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:

Canada’s most comprehensive and popular advanced personal tax update is taking registrations for just one more week! It’s a blended learning experience that starts with the January 19 live virtual event, and also includes an online course which is available to attendees until February 28. Plus, you’ll receive what our delegates call the “Tax Bible” – the comprehensive desk top reference coveted by tax and accounting professionals from coast to coast. Register now for the January Virtual CE Summit!

2021 was a year of personal physical, mental and emotional life triggers, coupled with many economic and financial changes.  How can just one financial professional ensure that their client's holistic wealth management plan is focused on tax efficient wealth sustainability with so many triggers at once? Join the Society of Real Wealth Managers™ and seven special guests for the next Meeting of the Minds: 360 Degree Trigger Tour on February 2 at 10 AM CST. These Real Wealth Managers™ will share the timely triggers that may be impacting your clients’ holistic planning solutions in 2022 and why Real Wealth Managers™ are poised to help.

The federal government released a fiscal and economic update on December 14 that brought in a small number of tax changes and a message that despite the steepest economic contraction since the Great Depression, our “one-in-a-lifetime economic trauma” is fading into history, as Canada has recovered 106% of the jobs lost during the pandemic. There is more good news, according to the government, and some red flags on the horizon:

The December 14 Economic Update from the Federal Government primarily focused on pandemic recovery and healthcare sector as we’re entering a new wave of pandemic response. But there is some really good news to offset this reality. What was noticeably absent from the Update?  Investors and high-income earners will be pleased. But, will we see them addressed in the next federal budget?

Canada will create a new tax return to be filed by non-residents who own and under-use residential property in Canada, starting in 2022. Accompanying that return will be a payment of a new 1% tax on the value of the property, unless an exemption can be met. Here’s what you need to know.

According to a recent study by Philip Cross, the former chief analyst at Statistics Canada, economic growth in Canada over the past ten years has been the weakest since the 1930s, our competitiveness has faltered to such a degree that we can’t capitalize on trade deals, our productivity has stalled, and even more startling for a nation with such highly educated and tech-savvy people:  our lack of innovation and weak economic growth has persisted for decades.  In conversation with Dr. Jack Mintz, who co-authored a study on small business tax competitiveness, we discussed alternative tax strategies as a potential solution.