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. 

Global Families: Beware the Multi Million Dollar Tax Traps By Terri Williams What does the great wealth transfer look like post-pandemic and after tax?   The trend may be that sharing money and assets with the next generation will happen sooner rather than later,  according to a recent CIBC survey.

Investment Planning – What if Conventional Wisdom is Wrong? By Terri Williams According to Dr. Jack Mintz, who spoke at last week’s Distinguished Advisor Conference (DAC), the global economy faces a very uncertain future because of the impact of the pandemic induced supply shock. 

On October 21, just a whisper before  many of the pandemic support programs for individuals and business were set to expire two days later, including the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) and Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), the federal government announced some transitional provisions. Now, new targeted COVID-19 support benefits are being introduced. Read on for details:

Trouble keeping or engaging staff?  It’s a common issue, but there may be a simple solution, according to Dr. Paul Bates, who kicked off the educational portion of the Virtual DAC (Distinguished Advisor Conference) agenda Sunday evening with an inspiring overview of what leaders need to do to create a workplace which leads to complete human flourishing.  

Who knew Improv could be such a great team building exercise?  If you are working with a new team in your organization, you should consider it, as DAC delegates found out to their surprise and delight. The Virtual Night at the Improv session was more than a hoot:  delegates also learned a lot about communication skills in four skill-building games.  Here’s what happened: 

Evelyn Jacks, President and Founder of Knowledge Bureau opened the Virtual Distinguished Advisor Conference this week with a key insight: a global economic crisis and recovery of this magnitude will require a new approach to tax and financial advisory practices. Citing the many threats investors face - and the pandemic is not the only trigger – Evelyn set the stage for the Greatest Recovery on Earth and its implications over the long term for Canadian taxpayers and investors, as well as the many ways advisors can help their clients through the recovery.