Offshore Tax Havens: What Is the Cost to Canada? A recent Report from the U.K.-based Tax Justice Network (TJN) used a powerful analogy to summarize the impact of offshore tax havens on the global economy: “The equivalent of one nurse’s annual salary is lost to a tax haven every second.” Overall, the Report concludes that…
QA – Rolling over RRSP to IRA or 401k? I am a Canadian living in the U.S. I have two RRSPs, one is a personal plan and the other is a locked-in account from my previous employer’s pension plan. Can I transfer (roll over) my RRSPs into an account in the U.S. without being penalized?…
New US Citizen in Canada video just posted! Hi everyone Just uploaded a new video to youtube explaining some requirements for US expats. Hope you enjoy!
IRS’s 2011 OVDI (Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative) As many of you are already aware the Internal Revenue Service has launched (February 2011) a new Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. This initiative is similar to the 2009 Voluntary Disclosure Initiative, however some changes have been made. First, the IRS is has increased the non-disclosure penalty on the…
Minister Ashfield announces funding to help charities and protect Canadians The CRA will be providing almost 3 million in contribution funding for innovative education and training projects carried out before March 31 2011. The projects chosen will educate charities on complaint fund raising practices and about tax donation arrangements and false receipting, and will promote…
The CRA revokes the registered status of the Canadian Lacrosse Association The CRA has revoked the Canadian Lacrosse Association as a registered Canadian amateur athletic association (RCAAA). RCAAA had the authority to issue donation receipts for income tax purposes but know they have been suspending by CRA. For issuing more than $60.7 million in donation…
CRA Cracking Down on Non-Compliance I wanted to share the recent CRA news release regarding how much extra revenue CRA has obtained by auditing and reviewing individuals and businesses’ income tax affairs. The article also outlines some cases where criminal prosecution was levied. The quick lesson here is……file you returns on time and make sure…
Canada Continues To Aim At Attracting New Investment With Lower Taxes The Canadian government continues to boast about their plans to further reduce income tax for corporations in an effort to attract additional investment from outside its borders. Some of the tax changes include: Substantial, broad-based tax reductions that are lowering the federal general corporate…
The Goverment Gives Long-Haul Truck Drivers Additonal Tax Benefits On December 28th, 2009 the Minister of Finance announced that the eligible deduction portion of meal expenses for long-haul drivers will be increased to 75% from 70% for meals incurred in 2010. The announcement also discusses an additional increase for meals incurred after 2010 to 80%….
Flaherty Announces New Automobile and Expense Rates for Business On December 31th, 2009 the Minister of Finance announced the following items: The capital cost allowance cap of $30,000 (plus applicable taxes) for passenger vehicles will remain in affect for vehicles purchased after 2009. The maximum allowable deduction for interest incurred on debt to finance business…
The Case For A Canadian Flat Income Tax System Maureen Bader at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation makes the case for a flat Canadian Tax citing stats from 2004 Statcan data. The short article can be read here: http://www.taxpayer.com/blog/11-12-2009/weathy-bear-disproprionately-higher-tax-burden