Fall Federal Budget: Will Spending Be Cut?

Canada has historically presented an annual budget since Confederation in 1867, even through periods like World Wars and the Great Depression, but we have recently experienced the longest period without a full federal budget in our history. By the time the next one is brought down, expected in October 2025, it will have been 18 months since the controversial April 2024 budget which introduced the doomed capital gains inclusion rate hikes. What can we expect?

CRA plans a system shutdown early this year in December 2024 and could have far reaching repercussions for professional tax advisors and their business owner clients. For example, businesses to electronically file information slips prior to December 2024, and this now includes the requirement that businesses filing 6 or more information returns must do so electronically to avoid filing penalties.

Two important changes to intergenerational business transfer rules tabled in Bill C-59 have now come to be passed into law.  All family business owners and their professional advisors should take note.

EVELYN JACKS, DMA™, RWM™, MFA-P™, FDFS™, Founder and President, Knowledge Bureau introduces the 2024 Fellows of Distinguished Financial Services and Provides the Vision for their Special Mission.

Mark Your Calendar for the weekend of November 9-12.  You’re going to be in for an incredible networking experience, and a 15 session, impactful Education Conference tailored for tax specialists and wealth advisors.  Most important, 20 thought leaders will inspire you to re-engage with your prospective clients who sadly, may not be seeking your advice soon enough.   It’s the Acuity Conference for Distinguished Advisors (DAC) and the full agenda is now here! Register by September 30 early-bird deadline – Ask about group rates, how to buy a table and access to VIP Affinity Program rates.  Here’s the run of the events:

The tax filing season 2024 is officially over with 31,247,787 tax returns filed to July 1.  The average balance due is $7,572 or over $55 Billion and many of those 7.3 Million taxpayers who owe are proprietors who waited to file until the last moment:  June 17.  We asked tax and financial professionals in our June poll whether they thought that tax audit risk is a bigger issue now for proprietors.  The reviews were mixed but 60% said yes. 

It’s not just the newly increased capital gains inclusion rate that is now law, but another significant tax change which has received less fanfare – the AMT or Alternative Minimum Tax – has now been passed into law under Bill C-59, passed on June 20, 2024.  The provision in effective, however, on January 1, 2024.  The big issue is that the AMT can affect the very people grappling with the capital gains inclusion rate increases.  The result is more retroactivity and more complexity.   Here’s what you need to know: