How the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) Views Detaxers / Natural Citizens / Freemen

I recently had the “opportunity” to watch a video from a “Freemen” or “Detaxer” as they would be referred to by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

I’m not going to lie… It made me cringe.

I was immediately brought back to my time spent working for the CRA, and more specifically, to the time spent working with these folks.  You see, the CRA knows there are corporations and individuals who evade and avoid taxes, and a lot of time and effort is spent to find and prosecute these entities. 

They CRA is also very aware of a large groups of individuals who see themselves as “natural individuals” and thus free from “illegal taxation”. They consider themselves to be free on the land, and make some story about being “corporations” and that they have 2 names, one legal and one given to them and they conveniently use the one that doesn’t require them to pay taxes.

To make a long story short, these groups use Canadian infrastructure – buildings, roads, power, etc., yet see themselves as sovereign and thus free from taxation.  They have been known to hold info-sessions and sell “tax-free” cards to the attendees – who try to use them only to find the RCMP at their door and their cards seized.

The problem with this view, is the fact that there have been MANY court cases dealing with this matter and in each and every case, the CRA has won. There is ZERO precedent for this view to have an ounce of legitimacy, no matter which “brilliant” person is trying to convince you or me otherwise.

I’m sorry to say, if you follow these views, you are just asking for trouble with the CRA, and that trouble comes in the form of late filing penalties, interest, gross negligence penalties (50% of the tax owing), assessments, prosecution, and potential jail time.

It’s a scam, so please, do yourself a favour and stay away. It’s in your best interests to avoid this type of theory.

Having worked in the CRA’s collections department for over 10-years, and having deal with these cases for many of those years, I can say with experience, and certainty that what ultimately happens is property seizures, frozen bank accounts, seized funds, wage garnishments and all that pressure applied together until there was no choice but to file and pay, often having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and interest.

Learning about these cases makes me sad, and wish that someone had taken the time to speak to the victims of this scam and answer questions so they know that it never ever ends well or in their favour.

It’s a lose-lose proposition.

Already in trouble?

File your returns, notify the CRA you’re coming clean. Make payment arrangements for your debts. Doing this now, before the CRA gets to you can help you with an application for Taxpayer Relief.

The Canada Revenue Agency Collections Officers are Back in Business: and they’re coming for you!

October is here, and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have been given the green light from the Federal government to collect money.

As a result, Collections, Audit and Appeals are all back in business and they are looking for you!

The CRA’s Collections department are officially back at work this week, able to make collections calls, send collections letters and find money. If you owe money to the CRA, or if you have any outstanding returns owing to the CRA, you can expect to hear from Collections.

Thanks in part to the massive amount of money that this Federal government gave away during the COVID pandemic, you can also expect to be contacted by an auditor, if you received any of those benefits.

If you do hear from the CRA, you might want to act fast. They have been given the orders to act fast, and collect / recover as much money as they can in the quickest manner. That means you can expect a call for a verification audit, and before the phone connection terminates, a letter will be on it’s way, giving you a week or 2 to respond and provide information. If you miss that deadline, your case will be closed, and your file passed along to collections.

If you received any government benefits via Direct Deposit, then the CRA already has your banking information which means once the amount is deemed collectible, they can (and will) just take it from your bank account.

It will be that fast.

Additionally, if you were behind on compliance with the CRA (haven’t filed returns up to date), and you failed to get those done while self-isolating, don’t expect the Collections group to have any mercy on you. You had “plenty” of time to get that done. No excuse or explanation is going to buy you more time.

If you incurred new tax debts, and haven’t made arrangements, or had previous arrears and didn’t make arrears payments while interest rates were at 0%, you have no excuse, in the eyes of the CRA, as to why you still have a balance, or are unable to pay.

The 0% interest rate on balances owing is gone, and the CRA have been given the marching orders from above to collect, collect, collect.

If you need help with anything CRA related, do not hesitate to contact us for assistance, at info@intaxicating.ca

Provincial and Federal Student Loans: Resources and Information to help you Navigate the System

You have taken out a student loan to assist you while you go to school. Keep in mind that whether you complete school, or drop out, you still have to pay back that loan, and not doing so can have considerable consequences.

In my early 20’s, I had taken a part-time job working for Equifax who at that time collected student loans. I recall a conversation with a girl in Kanata, Ontario who owed $40,000 on her loan and was paying $10/month.

Rather than yelling and her and demanding payment, I asked her what she intended on doing with the loan. She was quite sincere when she said that she was making the $10/month payments to appease the collection agency and that she felt she didn’t actually owe the loan.

I felt bad.

When I asked her why she didn’t owe it, she said simply because she didn’t go to school, thus didn’t need the loan for school.

“So, what did you do with the money you got from the government?”, I asked.

“Oh, I bought a car, a huge TV, and some new clothes… But I didn’t use it for school.”

“Oh”, was all I could think of… “but you took out a loan, and still need to pay the money back.” I spent the next 15-20 minutes answering questions and providing information.

2 days later she filed for bankruptcy.

She should have used that money and gone to school!

Regardless, there is a lot of information regarding student loans and how to get out of them. Rather than looking at it solely from that way, let’s look at them right from the begging through to the completion of the loan.

Beginning with, once you get a loan:

Make a plan to repay your student debt

1. Who you need to repay

You may have loans or lines of credit that you need to repay to the government and/or your financial institution. In some provinces and territories, Canada Student Loans are issued separately by the federal and provincial or territorial governments, which means, you could have more than one loan to pay back.

Verify your contracts to determine where your debt comes from and where you need to repay it.

2. How much you need to repay

Verify your loan or line of credit contract to figure out the following:

  • Total amount owing
  • Interest rate applied to the debt
  • How to repay the debt
  • How much to pay
  • How long it will take to pay back the debt

Contact the organization that provided your student loan or line of credit if you don’t have the information listed above.

3. When you need to start paying

Different repayment rules may apply depending on your type of student loan.

Canada Student Loans (CSL)

CSL’s have a 6-month non-repayment period after graduation and during that period, payments do not have to be made and interest will not be charged on the loan. This period begins after one of the following;

  • Finish your final school term
  • Transfer from full-time to part-time studies
  • Leave school or
  • Take time off school

Before the 6-month period ends, you’ll have to log in to your National Student Loan Service Centre account to find out your repayment schedule.

Note: You can and should still make payments at any time after receiving your loan. You don’t have to wait until after the 6-month period ends to start repaying. Paying it early and often reduces the amount of principle owing which reduces the amount of interest charged.

Find out more about the repayment schedule and options for your Canada Student Loan.

Click here to: Log in to your National Student Loan Service Centre account

Provincial student loans

The repayment rules of provincial student loans vary depending on the province or territory where you applied for your loan.

Find out about repayment rules and schedule for student loan programs in your province.

Student Lines of Credit (SLOC)

If you have a SLOC through your financial institution, you’ll have to pay the interest on the amount of money you borrow while you’re still in school.

After graduation, many financial institutions provide a 4 to 12-month grace period during which only interest payments are required to be made. This benefits the institution because they’re getting your interest payments and you are not reducing the amount of principle owing. Once the grace period ends, you’re back to paying the debt through a repayment schedule agreed upon with that institution.

Contact your financial institution to get information about paying back your student line of credit.

Having trouble paying

If you need help with repaying your CSL, you may qualify for the Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP).

Find out more about the Repayment Assistance Plan for your Canada Student Loan.

If you’re having trouble repaying a provincial student loan, contact your student aid office. For repayment assistance with a loan or LOC provided by your financial institution, contact your branch to determine what your options are.

Understand that by making your payments smaller, it will take you longer to pay back your loan. You’ll end up paying more interest on your loan.

Find the student aid office in your province or territory.

How student debt affects your credit score

Student loans and lines of credit form part of your credit history which means if you miss, or are late with, your payments, it can affect your credit score.

Your credit score shows future lenders how risky it can be for them to lend you money. A poor credit score makes it difficult to borrow money from a bank, get a credit card, and can impact your ability to get a job, or rent an apartment.

Bankruptcy

Understand that if you file for bankruptcy within seven years of finishing your studies, your Canada Student Loan won’t be discharged. You’ll have to continue paying back your loan.

Learn how bankruptcy affects your CSL debts.

Tips to repay your student debt faster

1. Make lump-sum payments

Making lump-sum payments at any time will help you pay down your loan faster. Lump-sum payments will go toward interest first and then to the principal of your loan. Paying down the principal reduces the total amount you owe, which means you pay less interest.

If you make lump-sum payments while you’re in school or during the 6-month non-repayment period, the payments go towards the principal of your loan.

Find out about making lump-sum payments on your Canada Student Loan.

2. Increase the amount of your payments

The amount you pay over and above your minimum payment goes toward the principal of your loan, which decreases the total amount you owe, and the amount of interest you have to pay.

3. Budget your payments

Build your student debt payments into your budget and make payments that are larger than the minimum payments. You can also speak with your financial institution about setting up automatic payments.

When planning your budget and automatic payments, make sure you know when your payments are due. Remember that if you have more than one loan or line of credit, you may have more than one payment due date.

Loans in Default

Rehabilitate Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans in Default

As of January 1st, 2020, borrowers will have a new option to rehabilitate Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans in default. The option is to add interest to the principal of your loan (capitalize the interest) and make two payments to rehabilitate your loan.

Repayment assistance

Missed loan payments? Can’t make payments? The Government of Canada has repayment assistance options that may be able to help. Contact the National Student Loans Service Centre (NSLSC) and your provincial or territorial student financial aid office to discuss repayment options.

Canada Student Loans

If you have a Canada Student Loan, one of the following measures may be right for you:

Repayment assistance

Getting your loan out of collection

If you have missed 9 months of payments, your federal student loan will be sent to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for collection.

Once in collection, you are no longer able to get student aid. To be able to get student aid again, you must bring your loan up to date.

  • Contact the CRA to make a payment arrangement and bring your loan up to date.

For the provincial or territorial part of your student loan, you will need to contact your province of permanent residence.

For borrowers from Saskatchewan you may contact the CRA for both federal and provincial parts of your student loan.

Rehabilitate your Canada Student Loan

If your loan is in collection, you may be eligible to bring your Canada Student Loan up to date. To do so, contact the CRA to see if you are eligible to rehabilitate your federal student loan. Make payments equal to two regular monthly payments and choose one of the following options:

  1. Pay off all outstanding interest on your loan, or
  2. Add all unpaid interest to the balance of your loan. You will receive a new payment schedule for the new balance.

Note: The option to add the unpaid interest to the balance of your loan can only be done once.

Once you make your payments, call the NSLSC and ask to speak with a Canada Student Loans Program agent. You should receive a new repayment plan within one month.

Bankruptcy doesn’t erase student loans during the first 7 years

Be aware: if you file for bankruptcy within seven years of finishing your studies, your Canada Student Loan won’t be cancelled. You will have to continue paying back your Canada Student Loan.

Industry Canada provides a helpful resource to learn how Bankruptcy affects your Canada Student Loan debts

CRA Snitch Line Accepting Tips on COVID Fraud

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) have announced that they are opening up their Informant Leads (snitch) line to information regarding COVID-19 benefit program fraud.

Amid reports that people are double dipping or taking the benefits when there are not entitled to, the CRA are intent on not waiting for 2021 when people file their tax returns, but are asking for Canadians to come forward and provide information regarding the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS).

The Snitch Line accepts information of tax cheating such as not declaring all income, accepting “under the table” cash payments or setting up a fake business to claim losses and thus reduce taxes. The information reported goes right to an audit group, who compare the information they receive with the information the CRA already has on that individual and business, and if the amount to recover is significant, will act to seek recovery.

The CRA said it is looking for information regarding people who are receiving either CERB or CESB who were ineligible, or businesses or charities who are “misusing” the wage subsidy program.

The decision to go after cheaters marks a significant turning point in the Trudeau government’s desire to take on fraud of COVID-19 emergency aid programs. In mid-April, a CRA spokesperson dissuaded Canadians from snitching on potentially ineligible CERB recipients because, at that time, the CRA said their focus was on “getting crucial (CERB) payments to those who urgently need it now.”

The CRA stated that those who received a payment to which they weren’t entitled will be required to repay the amount in due course.

Due course meant with the filing of the 2021 personal income tax return for many who applied for and received the credit, only to learn that their income did not dip below the amounts making them eligible to receive the funds. With so many Canadians providing direct deposit information to the CRA, means that with direct access to your bank account, the CRA can take those funds when they want. It also means if there are not sufficient funds in your bank account that the CRA can freeze you bank account and send a garnishment to your employer, if warranted.

With this significant change in direction, it should be noted that any business or individual who are caught receiving money they we not entitled to, will be ordered to reimburse it and it could be quite costly. In the case of the wage subsidy, a business which falsified documents, in order to claim the benefit can face penalties up to 225% of the amount received through the program.

The CRA and Service Canada have records of all individuals who’ve received payments for the CERB and CESB. What has changed is that the CRA have brought in their audit staff – presently not working on audits due to COVID – to verify payments were correctly allocated.

How to Snitch

In order to successfully provide information to the CRA through their Informant Leads line, there is information that the CRA requires.  Remember, all information provided to the CRA is anonymous.

Depending on the program they may have falsely claimed, the CRA would require details on the suspect’s work situation (CERB and CESB), their schooling situation (CESB) or their employer’s number of employees and total payroll (CEWS).

In many cases, people brag to their friends and neighbours about how stupid the government is, by providing them with benefit payments when they are not entitled, and that information is usually enough for the CRA to investigate.

The link to the CRA’s Informant Leads Program information, is here.

Filed your 2019 Personal Income Tax Return: Now what?

What an absolute crazy year 2020 has been thus far!

The tax filing deadline for individuals to file their 2019 personal income tax returns (T1) in Canada was June 1st, by 11:59pm. For Canadians who have earned self-employment income, their returns are due by June 15th, 2020. Payments for balances owing are due to the CRA by September 1st, 2020, and the CRA is currently not charging interest on exsting balances owing the them, nor interest or penalties for any late payments or filings for the time being.

New and enhanced services

Check CRA processing times – Want to find out quickly how long it will take for the CRA to process your return, or your refund? Use the Check CRA Processing Times tool on canada.ca to get a targeted completion date. The new tool uses published service standards and information you select from drop-down menus to calculate targeted completion times for various programs.

Dedicated telephone service for tax service providers – If you are still working on a tax return(s), the CRA have been offering this service to small and medium income tax service providers across Canada for the 2020 tax filing season. By using this service, income tax service providers can connect with experienced CRA officers who assist with complex tax questions.

Representative authorizations – Thank goodness, the CRA has created a new e-authorization process for online access to individual tax accounts which permits representatives to request access to individual tax accounts using a web form through Represent a Client. As a result, the existing T1013 form will be discontinued for access to individual tax accounts.

The T1013, RC59, and NR95 will be combined into one form called the AUT-01 Authorize a Representative for Access by Phone and Mail. This form will only be used to request offline access to individual and business tax accounts.

Owing Money to CRA

If you have filed, or are about to file and you owe money to the CRA, there are a couple of critically important facts you should keep in mind.

  1. If you have applied for any of the COVID-prompted benefit programs, and have done so through Direct Deposit, you may, unfortunately, be at risk.
  2. The CRA is delaying the payment of balances owing until September 1st, while not charging interest on all accounts except payroll accounts. This shouldn’t mean its okay to forget it until the fall, but rather, with no interest being charged on existing balances, its the best time to figure out ways to catch up, set aside funds, or find / earn funds to pay off the CRA
  3. Before we all know it, it will be September, and a few things will be certainties. Our year-end will be fast approaching for the 2020 tax filing season, any balances owing to the CRA will be due, and the Canadian debt and deficit will be through the roof. The Federal government will need those funds ASAP, and aside from raising taxes, they will likely begin aggressive collections of taxes owing. The quickest way the CRA can recover funds, is by issuing a Notice of Assessment (which has legal warning in it) and then taking those funds from your bank account.
  4. You have options outside of bankruptcy, consumer proposals, high-interest loans, or high-rate mortgages. Preparing in advance for this situation and working with the CRA can prevent unwanted or unexpected surprises.

 

The CRA’s collections staff have already been advised where to locate direct deposit information and how ensure it is accessible when full collections are permitted.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

inTAXicating can assist with anything CRA-related. With over 10-years experience working in the CRA’s Collections department, we know things the CRA will never tell you.

 

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA)

What is the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance Program (CECRA), and how does it work?

The CECRA program will provide forgivable loans to qualifying commercial property owners to cover 50% of three (3) monthly rent payments that are payable by eligible small business tenants who are experiencing financial hardship during April, May, and June.

The Program

The loans will be forgiven if the mortgaged property owner agrees to reduce the small business tenants’ rent by at least 75% under a rent forgiveness agreement, which will include a term not to evict the tenant while the agreement is in place. The small business tenant would cover the remainder, up to 25% of the rent.

Who Qualifies as a Small Business Tenant?

Impacted small business tenants are businesses who;

  • Pay no more than $50,000 in monthly gross rent per location (as defined by a valid and enforceable lease agreement),
  • Generate no more than $20 million in gross annual revenues, calculated on a consolidated basis (at the ultimate parent level), and
  • Have temporarily ceased operations (i.e. generating no revenues), or has experienced at least a 70% decline in pre-COVID-19 revenues.

Property Owners

CECRA for small businesses is applicable to commercial property owners with:

  • Eligible small business tenants
  • Eligible small business subtenants
  • Residential components and multi-unit residential properties with commercial tenants (i.e. mixed usage)

 

To qualify, property owners must meet the following requirements:

  • You own property that generates rental revenue from commercial real property located in Canada.
  • You are the property owner of the commercial real property where the impacted small business tenants are located.
  • You have a mortgage loan secured by the commercial real property, occupied by one or more small business tenants.
  • You have entered OR will enter into a rent reduction agreement for the period of April, May, and June 2020, that will reduce impacted small business tenant’s rent by at least 75%.
  • Your rent reduction agreement with impacted tenants includes a moratorium on eviction for the period of April, May and June 2020.
  • You have declared rental income on your tax return (personal or corporate) for tax years 2018 and/or 2019.

 

How Does it Work?

While it is expected that CECRA will be operational by mid-May, commercial landlords are expected to either enter into the agreement, reducing rent immediately, or, once the program details have arrived, enter into the agreement and refund the monies to the tenant.

 

What Will CRA be looking for?

In order to support the credit, the CRA will be checking to ensure revenue loss. Small businesses can compare revenues in April, May and June of 2020 to that of the same month of 2019. They can also use an average of their revenues earned in January and February of 2020. If these figures do not justify a revenue loss of at least 75%, the credit will need to be paid back to the CRA.

 

What will CMHC be looking for?

CECRA for small businesses loans will be forgiven if the property owner complies with all applicable program terms and conditions including to not seek to recover rent abatement amounts after the program is over.

 

Administering the Program

CMHC will administer the program on behalf of the Government of Canada, provincial and territorial partners.

 

The program offers assistance for the months of April, May and June, 2020.

  • It can be applied retroactively.
  • Property owners may still apply for assistance once the 3-month period has ended if they can prove eligibility during those months.
  • Property owners must refund amounts paid by the small business tenant for the period.

 

If rent has been collected at the time of approval, a credit to the tenant for a future month’s rent (i.e. July for April) is acceptable if agreed upon by both the property owner and the tenant. This can be a flexible 3-month period.

 

The deadline to apply is August 31, 2020.

 

Program Summary Details

CMHC will provide forgivable loans to eligible commercial property owners.

  • The loans will cover 50% of the gross rent owed by impacted small business tenants during the 3-month period of April, May and June 2020.
  • The property owner will be responsible for no less than half of the remaining 50% of the gross rent payments (paying no less than 25% of the total).
  • The small business tenant will be responsible for no more than half of the remaining 50% of the gross rent payments (paying no more than 25% of the total).

 

 

Tax Deductions for Canadian Professional Athletes

We’ve been working on a list of tax deductions for Canadian professional athletes, and in doing so, have compiled this list.

As of the date of posting this, this list is believed to accurate, although may or may not be inclusive of every possible deduction. In addition, there is no supporting legislation linked to these deductions – that will be coming. This list, is therefore not meant to be taken as fact, it’s always prudent to check and double check eligible deductions, to ensure that all possible deductions have been claimed and that none are missed.

Tax deductions unique to professional athletes.

