Seniors Targeted? The Tax Audits Begin

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) routinely reviews or audits tax filings, including personal, trust, corporate, and HST returns. The most common types of reviews that focus on personal tax returns include, but are not limited to, Pre-Assessment Reviews, Processing Reviews, and the Matching Program. This year there is a new focus: the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit introduced to help families better care for their elders. But claiming it, like other tax benefits, comes with a tax snare. Read on to learn more.

You may have heard the saying “the harder I work, the luckier I get.”  When it comes to tax, bookkeeping and financial advisory services,  it can also be said that the more education you have, the better the advice you’ll give to the benefit of your lucky clients.  For these reasons, we offer you twin “pots of educational gold” on this St. Patrick’s Day.    

Canada’s last Federal Budget occurred on March 19, 2019.  The 2021 budget has now been deferred again making it more than two years since our country had one.  Why is this important news?  Because Canadians need to make decisions about their financial futures, with the benefit of economic forecasting and certainty about tax law.  And there are many recommendations about needed change to talk about.  

In any already complex tax year for many taxpayers who claimed COVID-19 income support benefits, there’s another complication being added to the mix. Last week, the CRA confirmed that some taxpayers who repaid benefits they were not eligible for in 2020 have received tax slips that incorrectly include portions of the repaid benefits as taxable income.

March 15 is coming up quickly, and it’s a date that the ancient Romans considered the deadline for settling debts. It’s also an upcoming quarterly tax instalment deadline with the CRA . Our modern day tax departments looks to have their debt paid in advance from certain taxpayers.  Here is what you need to know:

Busy small business owners in your community are in desperate need of reliable and highly-qualified bookkeeping services to interpret the documentation and assemble it so that they can make smart tax-efficient decisions that focus on the future financial health of the business. Get new skills to enter this in-demand field, or further enhance your existing credentials with important training opportunities from Knowledge Bureau, now available online.

Did you know that Knowledge Bureau is a private, educational institution certified by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to provide courses that develop or improve skills for those working in the tax, bookkeeping, accounting, and financial services industries? What this also means is that Knowledge Bureau students who have paid 2020 tuition fees in excess of $100 qualify for the tuition fee amount, and the T2202 tax slips to claim this are now available in your Virtual Campus.