Podcast: Automatic Tax Filing - Will It Work?

Last week Taxpayers' Ombudsperson François Boileau  tabled his annual report:  In Pursuit of Better Service: Taxpayers Deserve More.  once again, it was nothing short of scathing, as CRA received its highest number of complaints in the last three years.  Calling our “completely nuts” Income Tax Act a potential barrier, he is nonetheless pushing for automatic tax filing as a potential solution.  A new episode of Real Tax News with Evelyn Jacks & Friends available next week, will feature guest Gillian Petit, Ph.D. - author of a great report, Welcome News for Lower-Income Canadians, but There’s More to Do - which takes a deeper dive.  Consider the following:

Bare trusts have been the subject of extensive filing controversies. They have been commonly used to hold family cottages and other properties, to avoid probate, or for privacy purposes. CRA will not require bare trusts to file a T3 Income Tax and Information Return (T3 return), including Schedule 15 (Beneficial Ownership Information of a Trust) for the 2023 or 2024 tax year, unless they make a direct request. But, we are now in 2025 and professionals and their clients need to know the rules.

Statistics Canada has recently released statistics about the incredible opportunities for career starts and advancement in the tax preparation industry. 

The RWM™ (Real Wealth Manager) is the designation of choice for independently minded advisors who want to practice in a truly holistic framework using a multi-generational approach to wealth management. It is also the designation that indicates the skills to manage strategic focus within an inter-advisory team required to make joint-decisions with higher net worth clients. Finally, you’ll be connected to an incredibly talented, national network of RWMs. Find out more below:

Stop! Don’t file a T1 or T3 tax return yet, says a March 11, 2025, news release from the CRA, if you have been impacted by the chaos of the proposed capital gains inclusion rate increase.

If Canada’s most famous WWII spy were around today, he might well have been speaking about the federal government's Fall Economic Statement (FES).

A listed trust is one that is generally exempt from filing a T3 return unless, it owes money to CRA.