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:

The Great Wealth Transfer represents an unprecedented passage of assets from one generation to the next, with approximately $1T passing from baby boomers to the next generations by 2026, but what does this generational wealth transfer mean for philanthropic giving? Although more dollars are being donated in Canada, fewer people are donating. Financial challenges are presenting barriers to donors, but so is lack of clarity of impact. Learn more from Kristin Ramlal and Evan Connell of Canada Life, only at the 2024 Acuity Conference for Distinguished Advisors this November.

Filing tax returns is for millions of households, the most important financial transaction of the year. While helping with this task is often challenging, with unprecedented complexity in tax law and a highly digitized environment at CRA, specialized tax accounting skills have helped professionals evolve into a highly rewarding career with an extremely bright future. That makes this the right time to step up,  meet the demand for more services and scale up the industry, too. Consider the following statistics and trends:

Halloween is right around the corner, with the annual treats already proliferating in local retail outlets. For most tax professionals, however, this brings a reminder – if not a recurring nightmare – about the first Underused Housing Tax (UHT) filings which were abruptly aborted by CRA the afternoon of October 31. Since then, more changes to the UHT have been passed into law, specifically in Bill C-69 on June 20, 2024.  This brings more certainty to the tax and filing requirements, briefly summarized below, and an audit alert.

This summer another half a million people were invited to try the SimpleFile pilot project; bringing the total number of invitees to two million potential tax filers of the 2023 tax return.  The project has had minimal uptake so far:  only 50,000 people (0.2% of all tax filers) have used it in the period February 5, 2024 to September 2, 2024.  What’s the objective for this big project?

Choose your CE/CPD Adventure! Knowledge Bureau and its esteemed partners proudly present 9 impactful events for your professional development. Mark your calendar now, register below and come think, collaborate and connect with your peers – live or in person! 

Are you training your team this fall? Now is the time to take advantage of our lowest tuition fees of the year, and enhance your team’s specialized credentials from our Distinguished Master Advisor (DMA™ Designation Program) or Real Wealth Manager™ Programs and introduce new Specialized Credentials to your team’s training plan! Choose from Personal or Corporate Tax, Accounting, Retirement, Small Business Management and Wealth Management streams.