The CRA TSlip Saga: An Update

This tax season has been particularly challenging for both taxpayers and tax professionals. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) provides tax information slips—such as T3, T4, T5, and their variations—through secure online portals: My Account and Represent a Client (RAC). This year, there were lots of problems with these portals, and now, it appears, CRA is not being quite transparent about when the slips were actually visible to clients and that doesn’t seem fair. Here’s an update on where we stand now.

The RESP may become a more important savings vehicle in 2017 now that the Education and Textbook Credits are playing out their swan song on the 2016 tax return.  Remember, you can still claim tuition fees and transfer up to $5000 to supporting individuals, however, with the reduced tax benefits in 2017, a fresh look at the RESP is worthwhile.

It’s no April Fool’s joke:  fingerprints of convicted tax cheats will be recorded in the Canadian Police Information Database (CPID), and accessible by Canadian police and border guards as well as some foreign agencies including the US Homeland Security department starting April 1, 2017.

The federal government has announced that the 2017 federal budget will be delivered on March 22.  However, this week, a change related to mineral tax credits was already announced; as well, some provinces are going ahead with their budget announcement dates; most recently Manitoba.

In Canada’s 150th year, Knowledge Bureau is pleased to put the spotlight on Canadian Financial Authors and celebrate Financial Advice at the Crossroads of Change at DAC Nov 5-8 in Kelowna.  This week:  Rick Atkinson discusses:  WHY SEASONALITY MATTERS WHEN YOU RETIRE

Enter this month’s skill-testing financial trivia question to win a free registration to the DAC in Kelowna, where this year’s theme will be: CANADA 150: Financial Advice at the Crossroads of Change.

To marry tax and financial planning competencies is a critical key to success for professionals working with Boomers.  They are interested not only in how to fund income requirements into their future, but also in continuing to accumulate savings while preserving, growing and transitioning wealth tax efficiently to the next generation.