In a September 23, 2025 French Court of Quebec case, an individual accidentally sold shares, triggering a $67,362 capital gain, while reviewing his stock portfolio on his phone while on pain medicine in the hospital. Realizing his error the next day, he immediately repurchased the shares. The taxpayer argued that there was no sale of shares as he accidentally pressed the button to confirm the sale. He also argued that, as CRA determined that the…
An employee may elect to stop contributing to CPP, provided they are at least 65 years of age (but under 70), receive a CPP or QPP retirement pension and have earnings subject to CPP contributions. A November 13, 2025 Tax Court of Canada case reviewed the timing of an employee’s election to cease contributing to the CPP when he began collecting retirement benefits at age 65. The employee was the sole employee and shareholder of…
OAS provides a monthly income-sensitive payment to eligible individuals aged 65 and older. Individuals who normally receive OAS are occasionally surprised when some OAS is subject to a special tax (commonly referred to as a “clawback”) with their personal tax filings due to high earnings. In particular, OAS is clawed back at a rate of 15% of adjusted income received in that year, above an indexed threshold of $93,454 for 2025 and $95,323 for 2026.…
The voluntary disclosures program (VDP) provides taxpayers with a chance to correct past tax errors or omissions before CRA finds them. If CRA accepts a disclosure, taxpayers may receive some penalty and interest relief and will not be referred for criminal prosecution. Any taxes owing will still have to be paid by the taxpayer in full. The VDP has been significantly changed, effective for disclosures submitted on or after October 1, 2025. Types of disclosures…
A July 25, 2025 Federal Court case found that CRA’s denial of penalty tax relief on excess TFSA contributions was reasonable. Due to the loss of value in the taxpayer’s TFSA, the taxpayer could not withdraw the full amount of his excess contribution. The taxpayer noted that without relief, his only means of reducing the overcontribution was to wait for annual TFSA limit increases, currently set at $7,000, which would require approximately 16 years for…
In late 2023, the Federal government announced its intention to deny income tax deductions for expenses by non-compliant operators of short-term rental properties (such as Airbnb or VRBO properties rented for periods of less than 90 days). These rules would apply to individuals, corporations and trusts with non-compliant short-term rentals.These rules are proposed to come into effect on January 1, 2024. A short-term rental would be non-compliant if, at any time, either: the province or…
Individuals can start collecting Canada Pension Plan (CPP) retirement benefits as early as age 60. However, benefits are decreased by 0.6%/month (7.2% per year) prior to age 65 for a maximum reduction of 36%. They are increased by 0.7%/month (8.4% per year) that CPP is delayed past age 65 to a maximum increase of 42% if collection is deferred to age 70. In other words, monthly retirement benefits are more than 2.2 times as large…
A recent communication from CRA indicated that they have roughly 400 ongoing audits or examinations related to crypto-assets, including 125 “intent to audit” letters sent to taxpayers that they believe did not report income obtained through cryptocurrency trading on Coinsquare. In 2021, CRA required Coinsquare, via an unnamed persons requirement (UPR), to provide information on its 16,500 top users from 2014 to 2020. These letters provided the taxpayer with 45 days to voluntarily contact CRA…
For reporting periods that begin in 2024 and onwards, GST/HST registrants (except charities and selected financial institutions) must file all GST/HST returns with CRA electronically.Registrants who file their GST/HST returns on paper are subject to a penalty of $100 for the first offense and $250 for each subsequent return not filed electronically. While CRA waived these penalties for monthly and quarterly filers who failed to file returns electronically for periods beginning before March 31, 2024,…
The $2/day flat rate method available to claim expenses for employees working from home was a temporary administrative measure only available from 2020 to 2022; it is no longer available in 2023. As such, employees working from home can only use the detailed calculation when claiming expenses. For 2023 and subsequent years, a deduction can only be claimed where one of the following criteria is met: i. the work space was the place where the…
