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 May 1 Ontario budget triggered a provincial election and so it died on the vine; but it’s an important one to understand, none-the-less, as some of its parts may be back at some time in the near future, depending on the outcome of the election.

New rules pertaining to prepaid credit cards took effect on May 1. Finance Minister Joe Oliver held a press conference on April 30 in Ottawa to introduce the new measures that were designed to protect Canadian consumers.

As per subsection 118.1(3) of the Income Tax Act (the Act), an individual may claim a tax credit with respect to a gift made to a registered charity. The amount of the tax credit is determined by the amount of the gift.

Details for a new Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) were included in the May 1 Ontario budget and have become an election issue there. Some disagree that the plan is necessary; others are concerned about the immediate economic costs.

Doug Nelson is author of the newly released Master Your Retirement and discusses the "laws" of retirement planning.

When a non-resident, non-U.S. citizen individual goes to the U.S. to work and live temporarily, after their term is almost up and they are contemplating staying in the U.S., many wonder if they should be applying for a U.S. green card rather than renewing their temporary work visa; however, most of the time they don't realize what it means to apply for and obtain a U.S. green card.