Changes to Paper Filing Disempowering

Last tax season, only 7% of all Canadian tax filers filed on paper. The CRA is pushing for zero. It continues to steer the holdouts to digitized filing by adding lots of obstacles. Most recently, it is removing almost all the schedules from the tax return package it mails. This seems unfair to people who paper file because they can’t afford a computer and internet, distrust the security of online filing and those who are neither tax or computer literate. Here’s what they are up against:

As critical as it is to understand what income is taxable in order to avoid expensive penalties, it is just as important to know what income is tax exempt.

I pay monthly for an options trading service that gives me options trade ideas that I execute in my non-registered account. Can I put the total annual cost of the service as an investment cost on my tax return?

The new Registration of Tax Preparers Program, proposed to come into effect in two years, will keep track of errors associated with a particular registrant in an effort of improve compliance. CRA is seeking input on this change in its relationship with professionals.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently released a new booklet that explains how to take business deductions from the income of a daycare. It’s an important issue for those who work taking care of children from their personal home as opposed to those who work taking care of children in the home of the parents.

In the recently decided case of Mallon v. MNR, the Tax Court of Canada provided further insight into the determination of the status of relationships: employee or independent contractor under the Income Tax Act (the Act).

It’s February, and that means that the Groundhog and Cupid vie for our attention. They seem to personify the challenge Canadians have with their fiscal balancing act: the ongoing lure to demonstrate love through wallets, with the fiscal obligations to spend and plan for our futures responsibility.