Bill C-31: Royal Asset and New CRA Powers Could Come Soon

Changes are coming to the Income Tax Act and both you and your clients will all be affected with new tax risks including longer tax audits. Bill C-31, which passed second reading in the House of Commons on June 3 and is now at committee stage, contains elements of previous Federal Budgets that will expand the CRA’s compliance and enforcement powers. Here’s what you need to know and pass along to your clients:

The Canada Revenue Agency has announced the final prescribed interest rates that will apply to any amounts owed to the CRA and to any amounts the CRA owes to individuals and corporations in 2016.

Professional bookkeeping skills are in high demand, but hard to find.   Knowledge Bureau’s new 30-hour certification course features new practical scenarios featuring Intuit’s Quickbooks Online; a powerful educational experience that will enable confidence in the bookkeeping department.  

Taking a Knowledge Bureau training program this year?  There are numerous funding options to help make your professional studies more affordable, including financing by Knowledge Bureau, funding through a student’s own tax assisted savings plans and CRA tax assistance through various tax incentives.

Education is the great engine of personal development. It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor, that the son of a mineworker can become the head of the mine, that a child of farm workers can become the president of a great nation. It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” Nelson Mandela

September 15 is the date on which the third quarterly tax instalment must be remitted to CRA, to avoid interest costs on amounts owing for 2016. CRA may have sent a notice, but is the amount shown on it what is really owed?

Although the government has yet to announce the OAS rates for the fourth quarter, indexation factors specified in the Old Age Security Act indicate a rate increase of 0.9% or $5.16 per month for seniors receiving the standard rate.