T&L 'blog 09 [February 2020] ARCHIVED
It is early in the new tax season and we have already encountered such misinformation as 'you can give gifts of thousands of dollars to employees without tax'; 'you can write off the cost of your child's tutoring'; and 'you don't have to claim capital gains on a house if you've had it for a long time or lived in it ever'. These are all examples of misinformation, whether through hearsay or bluster, and demonstrate the need to talk to your professionals and not listen to 'somebody who said'.
T&L 'blog 08 [January 2020] ARCHIVED
As the 2019 tax season is upon us, CRA is still working on a backlog of 'Processing Review' requests, some of which are meaningless, some negligible, and some are wholly incorrect which cause delay, expense, and the need to correct their mistakes. REMEMBER, IF YOU RECEIVE A NOTICE OR BILL FROM CRA, DON'T ASSUME THEY ARE CORRECT.
CRA is also changing their parameters for what is acceptable proof in mid-stream which has caused confusion amongst many taxpayers. This practice seems to contradict at least TWO of their seemingly bogus points afforded to taxpayers under their Taxpayer Bill of Rights -- namely, "You have the right to be treated fairly" and "You have the right to have the law applied consistently". The backlog is without doubt attributed to poor performance and errors made by CRA at their various tax centres [most notably Winnipeg and Surrey].
T&L 'blog 07 [February 2019] ARCHIVED
The 2018 tax season is upon us already. Planners are trying to arrange RSP purchases, early filers have to wait until February 18th before CRA will accept any electronically submitted returns, CRA is slow on approving some forms for paper filing and are still bothering taxpayers about 2017 returns, even as they are supposed to be processing 2018 returns. The most notable change for 2018 is the result of a failed liberal-government's vote-buying scheme surrounding a hoax 'carbon tax'. They are offering taxpayers $154 bribes under the moniker of a Climate Action Incentive credit -- however, they only give you $77 for your spouse/ equivalent and only $38 for your kids. Don't fall for their rhetoric of 'revenue neutral'; it is a money-making excessive tax on us. Do you recall the need for a 'GST' to raise money to pay off our debt? What about the Lieberal who vowed to get rid of da gee-hess-tee?
T&L 'blog 06 [October 2018] ARCHIVED
We'd like to inform you that CRA's performance is getting better, but we cannot because it is not. The different actors of CRA whether it be call agents, tax centres ,auditors, supervisors etc have been performing below par at a substandard level that should not be accepted by Canadians. If they were a private enterprise being run this way, they would surely be out of business. Idiotic errors, refusal to perform work, obfuscation and delays are still part of CRA's playbook at the present time. That being said, there were two instances the past month where individual employees within the CRA performed their jobs admirably and went the extra step. It would be nice for all Canadians if the actions and work ethic of these two people were replicated across the entire CRA, from the Minister on down. There is too much wasted effort and resources that have no place in our system other than to pad the public payrolls.
T&L 'blog 05 [July 2018] ARCHIVED
Performance standards have gotten even worse at CRA. A recent time frame given to us to complete a straight-forward request was 13 MONTHS!! This time was confirmed and in addition a second time frame was quoted "officially" at TWENTY MONTHS. This should be wholly unacceptable to you. The requested work would not be completed for 2 tax years. This does not leave room for proper tax management for Canadian taxpayers,nor is it acceptable from the point of view of CRA personnel getting paid by us to not do a job in a timely fashion. Fortunately we are very proficient in cutting through unbearable issues like this.
T&L 'blog 04 [May 2018] ARCHIVED
After experiencing yet another 'tax season' fraught with CRA mismanagement, bungling, lying, etc we made note of several things that should be of concern to you. Although taxpayers don't necessarily know "all the rules", we found more of them than before who have misguided notions of what is allowed and what isn't. Part of the problem is the fault of the government who not only puts in BS 'credits' at a whim in vote-buying attempts --be smart enough to see through these--but they also remove many things that help some taxpayers even marginally. Instances of these include, but definitely not limited to, removing the "fitness credit", the "public transit amount", the tuition credit in Ontario, fee for safety deposit boxes etc. Many people still espouse rules that do not exist except in folklore and out of the mouths of the ill-informed [ie.fibbers, know-it-alls, bs'ers, and those who wish to sound important]. We even have one client who, after having us submit his very late documentation to CRA for processing [remember 5-6 months "approximate" processing time] retained a lawyer to 'solve his problem'. The delay and apparent bill was of his own doing but easily rectified. His foolishness saw the entry of a lawyer who asked us to help them solve it. When apprised of the case of the client not even needing the lawyer and telling the lawyer it was already solved, the lawyer proffered that they had been retained. In other words, they want his money. Remember, and tell your acquaintances, if they haven't filed taxes yet for this or a number of years, to file them regardless of the outcome. Here's why. If they are due a refund(s) or credit cheques they should want them now. If they owe for past years not filed, getting the taxes in sooner than later can help mitigate penalties and interest charges. And remember the government is never always right and quite often wrong. Talk to us if you/they need assistance.
T&L 'blog 03 [Mar 2018] ARCHIVED
Some of the biggest gripes we have encountered this year are due to the loss of the Fitness credit [thank the Liberals], the elimination of the Transit amount after June of 2017 [thank the Liberals during a time they are falsely promoting their climate agenda and bogus carbon tax], and the elimination of the Provincial Tuition credits as of Sept 2017 [thank the Ont Liberals]. Also call CRAs general number and listen to the voice commands if you want a laugh of incredulity. They offer us a promise that tax centres will "return to their usual service standards"! That would be disastrous. Winnipeg is taking 6-12 MONTHS to perform adjustments and assess returns. NOT only is this unacceptable to us, their work is oftentimes incorrect. Fixes take another 6-12 MONTHS! Bombard your MPs with incessant email complaints AND phone calls for even the slightest error by CRA. They should not occur even once.
T&L 'blog 02 [Jan 2018] ARCHIVED
The Canadian federal government and the Ontario government, on top of being essentially useless, are doing some very bad things to us. They affect your taxes, your job, your health and safety. Don't be fooled by stated government rhetoric nor by the fake news media that follows Liberal agendas. LIEberals is more like it.They are trying to distract you from what they are really doing quietly. Your CRA is also making more mistakes than ever before, losing work, and taking 5 months just to refund money. Drastic changes need to be made. You now need to scrutinize your tax matters with CRA much more closely to ensure they are also not screwing you.
T&L 'blog 01 [Dec 2017] ARCHIVED
Your current federal government is about to tax you to death. The liberal agenda of mass migration, reintegration and bills like M103 will kill us. Those paying taxes will get hit hard. The Liberal government will resort to -- you heard it here first -- imposing a TAX ON LOTTERY winnings. Expect a statement of a 'modest 10%' tax.
We would also like to inform you that the CRA's performance over the last 1-2 years has been abysmal and is declining even further. They are doing many things improperly and sometimes illegally. Contact your MP or us if you are encountering difficulty with CRA, whether it be monetary, inactivity, or unresolved issues. Oftentimes your Minister of National Revenue is RELUCTANT TO HELP or even acknowledge you exist.