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.

Tax filing season is over for close to 20 million Canadians whose tax returns have already been assessed this year. Of those, 14%, or just under 3 million taxpayers, had a balance due. On average, they owed $3700 upon filing; the rest got refunds (65%) or filed a nil return (21%) to receive refundable tax credits.

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The May 2 Ontario Budget announced the government’s intention to introduce legislative changes on various issues.

The article "Must Audit Support Documents be Electronically Filed?", published in the April 17, 2013 issue of Knowledge Bureau Report has been amended.

A “synthetic disposition” refers to financial arrangements which allow taxpayers to defer tax by “economically” disposing of a property while continuing to own it for tax purposes. These transactions were shut down as of Budget Day, March 21, 2013.

On May 2, 2013, the Bank of Canada announced that a new Governor of the Bank had been appointed under Section 9 of the Bank of Canada Act.