Wildfires: Apply for Taxpayer Relief Provisions

It may not be the first concern, but Canadians affected by wildfires may worry at some point about the tax consequences of lost records or missed filing deadlines – the next one on June 16 for those filing T1 returns with proprietorship income. Fortunately, the CRA offers Taxpayer Relief Provisions when there are circumstances beyond a taxpayer’s control, including natural disasters, serious illness or death in the family, or errors made by the CRA, which may trigger penalties and interest due to late or incomplete tax filings. Here’s what you need to know.

Last year was quite possibly the worst year in decades to retire and start drawing retirement income and so far in 2023, the foreseeable future is fraught with uncertainty.  For these reasons we asked CE Summit keynote speaker and best-selling author Doug Nelson, B.Comm., CFP, CLU, CIM, RWM™ to share his inspiration in preparing his sessions for the upcoming May 24 CE Summits Workshop and expand upon the kind of retirement planning advice that’s right for today’s difficult environment. He was passionate in his response and provides a sneak peek at what you will learn.

The 2023 Distinguished Advisor Conference (DAC Acuity) takes place November 12 to 14 at the beautiful Banff Springs Hotel. It is going to be an outstanding industry event for several reasons: the incredible education from Canada’s top thought leaders in the tax, accounting and financial services, as well as our 20th Anniversary celebrations!  Here’s who is included on our illustrious speaker roster so far.  Sign up by June 30 for early bird tuition reductions and reserve the incredibly low hotel rates (rooms will sell out fast):

With the new CE Savvy™ Collections you’ll engage in a cool new format that allows for traditional, mobile and social learning, featuring gamification and personalized, data-driven results: keep track of your CE in your own learners dashboard. Plus, learn by collection (5 micro-courses at a time) or by annual subscription (the full professional library yours to select from any time 24/7).

Stressful, time-consuming and important.  Filing a tax return by the May 1 deadline is all of these things.  Yet it’s necessary to receive income-tested social benefits.  A recent analysis by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives discovered a dismal take-up of two of them:  the new Canada Dental Benefit and Canada Housing Benefits.  It begs the question:  is the striking CRA serving the needs for essential tax services well enough?  Perhaps it’s time to consider a new solution to ensure delivery of important income-tested social benefits.

By 2025, the federal government intends to increase the annual influx of immigrants to Canada to 500,000 people. With more people coming from afar, faster, there are great new opportunities to scale up your business and  help new immigrants with tax compliance and financial planning.  Further,  engaging with new migrants to build on their educational credentials, find good jobs and mentorship opportunities in the tax and financial services is a win-win, especially with new government job grants.  Start with conversations about filing for refundable tax benefits:

Last fall Canadians were asked to weigh in on the  “modernization” of GAAR – General Anti Avoidance Rules – after the federal government suffered a series of 24 losses in court.  The GAAR has now been introduced in the March 28, 2023 Federal Budget with a period of consultation, ending May 31, 2023.  Those with energy left after a difficult tax season will want to weigh in before the government moves ahead.  Here’s what you need to know: