Tax Advice

When are Legal Fees Deductible?
In most cases, the need to seek out and obtain legal services (and to pay for them) is associated with life’s more unwelcome occurrences and experiences — a divorce, a dispute over a family estate, or a job loss. The only thing that mitigates the pain of paying legal fees (apart, hopefully, from a successful...
Getting the First Instalment Reminder from the Canadian Revenue Agency
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...
New Information Provided on First-Time Home Buyer Incentive Program
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...
Fixing a Mistake in Your (Already Filed) Tax Return
In the best of all possible worlds, the taxpayer, or his or her representative, will have prepared a return that is complete and correct, and filed it on time, and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will issue a Notice of Assessment indicating that the return is “assessed as filed”, meaning that the CRA agrees with...
When You Can’t File or Pay on Time – The Taxpayer Relief Program
The deadline for payment of all individual income taxes owed for the 2018 tax year was April 30, 2019. For all individuals except the self-employed and their spouses, that date was also the filing deadline for tax returns for the 2018 tax year. (The self-employed and their spouses have until June 17, 2019 to file.)...
Which moving-related expenses can be a tax deduction?
In order to be tax deductible, moving costs must be incurred in specific and relatively narrow circumstances. Our tax system allows taxpayers to claim a deduction only where: the move is made to get the taxpayer closer to his or her new place of work, whether that work is a transfer, a new job, or...
Summer Child Care Costs – What can be claimed as a deduction?
Summer is approaching us! For many families, it means the need to begin researching the availability of suitable child care or summer daytime or overnight camp arrangements for the summer months. There are many such options available to parents, but what each of those options have in common is a price tag – sometimes a...
Paying Your Income Tax – When & How
Income tax owed for a year must be paid, in full, on or before April 30 of the following year. This year, that means that individual income taxes owed for 2017 must be remitted to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on or before Monday, April 30, 2018. No exceptions and, absent extraordinary circumstances, no extensions....
Making a Payment Arrangement with the CRA
If an unexpected tax bill can’t be paid in full, the CRA is open to making a payment arrangement with the taxpayer. While the CRA would rather get paid on time and in full, its ultimate goal is to collect the full amount of taxes owed. Consequently, the CRA provides taxpayers who simply can’t pay...
CRA Instalment Reminder…What do I do?
The early months of the new calendar year can feel like a never-ending series of bills and other financial obligations, especially tax-related financial obligations. Canadians must also contend with an instalment reminder received from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) around the middle of February. While many of those who receive such reminders are already familiar...