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:

Stay up-to-date with the constant changes in the industry: Dean Cockell, MFA™, Manitoba

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

Whether you live in a conjugal relationship is an important tax issue, as it affects many provisions on the return. Failure to report your status properly can, in fact, lead to expensive penalties. So, if your relationship status changed in 2016, consider discussing the following checklist with your advisor. It’s a “baker’s dozen plus one,” chocked full of potential tax filing provisions for couples that can save you time and money, especially on a tax audit:

There are a number of omissions that can occur in the rush at the end of tax season. One of them is missing the reporting of income benefits received by families in 2016. It’s important to remember that for the first six months of 2016 the UCCB (Universal Child Care Benefits) were received and they are taxable. That’s a double whammy for many upper-middle-income families who also lost the family income-splitting provisions. There are now no child tax supports at all for them.

Filing a 2016 tax return for a deceased taxpayer? Then be aware that as of January 1, 2016, new rules apply to charitable donations made by will.

At a time when governments are more closely monitoring changes in global GDP growth, the effects of protectionism, currency fluctuations, tax changes and sluggish business investment on the long-term financial well-being of Canadians, wealth advisors need to better understand new strategies for making tax-efficient investment recommendations to the families they work with.