Time’s Up: CRA’s 100 Day Mandate for Improvement

After years of frustration on the part of tax professionals and taxpayers alike, the Finance Minister ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to clean up its act in 100 days. Specifically, the improvement plan was to run from September 2 through December 11. Finance Minister and Minister of National Revenue, Francoise-Phillippe Champagne instructed CRA to fix “unacceptable wait times and service delays.” Time’s up this week and CRA has released an update on progress. What gets measured, gets done. Let’s see what CRA’s metrics show. 

Now is the time to get ready for tax season 2024 by adding Distinguished Master Advisor (DMA™) to your own Specialized Credentials, or expand the talent in your office to grow your firm. Choose from 3 recommended Designation Programs.

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Picture this, you’re in a rush so you check your driving app to find the quickest route to your destination. You’ve got the car packed and you are on your way.  The drive is going well, and you are on track to make it to your destination just in time; that is, until you hit a couple of construction detours.As you sit in traffic, you wonder why the app sent you down a road that wasn’t ready for traffic? This is the feeling many taxpayers and their advisors are having as they try to comply to file form UHT-2900 by the October 31 deadline this month.

The Millennials, children of Boomers and GenX, parents of the Alpha Gen, are the fastest growing population in Canada, at 33.2%, and are part of the cohort that is the median age in Canada in 2023:  41 years. A recent study found millennials were 1.4 times more likely to file for insolvency than Gen X aged 42 to 56, and 1.7 times more likely than baby boomers aged 57 to 76. Insolvent millennials were on average 33 years old and owed an average of $47,283 in unsecured debt. They need financial planning help, especially to understand their continued access to refundable benefits.

It goes without saying the filing tax returns and elections on time will help taxpayers prevent the punitive late filing penalties.  But, if the filing deadline has passed, look to the Voluntary Disclosure Program to see if you qualify to reduce penalties when late filing.  And then, if a return has been filed late, look to the Taxpayer Relief program to see if you qualify for tax forgiveness. The following are a summary of the programs.

Did you know that effective starting in 2020 and before 2025, it’s possible to write off your digital news subscription as a non-refundable tax credit?  Did you miss writing it off in the past couple of years?  You can adjust your tax returns back to 2020 and get a tax refund.  Here are the details: