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:

The maximum pensionable earnings under the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) for 2014 will increase to $52,500 in 2014, which is an increase from $51,100 in 2013, while the basic exemption remains at the current $3,500 level.

Agathe Côté, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, spoke of one of my favorite subjects – the Promise of Potential – at the CFA Society Winnipeg/Manitoba Chambers of Commerce in Winnipeg on October 29.

Carl Gustafson, a professional engineer (P.Eng.) and a director of Norall Group Contracting Inc., was fined late in October in the Ontario Court of Justice in Thunder Bay in the amount of $84,417 for failing to report $459,174 in income. 

Fight with the neighbor? An ex-partner? There are tax reasons to make up and repair burnt bridges: tax snitching can be nasty. 

CRA issued IT 518 to overview their position with regard to the deductibility of food, beverages and entertainment. Reasonable amounts may of course be deducted, if incurred to earn income from a business or property.

Investors seeking safety and guarantees often have segregated funds in their non-registered investment portfolio. Segregated funds are mutual funds wrapped up with a life insurance policy to provide a death benefit as well as a guarantee of principal.