News Room

October 1 - Important Changes Coming to VDP

Effective October 1, 2025, important changes will be made to the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) at the CRA in order to make it easier for taxpayers to correct unintentional filing errors or omissions. The details on how the changes will affect your clients are being discussed in the CE Summit held September 17 and this course is now available for online enrolment and CE accreditation, after the virtual event. Here are some highlights of the changes.

Life Purpose

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." Milton Berle

Proprietors: File Now to Avoid CRA Interest Charges

Unincorporated business owners can avoid late filing penalties by filing their taxes before midnight June 15. However, if you owe money to CRA, you must pay by midnight May 2 to avoid interest charges.

Relationship Breakdowns Can Be Taxing

Saul lost his job and was not able to keep up with his required support payments to his estranged family. He was required to pay $500 per month in spousal support and $1,000 per month in child support. He did not begin to know how to claim his arrears payments on his tax return. Fortunately his Tax Services Specialist could help.

Seniors See No Raise for Second Quarter

Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) are indexed quarterly. However, the indexation factor for these purposes for the second quarter—April to June 2016—is nil so there will be no raise in the monthly benefit amount for that period. But that doesn’t mean consumer spending didn’t cost more last quarter, as reported by Statistics Canada, especially for food, alcohol and tobacco.

A Five-Step Process for Managing Tax-Efficient Wealth

As government budgets close one tax advantage after another, it pays to do some tax planning now as you complete your 2015 tax return. Tax time is a great time to prepare a financial assessment through a sound interview process with your advisors. That’s because it’s a great opportunity to review financial affairs of the family as a whole.

People in the News: Cecil Baldry-White

Cecil Baldry-White, CEO of Alitis Investment Counsel, believes there are six major challenges that wealth advisors face in attaining higher returns and longer term performance for their clients in today’s difficult investment environment, and he believes we must meet these challenges head on.
 
 
 
Knowledge Bureau Poll Question

On September 2, Finance Minister Champagne mandated CRA to implement a 100-day plan to “strengthen services, improve access, and reduce delays.” That’s by December 11, 2025. Do you believe this approach will help?

  • Yes
    8 votes
    21.62%
  • No
    29 votes
    78.38%