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. 

While the March 2nd 2015 deadline for filing T4 slips is still some time away, CRA released publication RC4120-Employers’ Guide – Filing the T4 Slip and Summary on November 21, 2014. 

Is your estate planning up to date so that your final wishes will indeed be carried out?  If not, things may not pan out, as the courts take matters into their own hands.

Canada has a taxation system that is based on self-assessment.  We are required to accurately assess income, deductions and credits, filing our tax returns on time, or face penalties, interest and/or jail in serious instances. 

New Income Tax Estimator Can Help Last week CRA issued the 2015 TD1 Personal Tax Credit Return and the corresponding provincial forms. 

This Week:  It’s a Tax Question:  Win A $100 Gift Certificate Be one of 10 recipients of a  $100 gift certificate towards any Knowledge Bureau online course. Hurry – this is the last chance to win until the new year.  You can only win once - so be the first one to answer this question correctly.  Here’s the question: What is the net income amount at which the Old Age Security received by a senior is completely clawed back for 2014?    

Knowledge Bureau’s November Poll Question attracted close to 200 respondents to the question: Do You Think the New Family Tax Cut Provisions will Help Canadian Families Save and Invest More for the Future?