New Mega Deduction a Good Start, But More Tax Reforms Are Needed

The Federal government has unveiled a Productivity Mega Deduction, which will provide immediate expensing under Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) provisions for a broad range of depreciable property, importantly on a permanent basis, for acquisitions on or after September 15, 2026. Check out the noteworthy exclusions are listed below. This tax reform is a good start, but much more needs to be done, especially for small business owners and average taxpayers to make Canada truly competitive across our tax base.

June 30 is an important date for 3 CRA filings and 2 Knowledge Bureau deadlines for the Acuity Conference for Distinguished Advisors and attestation for relicensing RWM™, DMA-Specialist™ and MFA-P™ Designations. Check out the details:

Last week Taxpayers' Ombudsperson François Boileau  tabled his annual report:  In Pursuit of Better Service: Taxpayers Deserve More.  once again, it was nothing short of scathing, as CRA received its highest number of complaints in the last three years.  Calling our “completely nuts” Income Tax Act a potential barrier, he is nonetheless pushing for automatic tax filing as a potential solution.  A new episode of Real Tax News with Evelyn Jacks & Friends available next week, will feature guest Gillian Petit, Ph.D. - author of a great report, Welcome News for Lower-Income Canadians, but There’s More to Do - which takes a deeper dive.  Consider the following:

Is gambling income taxable? You bet! In fact, this has been proven in several court decisions recently, outlined well in an article by law firm BLG. This requires an important new conversation between taxpayers and their tax and financial advisors: income derived from professional gambling activities such as poker, may indeed be fully taxable, as opposed to a tax exempt windfall.

Having trouble recruiting and retaining qualified tax specialists to help with your clients’ ever more complex financial affairs? Shifting your tax accounting practice to provide expert advisory services year round is key to required scalability as demand grows for in a rapidly changing environment in the tax and financial services. Some recent statistics prove the point:

The Acuity Conference for Distinguished Advisors (DAC) takes place November 22-24 in beautiful Victoria, BC and now is the time to take advantage of our early bird deadline ending June 30.We are so pleased to welcome the thought leadership of so many outstanding education partners to the stage. These speakers are ready to wow the highly-engaged audience at the only multi-disciplinary conference for professionals in the tax, accounting and financial services. Why should you attend? Here are the agenda details and the big reveal of our wonderful speakers and partners:

Changes are coming to the Income Tax Act and both you and your clients will all be affected with new tax risks including longer tax audits. Bill C-31, which passed second reading in the House of Commons on June 3 and is now at committee stage, contains elements of previous Federal Budgets that will expand the CRA’s compliance and enforcement powers. Here’s what you need to know and pass along to your clients: