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. 

Expenses for the care of dependent children who are under the age of 16 (at any time of the year) or who are physically or mentally infirm may be claimed on your tax return.

Investment Advisors: Here's a great client gift for April – buy 3 books, get 1 free! Jacks on Tax will help your clients save time and money by understanding their returns and taking better control of their financial affairs. It’s a book for everyone because its premise is simple: a more informed taxpayer, working with a collaborative professional community, will get more out of the tax system now and in the future.

Working with Small Business Owners? Introduce them to the Basic Bookkeeping for Business course. Most family businesses involve the spouse or children in bookkeeping activities. Now they can increase confidence and understanding by enrolling family members in a certificate bookkeeping course. It helps the pros to use their billing time more effectively as well! Free trial available!

In a controversial budget, Manitoba raised its Provincial Sales Taxes by 1% to 8% effective July 1, 2013 over a “temporary” 10 year period, waiving the requirement to hold a referendum, citing reasons of financial urgency due to potential flooding.

Knowledge Bureau's Evelyn Jacks and Alan Rowell, and David Caron and Sean Nazarian of Thomson Reuters will be leading you in this May's Distinguished Advisor Workshop: Audit Defence Bootcamp.

Should you draw from the CPP early? With many new changes to the plan starting in 2012, this calculator will help you answer that question by determining break-even points along the way, while explaining the new rules and criteria. Try it with a free trial!