It has recently been reported that CRA is reviewing social media accounts to see whether video game streamers’ and online influencers’ income is consistent with paid endorsements and other signs of income online. Video game streamers earn money by playing video games online. Influencers are those who have built a reputation online for their expertise… Read more »

CRA recently discussed one of their top priorities; identifying those involved in the underground economy and ensuring that they are satisfying their tax obligations. They specifically noted that they are using data analytics to predict industry sectors where tax evasion or non- compliance is more likely. Further, they will send unnamed person requests for information… Read more »

The Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) program is intended to support businesses incurring non-deferrable expenses by providing partially forgivable interest-free loans. Originally, applicants could receive a loan of up to $40,000, with 25% of it being forgivable if the other 75% was repaid by December 31, 2022. On December 4, 2020, CEBA loans for eligible… Read more »

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many employees worked from home during a portion of 2020. On December 15, 2020, CRA released guidance on two new options available for employees claiming expenses related to working from home on their personal tax return. While this will clearly impact an employee’s personal tax filing, it should also be… Read more »

The Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) provides a federal subsidization of expenses associated with both commercial rental payments and property ownership. The program commenced on September 27, 2020 and is scheduled to continue until June 2021. The CERS program parallels the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) program in that it is largely based on the… Read more »

On December 21, 2020, CRA launched the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) Employer Search, which allows users to search a listing of 340,000 CEWS applicants. The results, which are updated daily, display the legal name, operating/trade name, or business number of corporations (other types of entities are not listed) that have been approved for the… Read more »

Normally we think about rolling RRIFs and RRSPs to the surviving spouse upon death, however, there are other options. One such option is to roll it on a tax-deferred basis to a child or grandchild’s Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP). A June 26, 2020 Technical Interpretation discussed the ability to roll funds from a deceased… Read more »

In general, U.S. shareholders were required to pay a transition tax on the untaxed foreign earnings of certain specified foreign corporations as if those earnings had been repatriated to the United States. This tax could apply to a U.S. citizen, resident or Green Card holders who own an interest in a private Canadian corporation. This… Read more »

Directors can be personally liable for employee source deductions (both the employer and employee’s portion of CPP and EI, and income tax withheld) and GST/HST unless they exercise due diligence to prevent failure of the corporation to remit these amounts on a timely basis. As many businesses are struggling with cashflow, it may be attractive… Read more »

In a June 10, 2020 French Court of Quebec case, the taxpayer had been assessed with unreported income of $68,162, $66,192 and $31,540 for 2004, 2005 and 2006, respectively, all beyond the normal reassessment period (generally 3 years). The amounts were computed using the cash flow analysis method, meaning that cash received was considered taxable… Read more »