The UHT May Be Cancelled, But Vacancy Taxes Remain

As tax professionals, you are keenly aware of the constant changes our federal government makes to the Income Tax Act. Adjustments are made, and you must adapt. Not often, though, is a tax eliminated altogether. But in the case of the Underused Housing Tax (UHT), that is exactly what has happened – it was cancelled in the federal budget of November 4, 2025, but Canada’s underused housing taxes have not been eliminated. Here’s what you need to know for tax season 2026.

If you were subject to the OAS clawback on your 2015 tax return, your OAS cheques starting July 2016 will each be reduced by 1/12th of that clawback amount. But there is a way to reduce the recovery tax and increase your monthly OAS cheque.

A bright spot in economic news:  farmers are thriving!  Farming is no easy way to make a living, subject as it is to the whims of weather, disease, currency fluctuations, and more. So it’s good to hear from a Statistics Canada report published on May 25, 2016, that Canadian farmers are doing better than one might think.

When a depreciable asset is disposed of and the result is a negative balance in the CCA class, that negative balance is normally included in the taxpayer’s income (as recapture of CCA) in the year of disposition.

Planning for retirement is an old issue, but now there’s a new take on it: pre-retirement planning.  In the past, the focus was on how much pension income was needed to replace actively earned income from employment, to live comfortably until death. But these days retirement is anything but traditional and with employer pensions on the decline, especially defined benefit plans, many other factors must be taken into account when planning for life after work.

In today’s tax and economic climate, multi-generational planning faces new risks and  understanding the opportunities in the management of corporate investments is a huge issue. Uncover the latent potential in these resources for investment and retirement planning by joining John Natale, AVP Tax, Retirement & Estate Planning Services, at DAC this November 6 – 9 in San Diego.

"Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th." Julie Andrews