Time’s Up: CRA’s 100 Day Mandate for Improvement

After years of frustration on the part of tax professionals and taxpayers alike, the Finance Minister ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to clean up its act in 100 days. Specifically, the improvement plan was to run from September 2 through December 11. Finance Minister and Minister of National Revenue, Francoise-Phillippe Champagne instructed CRA to fix “unacceptable wait times and service delays.” Time’s up this week and CRA has released an update on progress. What gets measured, gets done. Let’s see what CRA’s metrics show. 

­Changes to Personal Service Businesses were amongst those enacted in Bill C-48. They will be discussed in more detail in Knowledge Bureau’s November Corporate Tax & Year-End Planning Bootcamp. However, key changes are described below. 

Fall is a great time for year-end tax planning and this year, strategic philanthropy in the family has taken on new meaning in light of the new temporary First-Time Donor’s Super Credit for first time donors.

The current prescribed rate is likely to increase on October 1, 2013. This guest column, provided to you by Frostiak & Leslie Chartered Accountants, Inc., a member of the Tax Specialist Group (TSG), offers some tips on how to benefit from the prescribed rate before it changes.

Spending money can be hard work; after all, there are a lot of demands for it and its supply is usually short. Therefore, careful consumers have to manage risks to their disposable income and choose the absolute right supplier for their needs and wants.

It’s back to school time and as every parent knows, arts and athletics are expensive activities for children to partake in at this time of the year. 

A special tax at the top marginal rate will be charge to a “specified employee” for contributions to an employee profit sharing plan if the contribution exceeds 20% of the employee’s salary received in the year.