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.Poll Results: Taxable RPP Benefits Should be Averaged
Our November Poll asked our readers to reflect on the tax consequences of deemed dispositions on terminal returns, specifically for RPP pension recipients and over 75% were in agreement with this question: “Registered Pension Plan contributions are added to income in full on final returns of singles or widows/widowers. Would it be fairer to average this lump sum over the 24-month period prior to death?” Some of your comments follow:
Bring New Knowledge to Retirement Planning
The First Annual Virtual Pension Conference for CCPCs hosted by Knowledge Bureau and Integris and sponsored by Richardson Wealth took place on November 30 with rave reviews! Check out some of the golden nugget moments experienced by the event’s virtual attendees. It might just inspire you to learn more and share your knowledge with your clients by signing up for the Personal Pension Planning certificate course.
Evergreen Explanatory Notes: Answer to Tax Questions in one Click
Do you have complex tax questions difficult to find on the CRA website? Are you too busy for long wait times on the phone with CRA? At Knowledge Bureau we have a great solution to help you save time and money and answer more tax questions from your clients with confidence. Plus, it links directly to all pertinent CRA forms, guides, folios, the Income Tax Act and much more!
Free Food: Register by Dec 15 for January 19 T1 Advanced Tax Update
Trouble finding qualified help for tax season? Canada’s most comprehensive and popular advanced personal tax update is now taking registrations for the January 19 Virtual event featuring what our delegate call the “Tax Bible” – the comprehensive desk top reference coveted by tax and accounting professionals from coast to coast. Train new and returning staff in a new and improved hybrid live and online course that will help you to shake out the cobwebs and drill down on the detailed tax theory or “dark horses” as well as all news from CRA and Finance Canada for filing 2021 tax returns. Register by December 15 and receive a free lunch!
New Realities: 2022 Tax Brackets Rise but So Does Inflation
Canada’s personal amounts and benefits will increase by 2.4% for 2022, a significant jump over past years’ rates. Canadians can now earn more before reaching the top of their tax brackets and benefit from higher income testing thresholds, too. This is a great trigger for planning, particularly for retirees. But here’s the bad news: this indexation rate does not come close to the recent rise in the cost of food, transportation and shelter.
New Tax Filing Rules for Express Trusts and Non-resident Trusts
The new tax filing rules starting November 2021 affect certain types of trusts, specifically express trusts and non-resident trusts. Trust returns will need to be filed for tax years ending December 31, 2021 by the tax filing deadline of March 31, 2022. Highlights on what these trusts are used for follows:
