I hate to think that a CRA auditor could use the considerable powers at his disposal for a shakedown, but the RCMP is investigating just such a possibility.
Disability crackdown?
In my experience, the CRA has always been pretty careful—some would say overly stingy—about allowing disability tax credits, but, according to a Toronto Star–CBC investigation, that hasn’t stopped abuses of the system. I wonder how many Canadians with real disabilities…
GST44
The CRA just released a new version of GST44, the form used for elections under section 167 of the GST legislation.
CRA Trusts Initiative
I spoke at an Ontario Bar Association conference on October 2 along with David Louis from Minden Gross (among others). David’s presentation included some discussion of the CRA trust audit initiative about which we’ve heard so much. David had contacted the CRA’s Toronto TSO about the initiative, and it told him the following:
No New Policy for VDs
In July, The Globe and Mail was reporting that the CRA was getting ready to “relax the rules for confessing secret, offshore accounts”. Apparently the CRA was considering a new policy that would have required taxpayers to go back only…
Tax Cheats
The Prime Minister has promised that the CRA will chase tax cheats. The PM made this promise in the wake of the release of a CBC News-Globe and Mail report on offshore bank accounts at HSBC in Switzerland.
Partnership Filings
The following is from a news release posted to the CRA website yesterday: Starting in 2011, the requirement related to the number of partners in a partnership will be replaced with a new requirement based on financial activity. Also, the…
Some Big Numbers on Charity Tax Shelters
Today’s Globe and Mail reports that the CRA has reassessed, or soon will reassess, up to 170,000 Canadians “who have allegedly claimed $5-billion in bogus charitable donations since 2003 by using controversial tax shelter programs.”
Prescribed rates for 2010 Q4
The CRA was tardy about publishing the prescribed rates for 2010 Q3. It seems to have wanted to make up for it by publishing the rates for 2010 Q4 early.
Auto Expenses
The CRA website now includes a post on the new method for keeping track of motor vehicle expenses.