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June 15th was the final deadline for filing self-employed individuals’ tax returns (and their spouses) to be considered as filed on time without penalty. Because the 15th fell on a Sunday, Canada Revenue Agency rolls the deadline forward to the next business day .. which was June 16, 2008 at Midnight. G.S.T. returns for self-employed individuals, who file annually, were also due.

So … I arrive in front of the Canada Revenue Drop Box at 11:33pm with three envelopes filled with client stuff to file ….and …

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The proposed TFSA is a registered savings account that allows taxpayers to earn investment income tax-free inside the account. Contributions to the account are not deductible for tax purposes, and withdrawals of contributions and earnings from the account are not taxable. The February 26, 2008 Budget proposed that this starts January 1, 2009.

What Is This TFSA?

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A Good Find …

If you live in Canada and are curious .. check out the “Canadian Tax Tips Calculator” .. enter some financial information, and print out the report!

CLICK HERE: Canadian Tax Tips Calculator - Everywhere Except Quebec

CLICK HERE: Canadian Tax Tips Calculator - Quebec only

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.. According to Deloitte’s October 2007 TaxBreaks Newsletter

It’s a good read … here’s just one of these 15 tax tips .. #10 …

10. Pay a bonus

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There is an interesting article in the July issue of TaxMatters@EY (from Ernst & Young), including information about transferring the cottage to the next generation.

From the July Issue:

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As announced by “Canada’s New Government” in their Tax Fairness Plan of October 31, 2006 … that introduced income splitting for pensioners to increase the rewards from retirement saving effective as of the 2007 taxation year … NEW INFORMATION is now available on the CRA Web site.

This will benefit a good handful of my own clients, and in addition to just linking out the CRA news release, I thought I would just post this information again in my blog for clarification!

If you are receiving pension income in 2007 other than CPP and OAS greater or less than your spouse .. this post is for you!

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Psssst! Deloitte & Touche, LLP .. has updated their “Quick Tax Facts 2007” publication. It’s worth printing it out these 2 pages and keeping a copy on your pegboard for quick perusal …

I keep a printout of something like this on my pegboard for quick estimates while I am on the phone with clients. For instance, if an individual in Manitoba makes $100,000 per year, the combined taxes would be about $32,270. If two individuals each make $50,000 per year, the combined taxes would be about $12,204 each (or $24,408 total). Just knowing this “on the fly” is helpful at times. In Canada, our marginal tax rates are ‘graduating’ in a sense, that once you reach a certain level of tax, the excess is taxed at a higher rate until the next level. In Manitoba, if you earn $100,000 income, you are effectively taxed at 32.27% .. but, if you earn $1,000,000 you are effectively taxed at 44.92%. It’s different in all areas of Canada, because in addition to the federal rates, each provincial or territory have their own tax rates.

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In case you were one of those taxpayers that filed your 2006 Personal Income Tax Return in the last week of April 2007 … it’s possible that you haven’t received your official Notice of Assessment for 2006 from Canada Revenue Agency yet.

Don’t worry! Canada Revenue Agency has been averaging 8-10 weeks normal assessment time of these tax returns, for those who filed in the last few days of April 2007. From what I can gather, from enquiry over the phone with representatives at the 1-800-959-8281 hotline .. the majority load of these affected returns are in the final stages of assessment at this very moment, or have already been designated as assessed. If so, they will probably be dated Thursday July 12, 2007 and mailed Wednesday Night.

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Have you been following the Exchange Rates Lately?

Here are the average annual exchange rates for the following years by CRA

1995 - USD - 1.3726
1996 - USD - 1.3618
1997 - USD - 1.4267
1998 - USD - 1.5422
1999 - USD - 1.48584024
2000 - USD - 1.48520240
2001 - USD - 1.54841633
2002 - USD - 1.57035976
2003 - USD - 1.40146175
2004 - USD - 1.30152024
2005 - USD - 1.21163240
2006 - USD - 1.13409360

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* IT SEEMS THAT I AM NOT ALONE! - Received 15,911,443 .. Expected 25,800,000 >> That’s less than 62% of Canadians have filed by April 26th .. 4 days before the deadline. .. Generally, that’s been my experience in Public Practice that almost 1/3 of the tax returns are done in the last days .. just like it is with me personally this year!

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