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?

As we enter the fourth quarter, you may be planning meetings with your clients to minimize the tax bite for 2013. For many clients, charitable donations form part of that plan. But how much income tax can you save by making a charitable donation.

Last month we asked “Do payday loan companies and tax discounting providers still have a place in Canadian financial services?”, and the results are in…

As another financial crisis looms in the US (. . .the government runs out of money on October 1, and the US is about to hit a $16.7 trillion debt ceiling and go into default in mid-October), Lawrence Schembri, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada spoke to the Certified Financial Accountants society (CFA) in Ottawa on September 24th about the necessity of the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

It has been 25 years since the General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) were implemented as part of our tax code; their application remains somewhat uncertain and experts disagree over its effectiveness.

It’s official: October 1 marks “year end tax planning season” and if you want to make it count, the best place to start making plans is to assess your personal and family net worth.  

Under Section 231.1 of the Act, an authorized person may, at any reasonable time, for any purpose related to the administration or enforcement of the Act, enter into a taxpayer’s premises, inspect and examine property, and require the assistance of the taxpayer to answer all reasonable questions in relation to the enforcement of the Act.