Time is Running Out for First-Time Home Buyers to Save in 2024

Owning a home, once almost considered a right of Canadian citizenship, has become a more distant dream for millions. The high cost of housing, coupled with a desperate shortage of supply, has turned the notion of home ownership into a near impossibility for many Canadians and those who have arrived in our country more recently.  The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA) can help but it’s important to open an account before December 31, 2024 to create and preserve the contribution room.

Tax specialists are in high demand.  Did you know that in Edmonton a tax preparer with 0 to 3 years of experience can make $56,888 - $81,231?   In Vancouver the amount is somewhat higher - $57,720 - $82,420 and in Winnipeg from $54,390 - $77,665.  It’s a great profession and now you can train at home, online, 24/7, to get into the marketplace with Knowledge Bureau’s DMA™-Personal Tax Services Specialist Program, and learn how to use professional tax software, too.  Check out the program guides to the six certificate courses in the program, available online and our student testimonials, too!

Get your desktop Advanced T1 Tax Update for 2023 Returns Knowledge Journal now – a crucial reference for the upcoming tax season!  What’s in it and why it’s an invaluable tax season resource appears below; only $395. Order today!

It’s official:  February 19 is the date CRA will start accepting 2023 tax returns for processing. So now is the time to mark your tax filing day on the calendar, especially if you don’t have any income to report at all.  In last year’s filing season, using stats up to January 15, 2024, CRA notes over 32 million tax returns were filed, with close to 20% of them being “nil returns” filed to claim tax credits. Here’s why all adults – especially low or no income earners - will want to file a 2023 T1 asap and the 9 key taxfiling profiles you’ll want to correspond with early if  you are a tax or financial pro working with investors:

What’s the value of your crypto assets? How much trading did you do?  What’s the tax consequences?  Are they considered to be inventory of a business?  Or will you report a capital gain or loss when you dispose of them?  These are questions professional tax and financial advisors must be able to answer in 2024 when filing 2023 tax returns.  Here’s what you need to know:

Tax specialists can’t ever rest on their laurels, because of the sheer magnitude of change they must address every year:  thousands of pages of tax law, hundreds of new tax forms; and endless new versions of the technology required to transmit the forms to CRA to name a few.  Yet it is the very thing that never changes that will define whether you are running a world class practice that is truly impactful: your relationship with your clients. No matter how tempting it is to drop the personal touch, knowing  and understand the changes in your clients’ lives, will help you apply tax law with greater precision to their tax filings.   Consider the following change impacts:

Drill down on all the latest tax news from CRA and Finance Canada at the Advanced T1 Tax Update Tour, coming to Toronto January 24 and Calgary January 26. There are so many changes that will affect your clients:  the Anti-flipping rules for principle residences, the new Short Term Rental rules, the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit, the Intergenerational Business Transfer Rules and so much more.  Plus, it’s a unique peer-to-peer learning opportunity! Can you really afford to miss it?