Fall Federal Budget: Will Spending Be Cut?

Canada has historically presented an annual budget since Confederation in 1867, even through periods like World Wars and the Great Depression, but we have recently experienced the longest period without a full federal budget in our history. By the time the next one is brought down, expected in October 2025, it will have been 18 months since the controversial April 2024 budget which introduced the doomed capital gains inclusion rate hikes. What can we expect?

Knowledge Bureau designates need 15 CE Credits by June 30 to relicence their credentials;  IIROC Cycle 9 ends on December 31, 2023 and Insurance Council licensing CE credits are due at various times throughout the spring.  That’s why Knowledge Bureau is offering 5 new CE options to help you meet your CE requirements before the deadline sneaks up!

Help your clients envision their plan for the three stages of retirement based on a holistic, values-based strategy and a consistent process for articulating and measuring a plan to its objectives. This will involve several different approaches to new conversations with clients as you help them set objectives for life, financial and economic milestones after work life. Expand your skillset to help your clients navigate retirement planning with the new CE Savvy™ Collection: Retirement Planning.

It’s now possible to contribute up to $8,000 per year to your new First Home Savings Account (FHSA), starting in 2023 – this year! Have you opened an account yet?  Some financial institutions are starting to offer the plan and it is a great way to save on a tax preferred basis for a new home.  It’s also important to open the account because no FHSA contribution room is earned until the year that you do.  Following is a checklist to review with your family members, or in the case of professional tax, bookkeeping or financial advisors, with your clients and their younger family members.

Canada Worker’s Benefit (CWB) is a refundable credit of up to $1,428 for singles and $2,461 per family which is received when you file a tax return and earn “working income”, a term that is not defined by CRA. There are other criteria, described below.  This provision deserves a refresh, because one-half of the CWB claimed on the tax return will be pre-paid for the following year in three instalments: July, October, and January.

Perhaps appropriately positioned after the April tax filing deadline, May is Mental Health Awareness month. Nearly 1-in-4 Canadians say money is their top source of stress, and the number of people who feel regularly stressed almost doubled following the pandemic. Good news: almost 1-in-2 Canadians seek advice from a financial professional and/or engage financial literacy to strengthen their financial knowledge, and that can help. Working with a Real Wealth Manager™ can be particularly effective. Here’s why:  

Did you know that about 10 to 12% of Canadians don’t file a tax return and they are missing out on potentially $1.7 billion in benefits?  The government plans to make it possible for millions more to get their refundable tax benefits, without having to actually file a tax return.  Two specific measures are targeted to meeting this goal in the March 28, 2023 federal budget, but will they achieve goals to increase uptake?  Here’s what’s proposed for 2024: