SMES: Carbon Tax Rebates on the Way?

July 15 was an important day for carbon-tax weary taxpayers. A Canada Carbon Rebate payment was  made to individuals who have filed their 2023 personal tax returns.  What about the long-awaited $2.5 billion Carbon Tax Rebate For Small Businesses? The delivery date and amounts to be received remain elusive, but one thing is clear: many businesses will have disqualified themselves by missing the July 15 date for filing 2023 T2 returns.  Here’s what you need to know. 

Throughout the calendar years 2012 - 2015, a Toronto man named Perry Fousteris and representatives of Fousteris’ corporation defrauded international investors by encouraging international investors to purchase shares of corporation’s owned by Fousteris. This fraud attracted the attention of the CRA, as well as penalties, interest and jail time.  Here is what happened:

When a business hires an employee, it is important for that employee to be “formally” hired, that is with a role description, a rate of pay or salary level and a statement of expectations that define the relationship between the employer and employee,  all well documented and filed in case of audit from the CRA. This is particularly important post-COVID, as CRA will be auditing the Canada Emergency Wage Supplement (CEWS) payments businesses received, right up to the end of 2023.   But it is also very important if you have hired family members.

What’s the biggest difference between a co-borrower and a cosigner? It relates to the degree of investment in the loan. Here are the details:

In the last federal budget, the government proposed to allow Canadian Controlled Private Corporations to claim 100% CCA in the year of acquisition for assets purchased after April 18, 2021, to a maximum of $1,500,000.  However, legislation has yet to be introduced to implement that change.  That’s turning out to be a big problem for tax advisors and their clients.  Here’s why:

Most people know that when you miss filing a tax return your family will miss out on receiving the Canada Child Benefit.  However, did you know that you can retroactively claim the CCB by filing those missed returns?  How far back you can go, however, depends on what type of CCB you file for. 

Small businesses are critical to the health of the Canadian economy.  According to a recent study by the Government of Canada, small businesses (1-99 employees as defined by the Government) represented 97.9% of all enterprises in Canada. According to the same study, these businesses employed 8.4 million individuals in 2019 or 68.8% of the private labour force. In addition, small business contributed 41.9% to the Gross Domestic Product generated by the private sector in 2016.  Now that we are in past-pandemic mode, understanding the needs of small businesses will pay off in better tax and financial planning solutions.