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:

It’s time to talk about the 2018 tax changes and how they affect planning before the end of 2018. Knowledge Bureau’s Evelyn Jacks will be a keynote speaker at IFB’s 2018 Winnipeg Regional Event on May 16, 2018 and on the CE Summit tour May 29 to June 16, 2018.

In introducing a new carbon tax on September 1, 2018, the Manitoba provincial government is planning to return at least some of it back to taxpayers by way of personal and business tax cuts, while it grapples with debt servicing costs that have exceeded a billion dollars for the first time. 

March 13 and 14 are important days in Canadian financial history as both the RRSP and Old Age Security Benefit celebrate their birthdays.

CRA started processing refunds later than in the past this year, on February 26.  We asked Knowledge Bureau Report readers what they thought of that, given that refunds would now be delayed into March.  The good news is that the CRA does seem to be abiding by the ten-business-day turnaround promised.

Are you a small-business owner thinking about hiring a highly qualified bookkeeper? Or perhaps you are thinking about expanding your own skills and credentials to handle your own financial matters better in house? Getting your business affairs and tax information in order is very important as CRA is clamping down with increased audit activities these days. 

Guest columnist Dr. Michael Graham, two-time guest lecturer at Knowledge Bureau’s Distinguished Advisor Conference, muses about the economic and political volatility of the day and what Canadian investors can expect as March gathers steam, post-federal budget.  Early registration for this year’s outstanding 15th Anniversary DAC is March 15 – RSVP now.