CRA’s Callback Service for Tax Pros Pilot

Are you a tax professional with years of experience? Have you ever felt frustrated after calling the CRA, having spent hours on hold, wasting your client’s or employer’s time, only to speak to CRA agents who aren’t qualified to answer your questions? The Auditor General of Canada was equally displeased in a scathing report last fall on wait times and accuracy levels at the CRA. Now a new CRA callback service may come to the rescue this tax season. Here is my experience with the pilot project so far:

In an anticipated move intended to help rein in inflation, the Bank of Canada announced an increase of the benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point to 1% this morning. It’s the biggest increase from the central bank in more than two decades.

The April 7, 2022 Federal Budget introduced a new tax deduction for employees which will be in effect starting on January 1, 2022, assuming Royal Assent will be received. With the exception of some simplified filing opportunities, most employee deductions will require receipts and a signed tax form from the employer.  It is expected this will be no different for the new Labour Mobility Deduction. Here are the details to know:

Paying a surrogate to bear a child is illegal in Canada.  Yet, the Nova Scotia government recently introduced a new refundable tax credit for surrogacy-related medical expenses, a first in Canada.  The federal government, too, proposed a similar provision in the April 7 Federal Budget, to provide for tax relief for reimbursements paid to the “patient”, the surrogate.

At a time when interest rates are rising, a more common question from investors in real estate may concern interest deductibility.  When is the interest paid on a loan to finance a building or its construction, written off as an operating expense and when must it be capitalized? Most people are unaware of the latter option.

Knowledge Bureau Report asked its national audience “Do you believe the RRSP is still a good investment for pre-retirees who work after age 60?” last month and the results were surprising, given all the rhetoric around the use of RRSPs. A full majority – 74% said yes, but with lots of qualifications.  Here’s why:

At year-end, the T4 summary is completed and sent to the CRA.  The T4 forms are generated and sent to the employees before the end of February in the year following the payroll year.  If the employer is late in completing the T slip summary and remitting to the CRA, depending upon the number of slips to be completed, an employer could see a penalty of anywhere from $10 to $7,500.