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. 

Taxpayers need to quickly sharpen financial skills for the challenging times ahead, and a good way to start is to find the right advisor for their future, says Knowledge Bureau Founder and President Evelyn Jacks, best-selling tax financial author and award-winning educator.  It’s also critically important for both parties to invest anew in their financial education, especially tax education, to push back on the economic malaise predicted for 2023. 

Looking to increase your income or revenues in a tax or financial services practice?  Embrace the demand new small business owners of a bustling “side hustle” have for qualified corporate tax services. Kickstart your career, earn more with new credentials and maximize your potential as a confident tax knowledge leader.  Become a Distinguished Master Advisor by taking the new DMA Corporate Tax Services Specialist Designation Program. 

The tax filing season is just around the corner and now is the time to shake out the cobwebs, learn about the “dark horses” of tax theory behind the lines on the new 2022 T1 return and sharpen the skills of your new and returning staff in your tax preparation office.  Register by January 15 for the Advanced T1 Tax Update and check out our new rates for multiple enrolments: 2, 3 or 4 and more from your office.

Most limits on claiming automobile expenses by employees and proprietors will increase starting on January 1. However, you may be surprised to see which limit has not changed.

There might be gold in prior filed tax returns and cash-strapped Canadians may not know about this.  You too can tap into CRA’s Taxpayer Relief Provisions when there are factors beyond the taxpayer’s control that resulted in penalties or interest charges or in cases where there were errors or omissions.  In fact, CRA can issue refunds for up to 10 years and that means you should review your 2012 tax returns prior to December 31.  What are common missed items?

In times of high inflation and a down-trending economy (like today) Canadians pull out all the punches. They scrimp, they save and they cut corners where they can. Many also started to rely more heavily on the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for benefits and importantly their public advocate with the CRA: The Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson (OTO), who fielded a record number of urgent requests this year and prompted millions in uncashed cheques to be cashed.  OTO has also created an important new opportunity for tax advisors.