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.Do You Want to Have a Successful Remote Practice?
New Course Alert: The Digital Practitioner Course (Your Guide to Remote Work)
When the pandemic hit, there was a natural surge in employees working from home.
In Canada, the percentage of *core-age employees working from home was about 43% in May 2020.
As the pandemic subsided, in December 2021, 26% of core-age employees in Canada worked from home, compared with 13% in the United States. Majority of people who are working remotely—want to keep it that way.
The World’s Largest Minority – Disabled People
Disabled people represent the world’s largest minority. There are 1.1 Billion people in this category around the world and the reality is that this is a minority group everyone has the potential to join – any time. Planning for incapacity is therefore a prime-of-life topic that advisors must raise proactively in order to maximize the opportunities for preparedness and importantly, the assistance that may be available through the tax system.
Tax Provisions That Can Help Defray Disability Costs
The pandemic has underscored the important role of caregiving in Canadian society. But even before the pandemic 25% of Canadians aged 15 and older – close to 8 Million people- were involved in caregiving to a family member or friends with a long-term disability or age-related decline. These caregivers have key unmet needs
Joint Borrowing: Checklist for Disaster Management
In a climate of rising interest rates, Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELCO) and other joint borrowing opportunities can present a new risk for two generations in the family. Joint borrowers need to be aware of the dangers ahead and the tax consequences; all reasons why that’s an important part of a year-end tax planning conversation.
Tax Planning: Labour Mobility Deduction for Tradespeople
The April 2022 federal budget, introduced a Labour Mobility Deduction for skilled tradespeople and apprentices who need to temporarily relocate for work. It’s important to advise eligible taxpayers about this, so they keep receipts to back up the claims retroactively to January 1, 2022.
Baby Boomers Own 42% of Small Businesses in Canada – What Happens When They Retire?
In Canada, as in many advanced economies, the age group that grew the fastest in recent years was those aged 65 and over. That’s not pandemic-related, it’s simply the aging of the baby boomers. Those over 65 tend to have the lowest labour force participation rate, and that has been pulling down the growth of Canada’s labour force in recent years, according to recent remarks by Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada. In addition, many small businesses in Canada are owned by Baby Boomers. There’s a potential problem if Baby Boomers own a business and plan to use the money they’ve invested to pay for their retirement years.
