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:

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Take a peek into the future at what your retirement will look like—financially speaking—after tax, for both you and your spouse. Check out the Tax-Efficient Retirement Income Calculator with a free trial.

An interesting decision was delivered last month in a Tax Court of Canada case (Marion Sotski v. The Queen (2013) TCC 286) in Edmonton regarding the deductibility of the cost of hardwood floors in the home of a person suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

According to a recent Stats Canada National Household Survey, Canadians are very industrious: collectively, 27.3 million of us earned $1.1 trillion, and two thirds of Canadians pay taxes. 

A good argument can be made for a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) deposit before year end to maximize government support for the disabled in the family.

An effective year-end tax strategy is to donate to charity. Investors can do so by transferring qualifying shares to their favorite charity and avoid capital gains taxes by doing so.