While most Canadians turn their mind to taxes only in the spring when the annual return must be filed (and then only reluctantly), taxes are a year-round business for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA is busy processing and issuing Notices of Assessment for individual tax returns during the February to June filing season […]
Just a few questions about your tax return…. Read More »
As the summer starts to wind down, both students returning to their colleges and universities and those just starting their post-secondary education must focus on the details of the upcoming school year – finding a place to live, choosing courses, and perhaps most important, arranging payment of tuition and other education-related bills. For many years
Getting a tax assist for post-secondary education costs Read More »
Sometime during the month of July several thousand Canadians will receive an unexpected, unfamiliar, and probably unwelcome piece of correspondence from the Canada Revenue Agency. That correspondence will be an Instalment Reminder advising the recipient of tax payments to be made in September and December of this year. The reason such Reminders are sent during
Getting a first instalment reminder from the Canada Revenue Agency Read More »
A generation ago, retirement was an event. Typically, an individual would leave the work force completely at age 65 and begin collecting Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security benefits along with, in many cases, a pension from an employer-sponsored registered pension plan. Much has changed in the intervening decades and one of those changes
The CPP post-retirement benefit – deciding whether to contribute Read More »
The most recent estimate issued by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) is that close to half a million homes will be sold in Canada during 2019. Since that number doesn’t include moves from one rental accommodation to another, or the twice-a-year post-secondary student migration from home to school (and back again), it’s safe to
Claiming a deduction for moving expenses Read More »
In this year’s Budget, the federal government introduced a new program – the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive (FTHBI), to help qualifying first-time home buyers get into the housing market. Under that program the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (an agency of the federal government) will add a specified amount to the down payment made
New information provided on First-Time Home Buyer Incentive program Read More »
Most Canadians have now filed their individual income tax return for the 2018 tax year and received a Notice of Assessment outlining their tax position for that year. Those who receive a refund will celebrate that fact or, less happily, those who receive a tax bill will pay up the tax amount owed. Both groups
A mid-year check up on your taxes Read More »
It’s the financial “achievement” no one wants to have, but Canadians keep setting new records when it comes to the size of their household debt. And, as of the last quarter of 2018, they did so again. The most recent release of “Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends” issued by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Canadian households set (another) new debt record Read More »
It would be entirely reasonable for Canadians seeking to buy their first home to feel that the odds are very much against them, for a number of reasons. Many of them, especially those in their twenties and thirties, must put together an income from short-term contracts and/or multiple part-time jobs, making it almost impossible to
New assistance for first-time home buyers Read More »
By May 20, 2019, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had processed just over 27 million individual income tax returns filed for the 2018 tax year. Just under 17 million of those returns resulted in a refund to the taxpayer, while about 5.5 million resulted in the required payment of a tax balance by the taxpayer.
Objecting to your 2018 Notice of Assessment Read More »
