Disability Tax Credit & Diabetes
Are you or your child living with Type 1 Diabetes? You may qualify for a disability tax credit when you file your taxes. Check out the Diabetes Advocacy website to learn how to qualify for this tax credit. If you qualify for prior years we can amend your tax returns to get you tax refunds. If you think you may qualify please take action right away because Canada Revenue could change the rules to qualify at any time. There are also other conditions that are eligible for the Disability Tax Credit. Check out the Canada Revenue website or speak to a team member for more details.
Tax Tips & Traps
The latest Tax Tips & Traps issue includes helpful information on the following topics (and many more).
- Internet Business Activities - A recent CRA release announced additional disclosure requirements of Internet Business Activities for corporations, proprietors and farmers.
- Salary to Owners & Relatives - CRA notes that a salary (or dividend) that has proper documentation of the minutes of a meeting of directors, and a T4 -T5 indicating the appropriate amount, could show that a payment was made.
- Training: May not be a Taxable Benefit- Taxability of an amount would depend on whether the primary beneficiary is the employer or employee.
- Profitguide.com - Profitguide.com is a website aimed at providing interesting, relevant and timely information to Canadian small and medium sized corporations.
Please note that the Tax Tips & Traps link will open in Acrobat.com and may take a few seconds to load. To view previous Tax Tips & Traps issues, visit the Newsletter section of our website.
Americans living in Canada face looming IRS tax deadline
The deadline for Americans living in Canada to file a tax return with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is less than a week away, but not everyone is scrambling to get their paperwork in order.
"I'm not filing U.S. taxes," says a Calgary resident we'll call "Joe". As an accidental American, I'm outraged that a foreign government is going after me for the fact that my Canadian parents had me in the U.S. and only stayed there for a few short months."
To read the entire article click here.
ROMA LUCIW
The Globe and Mail
Published: Tuesday, Jun. 11 2013, 10:00 PM EDT
CRA takes steps to clamp down on charitable donation schemes
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced that, starting with the 2012 tax year, it will be putting in place additional measures to deal with gifting tax shelter schemes.
Tax shelter schemes typically promise the taxpayer a charitable donation tax deduction or credit many times the value of the actual donation or gift made. If a tax shelter promoter offers a tax receipt for a larger amount than the donation or payment, it is very likely not a valid donation.
This is the time of year when promoters of these tax shelter schemes are heavily marketing them to Canadians. Please see Canada Revenue's news release protecting Canadians from gifting tax shelter schemes for more information.
Changes to the rules for deducting CPP contributions
On January 1, 2012, changes to the rules for deducting CPP contributions came into effect.
Under the new rules, an employee who works and receives a CPP retirement pension now has to contribute to the CPP if he or she is:
- 60 to 65 years of age;
- 65 to 70 years of age, unless the employee has filed an election with you or another employer to stop paying CPP contributions;
- 65 to 70 years of age, if the employee revoked his or her election to stop paying CPP contributions in 2013 or later.
Under the old rules, you stopped deducting CPP once an employee was 60 to 70 years of age and the employee gave you proof that he or she was receiving a CPP pension.
Note: Canada Revenue can assess you for failing to deduct CPP contributions or for failing to remit the CPP contributions to CRA as required. The assessment may also include penalty and interest charges. For more information, go to Penalties, interest, and other consequences.
All information was obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency website.