1. Meals and Incidental Travel Expenses – According to tax law, a taxpayer who travels for business purposes can deduct “ordinary and necessary” travel expenses including meals, tips, local travel (such as taxi fare, rental cars, and other modes of transportation), as well as other miscellaneous expenses. Taxpayers have the option of either documenting their actual expenses or deducting a per diem amount per tax law.
2. Temporary Housing – Temporary living expenses may be deductible under certain circumstances. Law provides for deduction of these expenses if they stay in a location is temporary in nature (generally less than one year) and at the convenience of your employer. A lot of times minor league players fall into this category. In most cases, the living expenses of a player competing at the major league level will not be deductible given the indefinite nature of the stay.
3. Clubhouse Dues – Clubhouse dues are deductible as ordinary and necessary business expenses. It is best to pay these dues by check so there is acceptable documentation to support the payment was made. If you cannot pay by check, ask for a receipt from the clubhouse manager to save for your records.
4. Health Club and Training Expenses – Most or all of the conditioning and training expenses incurred by professional athletes are deductible as a miscellaneous itemized deduction.
5. Equipment – Most or all equipment purchased by a professional athlete used in competition or training is either wholly deductible or able to be deducted by taking a depreciation deduction over a number of years.
6. Union Dues – Union dues paid to a Players Association are deductible as a miscellaneous itemized deduction.
7. Agent and Management Fees – Fees paid to an agent or to a manager are tax-deductible, as are fees paid for account and tax preparations and consulting.
8. Charitable Giving and Planning – Charitable planning can play a significant role in the career and life of a professional athlete. If a plan is structured properly, the athlete can marry the goals of supporting causes that are meaningful to their family and him/her both during his playing days and long after they have retired.

This can be achieved while maximizing his/her charitable income deductions during his high income/high tax bracket years. Philanthropic athletes who don’t consider a formalized plan to integrate their desire to help others with a well thought out tax strategy would be doing themselves a grave disservice.

Owing Taxes to the CRA: Real options to consider

The Canadian Tax Filing deadlines for regular filers and for filers with self-employment income are rapidly approaching.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has pushed out the tax filing deadline for regular tax filers from April 30th, 2020, to June 1st, 2020.  Canadians with self-employment income were due to file by June 15th, 2020, and that date has remained the same.

Any payments for the current tax year are due by September 1st, 2020, which applies to balances and instalments under Part 1 of the Income Tax Act due on or after March 18th and before September 1st, 2020.

If you earned significant self-employment income, for the first time, you might be in for an unexpected surprise when you file your tax return, because there will likely be a balance owing to the CRA. This balance owing is a result of having to pay the amounts that an employer would have normally deducted from your pay, including both portions of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

If you haven’t made other provisions to cover your tax debt at the end of the year, you could have a problem.

If this were not a pandemic year and the CRA was fully operational, I would warn that tax debt is serious and should be dealt with immediately.

As we are all aware, the collections staff at the CRA have considerable “power” to find and collect money that are owing to the Crown.

With the amount of government benefits being offered up this year, Canadians have been providing their banking information to the CRA in record numbers, and it is that banking information which the CRA can, and will, use to recover the taxes owing to them, likely in record time.

In effort to deter Canadians from not paying the CRA, they charge penalties and interest (which compounds daily) on your overdue taxes.

They can withhold payment of your Child Tax Credit and GST rebate. They can take money from your bank account or garnishee your wages.

If those methods do not result in full payment of taxes, the CRA will then check to see if you own real estate, as they can register a lien against your property.

When a lien is registered against your property it can prohibit you from refinancing or selling your property until the outstanding debt is paid in full.

You may also find that if you are non-compliant (not filed up to date with the CRA), you may not be able to secure mortgage financing to purchase a home, buy a cottage, get a loan, or access equity in your property.

Many Canadian banks and credit unions will not provide an unsecured loan for the payment of income tax debt and they generally cannot refinance an existing mortgage to cover the debt either. When they learn of a lien, they deem you a credit risk and are more comfortable walking away from you as a customer then take a risk lending you funds that you either cannot pay or that the CRA will end up taking.

 

What Can You Do

Normally, you would contact the CRA immediately – but these are COVID times – and the CRAès collections division is presently not taking collection actions or weighing in on payment arrangements.

Pay what you can, as much as you can.  Because paying anything less than the balance owing is going to result in interest accumulating.

There is no need to pay more to the CRA, unless you absolutely have to.

If these were normal times, you might be able to negotiate a re-payment arrangement covering 3-6 months, but the interest continues to accrue.

 

What NOT to do

This is important to note – filing for bankruptcy, or filing a consumer proposal, does not discharge a lien against your property. If you go bankrupt on your CRA debt, the lien remains and – even worse – accrues interest over time. Even after your discharge from bankruptcy, the lien remains in force, until you eventually sell your home. Transferring a tax problem for a credit problem is not always the best option.

