CRA’s Callback Service for Tax Pros Pilot

Are you a tax professional with years of experience? Have you ever felt frustrated after calling the CRA, having spent hours on hold, wasting your client’s or employer’s time, only to speak to CRA agents who aren’t qualified to answer your questions? The Auditor General of Canada was equally displeased in a scathing report last fall on wait times and accuracy levels at the CRA. Now a new CRA callback service may come to the rescue this tax season. Here is my experience with the pilot project so far:

Year end tax planning will need to be rethought in light of the dramatic change of government in Canada.  The most significant questions surround the implications for both winners and losers.

The role of accounting can go well beyond just tracking the numbers; providing advice to clients who are business owners will support their decision making and help them to generate real value. That’s why advanced planning for growth and transition is the focus of a new certificate course published by Knowledge Bureau this month.

Do you know how to prepare a T2 corporate return for your small business clients?   Has it always been your professional development dream to get the credentials to do so?

Taxpayers should receive legal advice prior to giving a power of attorney to anyone, including their spouse. Unintended tax consequences will not be forgiven by the CRA.

Whether you are a student or working and paying for child care, those expenditures may be deductible and the maximum amount you can claim has increased this year.  It’s a lucrative year end tip advisors will want to prime their clients about,  to maximize child care expense claims on the 2015 tax return.

It has been truly heartbreaking to watch the humanitarian crisis unfold in Europe, as millions of displaced refugee families risk their lives seeking safe havens. Canadians can help with charitable donations, but also by adopting orphaned children.