Immediate Expensing Rules: Good Tax Policy?

Over the course of the last two federal budgets (April 16, 2024 and November 4, 2025), the rules for claiming Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) have been uncertain. The proposal to extend immediate expensing rules for certain acquired assets were paused for over a year and then re-introduced in a series of four complex measures which together with new rules for Scientific Research and Experimental Development have become known as the “Productivity Super-Deduction”.  A backdrop appears below. The key question: will this complexity be effective as an economic stimulator?   

The CRA receives a “D” mark!  According to a new report by CFIB, the quality of the information and phone support the CRA is extending to Canadian business owners has worsened, despite the agency’s goals to increase service standards. One of the biggest issues: failure to understand the new Capital Cost Allowance rules which have been in place since late 2018.

Tax changes to employee stock options were supposed to come into effect on January 1, 2020, and thanks to feedback collected from Canadian businesses in a consultation that ended in September, the implementation of these measures has now been delayed. Tax and compensation planning should take place before these new rules come into effect.

If you are a tax, bookkeeping or financial advisor looking to sharpen your technical tax knowledge to accurately prepare personal tax returns or provide sound financial planning advice this tax season, don’t miss Canada’s most comprehensive T1 Advanced Tax Update. Besides the comprehensive 330-page course, CE Summit attendees receive a three-month subscription to EverGreen Explanatory Notes, and a full day of peer-to-peer training with expert instructors.  It’s an outstanding value dedicated to enhancing your value proposition.

Join us in celebrating our 2019 graduates who completed their DFA-Tax Services Specialist™ and DFA-Bookkeeping Services Specialist™ designation programs. Knowledge Bureau is so proud of your achievements and we look forward to sharing knowledge with you in 2020.

It is estimated that about 425,000 Canadians will retire each year by 2020.*  But for many, it will be a retirement that includes debt, according to recent reports on the proliferation of reverse mortgages**.  Are Canadians planning soon enough for the one big question most worry about: will there be enough? A new edition of the best-seller Master Your Retirement by Douglas V. Nelson will help.

The tax system is not getting any easier for Canadians to comply with and things may get worse in tax season 2020. With a complicated new 8-page T1 return on the horizon, Canadian taxpayers already dissatisfied with their tax department service levels* join ranks with KBR poll respondents: over 90% of tax, bookkeeping and financial services pros answered a resounding no when asked: “As we begin a new decade, do you feel the evolution of our tax system has been positive?” Still, there were a few happy campers.