Do not transfer any assets, or your property, to another person. That will not solve your problems, but rather cause other ones.

Removing assets from the reach of the CRA will result in the raising of a Section 160 (325), non-armsè length assessment, which takes your tax debt and makes it jointly and severally liable with the person who now owns your property.

Do not ignore it. Far too often, Canadians ignore the requirement to file and pay their taxes. This means a balance owing to the CRA continues to grow and grow. When the balance gets to be too high, people feel they have very few options, and consider bankruptcy or insolvency to be one of them. Worse that this scenario, is when one of the parties with a large tax debt falls ill, passes away, or becomes separated from the other, and now the ability to resolve the tax matter becomes that much more difficult.

 

A Better Solution

If you are a homeowner then having an experienced mortgage broker working for you can save you both time and money when seeking a solution to your CRA problem. If you simply can’t pay the full amount of your back taxes, consider refinancing your mortgage and using the equity in your home to consolidate all of your debts, including credit card debts, at a rate which might even be better than the rate you are currently paying.

Mortgage brokers have access to lenders that will allow a refinance of your existing mortgage or second mortgage options to pay off outstanding CRA debt.

If you have tax debt, or are going to be facing some tax arrears, do not worry. Contact inTAXicating and let us provide you with the truth around your tax options and help you find the best solution for you.

info@intaxicating.ca

intaxicatingtaxservices@gmail.com

 

Best and Worst Major Cities for Business Tax Burdens: C.D. Howe Institute

On April 23rd, 2020, the C.D. Howe Institute released a report which identifies the best and worst major Canadian cities for business investment as measured by overall tax burdens.

The link to the reports is here; “Business Tax Burdens in Canada’s Major Cities: The 2019 Report Card.”  Authors Adam Found and Peter Tomlinson compared business tax burdens in 10 Canadian municipalities, the largest in each province.

“Municipalities and provinces would do well to pay attention to business tax burdens, particularly those imposed by business property taxes, since they impede investment and businesses’ ability to survive and invest after the present pandemic,” says Found.

Before a business decides to locate or expand in a given jurisdiction, it must consider the tax implications of such an investment.

Heavy tax burdens reduce potential returns, driving investment away to other jurisdictions and, with it, the associated economic benefits.

Found and Tomlinson estimate the 2019 Marginal Effective Tax Rate (METR) for the largest municipality in each province by aggregating corporate income taxes, retail sales taxes, land transfer taxes and business property taxes. Their findings measure the tax burden on a hypothetical investment that has the same net-of-tax return regardless of where in Canada it is located.

What Did They Find?

That municipal business tax burdens are highest in Montreal, Halifax and St. John’s, while near the group average in Calgary, Charlottetown and Moncton.

The most competitive municipal business tax environments were found in Vancouver, followed by Saskatoon, Toronto and Winnipeg.

I’d be curious to see if there was any consideration given to the associated costs which impact businesses in these markets, such as the cost and availability of parking and ability of the general public to access these businesses. Certainly, an expensive parking rate which is heavily enforced by the parking police would deter customers in certain parts of these cities.

Then again, so does bad signage…

Nonetheless, the bottom line is this. If the cost of investing in a Canadian jurisdiction is higher than the cost of investing elsewhere, then that jurisdiction’s capital stock will be smaller than it otherwise would be, because businesses go where the costs are cheaper so they can try to make more money.

The higher the METR (tax rates), the greater the investment loss and overall economic harm.

Tax dollars are important for budgeting purposes because jurisdictions use those dollars to support expenditures. When the tax base erodes, either taxes are increased, expenditures cut, or debts and deficits increased.

Calgary’s experience with depreciating property values was also discussed in this report, because in that city, as the assessed values of downtown office buildings depreciated rapidly, that caused unmanageable tax shifts onto other businesses in the city, to make up the shortfall.

“Calgary is a cautionary tale for cities across the country,” says Tomlinson. “With the current cash crunch for businesses, provincial property tax cuts – like those just announced in British Columbia – could be key to businesses’ survival.”

Read Full Report

The C.D. Howe Institute is an independent not-for-profit research institute whose mission is to raise living standards by fostering economically sound public policies. Widely considered to be Canada’s most influential think tank, the Institute is a trusted source of essential policy intelligence, distinguished by research that is nonpartisan, evidence-based and subject to definitive expert review.