February 2025 Poll

In your view will the new U.S. tariffs affect your clients’ business and retirement plans?

The final CERB payment period will end on August 29, leaving millions of people at risk of receiving nothing more and wondering what will happen next.  Now that Parliament has been prorogued to September 23,  a very uncertain fall lies ahead of many of them.  However, government sources confirm that more information is forth coming before the end of this month on on how the CERB program will transition to EI.  Tax, bookkeeping and financial advisors can identify clients at financial risk to have more proactive discussions about their options, especially as tax bills come due on September 30 for the 2019 tax year. But how do you do so?

Despite a hack at CRA, which shut down its site for applicants of various pandemic relief programs, Period 5 Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) applications can now be accessed.  This newly extended program also marks the beginning of new eligibility requirements. There is now a sliding revenue test, eliminating the requirement for a minimum 30% drop. In addition, a special top-up subsidy is available to some employers.  Following are details to consider:

Close to 2 million people still need to file their tax returns for 2019 before September 30 to avoid late filing penalties if they owe.  That means there is still an “end of tax season” rush coming for busy tax professionals. CRA released tax filing and processing statistics on August 10 which also show the numbers for average refunds and balances due for the 2019 tax year. That the average refund for 2019 was $1840 and the average balance due is $6,070. 

As Canadians face the prospect of higher spikes in COVID cases this fall, the financial fallout will be grim for millions who also face the loss of CERB and other safety nets that were available in the first wave of the pandemic. There are seven basic strategies advisors and clients can discuss now in anticipation of a 2020 tax year dominated by pandemic stress and a 2021 that may be characterized by more debt, and more tax audit potential:

Join some of Canada's leading Real Wealth Managers™ for a discussion about wealth preservation in these very uncertain times. It’s a  free virtual, national conversation that brings together advisors from the tax, bookkeeping, insurance, financial planning and legal communities to discuss true-to-life issues that require inter-advisory collaboration. Details below.

Michael Flux, Executive Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Connor, Clark & Lunn Private Capital Ltd. helps high net worth families and foundations reach their long-term financial goals by providing pension-calibre investment solutions. “My aspirational goal in life,” says Mike, “is to leave much good behind.”  He has recently enhanced his education to earn the MFA-P™ designation to help him in that quest.