a business venture was a fraud from beginning to end, the courts have held it is not possible for a business to exist and therefore can be no source of income from which expenses could be deducted for tax purposes.

When it comes to tax time, it always pays to do a good review of the tax changes from one year to the next and find those “dark horses”; the little-known tax facts that can make a big difference on tax filing outcomes. 

Doris Woodman-McMillan earned her DFA-Tax Services Specialist™ designation in 2008, and has been active Knowledge Bureau as a presenter and content beta tester. We are pleased to have Doris as one of our distinguished grads.

The federal government announced on January 24 that a new exemption would be available on hospital parking costs for patients and their visitors. Comments on the proposals are to be submitted to Finance Canada by February 24.

If you lived in a prescribed northern or intermediate zone for a period of at least six consecutive months beginning or ending in a taxation year, you may claim the Northern Residents Deduction on Line 255 by filing Form T2222 Northern Residents Deductions.