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. 

Winnipeg, MB; October 27, 2014 — November is Financial Literacy Month in Canada, and the Manitoba Financial Literacy Forum is helping Manitobans sharpen their money management skills with the launch of its new website and 2015 calendar, offering helpful tools and lessons to empower people across the province to make responsible financial decisions at every stage of their lives.

On October 20, 2014 CRA launched the long anticipated electronic mail system for professional tax specialists registered under the Represent a Client portal.

In a move towards eliminating paper cheques, businesses in Canada are now being asked to complete two functions through the Represent a Client portal. Businesses will now have the option of both pre-authorized debit and direct deposit for their dealings with CRA.

It’s Halloween week and Financial Literacy Month is just around the corner, right after the ghosts and goblins visit. Just in time too, because it turns out it’s not just your imagination: communications from CRA are somewhat ghoulish.

Is succession planning an emerging issue for you and your clients? Are heirs properly prepared to become responsible and confident Powers of Attorney and Executors?

Tax and financial advisors won’t want to miss the Distinguished Advisor Workshops November 3-6 in Winnipeg, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver respectively, when year end planning and business owner-manager transition is discussed in depth.