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:

Time’s up for procrastinators... midnight on Monday June 15 is the T1 tax filing deadline for unincorporated businesses.

On May 28, 2015, the Ontario Court of Appeal (ONCA) dismissed an appeal from the dismayed son of a deceased testator.

Back in 1851, a decision in Russel v. Jackson reasoned that when the validity of a Will is challenged, the solicitor’s file should be disclosed in certain circumstances to provide insight into the views and intentions of the testator, or the objects and purposes for which dispositions have been made in the Will.

Have you gone paperless?  Innovations in technology and a focus on process improvements have paved the way to making “paperless” a reality for those businesses interested in improving efficiencies.

Dynamic Elise Pulver, LLB, will address significant and unexpected changes to the Estate and Administration Tax Act, at the Distinguished Advisor Workshop, June 22 in Toronto.   

Last week, Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver announced in the House of Commons that the government is open to allowing Canadians to make additional voluntary contributions to their CPP in order in increase their CPP savings.