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:

Big changes are coming to CRA’s Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) this fall. The proposals on the table will see the program evolve from an opportunity for taxpayers to correct errors and omissions, to an opportunity for government to use the program to generate revenues at a modest cost.

Mid life crisis?  According to Statistics Canada, there are about 71,000 divorces in Canada each year. In fact, over 40% of marriages will end up in divorce, and it can be very expensive - before and after tax!

Recent tax changes require forethought in planning for high-income earners, and in the preparation of final returns for deceased single taxpayers.

Boomers and Millennials beware:  if you are a new sole proprietor a tax deadline looms this week. 

Inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists generally.

Debt is the number-one financial issue in Canada today, and things are about to get more urgent for mortgage holders and business owners who have significant debt.