Finance Canada: No More Spring Budgets

Finance Canada announced on October 7 that Canada’s federal budgets will be brought down in the fall starting with the November 4, 2025 event; a significant departure from the spring schedule (February, March or April) that has been the cycle for several decades. This is going to affect many other events as we know them, and in the annual government spending approval cycle. There will also be a new budget process for capital vs. operational expenses. Here’s what you need to know:

Tax specialists can’t ever rest on their laurels, because of the sheer magnitude of change they must address every year:  thousands of pages of tax law, hundreds of new tax forms; and endless new versions of the technology required to transmit the forms to CRA to name a few.  Yet it is the very thing that never changes that will define whether you are running a world class practice that is truly impactful: your relationship with your clients. No matter how tempting it is to drop the personal touch, knowing  and understand the changes in your clients’ lives, will help you apply tax law with greater precision to their tax filings.   Consider the following change impacts:

Drill down on all the latest tax news from CRA and Finance Canada at the Advanced T1 Tax Update Tour, coming to Toronto January 24 and Calgary January 26. There are so many changes that will affect your clients:  the Anti-flipping rules for principle residences, the new Short Term Rental rules, the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit, the Intergenerational Business Transfer Rules and so much more.  Plus, it’s a unique peer-to-peer learning opportunity! Can you really afford to miss it?

Artificial Intelligence, climate crisis, tax reporting changes, economic uncertainty, decade high interest rates and inflation, and a looming cost of living crisis…there is no denying the fact that uncertainty and a lot of emotions were at play throughout 2023, where many Real Wealth Management lifestyle, financial, and economic triggers jeopardized our client’s wealth sustainability.  Please join us to hear more about the current Real Wealth Management Triggers that may be impacting your client’s holistic real wealth management plan today at our 360° Real Wealth Management Trigger Tour on February 8 at 10 am CST.

Did you miss the January 17 Virtual CE Summit? There are still ways to get your hands on the knowledge from the Advanced 2024 T1 Tax Update for 2023 Returns and learn your way, at your own pace from the convenience of your home or office.

The EFILE and ReFile services at CRA will officially close for transmission on January 26, 2024 as CRA gets its computers ready to receive 2023 tax returns.  However, records have already been broken in the tax filing world in 2024.  For the first time, over 32 million tax returns were filed with CRA in the period February 6, 2023 to January 5, 2024.  Only 7.7% of these returns were filed on paper, and 0.2% by phone under the File My Return option.  Here are some first glimpses at tax compliance, filing and investment milestones that take effect in January; the start to a tax season, which promises to break tax filing records again, especially because EFILE rules have changed:

Tax filing isn’t required by everyone, but, for very good reasons, every adult in Canada should file a T1 tax return.  Most people will file a tax return to get their tax refunds – an average of $2,260 last tax year.  Even those with no income should do it to tap into refundable tax credits and reserve important investment room in various tax-preferred accounts. Some minors with actively earned income should do it too to preserve RRSP room.   But who absolutely must file?  You may be surprised, especially if you are behind a year or two.  Check it out: