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:

On February 23, the same day Canadians watched their men soar to gold in hockey over Sweden, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank governors reported ten points of great news from their meeting in Sydney, Australia.

Don’t forget the RRSP contribution deadline of March 3, to maximize your 2013 RRSP deduction and reduce net and taxable income.

G & J Muirhead Holdings Ltd. v. The Queen (2014) TCC 49, a recently released judgment from the Tax Court of Canada (TCC), serves as an important reminder to all taxpayers that rely on the corporate status of their small business for favourable tax treatment: the personal services business distinction could cost you. 

Are you making choices between investing in a TFSA or an RRSP? Which should come first?

Sophie T.K. Tse successfully achieved her DFA-Tax Services Specialist designation from Knowledge Bureau in 2012. We are pleased to have Sophie as one of our distinguished grads.

From a personal tax perspective, rules surrounding donations were a significant part of the tax changes introduced as part of the 2014 Federal Budget announced on February 11.