Here at H&T Accounting Services, we understand the changing times in today’s world and how important it is to stay financially stable with personal and business finances. This is why we would like to inform our customers about the Canadian Recovery Benefit available. 

What is the CRB? 

The Government of Canada is aiding many Canadians with a benefit known as CRB or the Canadian Recovery Benefit. This benefit is designed to provide income support to employed and self-employed individuals who are or have been affected with COVID-19 and do not qualify for Employment Insurance Benefits (EI). 

Eligibility 

To eligible for this benefit, the following criteria must be met, 

1. You are not employed or self-employed for the period you are applying for due to COVID-19 related reasons or, 
2. You had a 50% reduction in your average weekly income compared to years prior to the pandemic 
3. You did not apply or receive any of the following benefits, 

• Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB)
• Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB)
• short-term disability benefits
• Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
• Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) benefits

1. You are not eligible for EI benefits
2. You reside and were present in Canada
3. You are at least 15 years of age
4. You carry a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN)
5. You earned at least $5,000 in 2019, 2020, or in the 12 months before the date you apply from any of the following sources:

• employment income (total or gross pay)
• net self-employment income (after deducting expenses)
• maternity and parental benefits from EI or similar QPIP benefits

1. You have not quit your job or reduced your hours voluntarily on or after September 27, 2020, unless it was reasonable to do so
2. You were seeking work during the period, either as an employee or in self-employment
3. You have not turned down reasonable work during the 2-week period you’re applying for

Benefit Amount

In receiving this benefit, a bi-weekly gross payment amount of $1,000, before taxes, is provided to those who are eligible. With a 10% withholding applied, the total 2-week payment is 900$. 

The Application Period 

An application must be submitted for every 2-week payment required. The process is not an automatic system which means you must apply every 2 weeks to receive payment regularly. A maximum of 13 periods out of the total 26 periods are available between September 27, 2020 and September 25, 2021 in which the 13 weeks do not need to be collected consecutively. You can apply on the first Monday after the period has ended.

Receiving your Payment

Your benefit can be collected through direct deposit or via mail. Direct deposits can take 3-5 business days whereas mail can arrive between 10-12 business days. 

We encourage all our customers that qualify for this benefit to apply. Understanding these hard times for everyone, every little bit of help goes a long way for those that are in need of it. H&T Accounting Services are here for all inquiries and questions you may have regarding available benefits. We are here to assist with all your accounting and financial needs.

We wish everyone the best of health. Stay safe and healthy!

Whatever business we’re in, we’ve usually got our hands so full that’s it’s easy to overlook or delay important government filing requirements. Don’t make that mistake; it can be costly… in many ways! It’s easier to have a professional make sure everything is being done properly so that you don’t have to worry about it.

Maple resident fined $2,000 for failing to file GST/HST returns

Newmarket, Ontario, September 7, 2012 … The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that on September 5, 2012, Bernardino Ianeiro of Maple, Ontario, was fined $2,000 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Newmarket, Ontario, after pleading guilty to two counts of failing to file GST/HST returns. He was fined $1,000 per count, for a total of $2,000. He has 60 days to pay the fine.

Mr. Ianeiro failed to file two annual GST/HST returns for the periods ending December 31, 1998 and December 31, 2000. All outstanding returns have since been filed.

The preceding information was obtained from the court records.

In addition to the fines imposed by the courts, individuals or corporations convicted of failing to file tax returns are still obligated to file the tax returns and pay the full amount of taxes owing, plus interest, as well as any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA.

Taxpayers who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They may not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These taxpayers may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest.

Secret commissions and tax evasion result in jail and $150,000 fine

Barrie, Ontario, March 26, 2012…The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that on March 21, 2012,  Darwin Whitton, of Stayner, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice in Barrie to one count of tax evasion and two counts of receiving secret commissions. Whitton was sentenced to six months in jail, 17 months of house

Whitton, a former employee of Honda of Canada Mfg. in Alliston, Ontario, requested money and goods from Barry Thompson in exchange for his recommendation to Honda to hire Barry R. Thompson Enterprises Ltd. to perform electrical contracting work at Honda’s Alliston facility. Whitton did not report a total of $622,797 of money and goods provided by Thompson Enterprises on his 2003 to 2008 personal income tax returns. As a result, Whitton evaded paying $177,305of federal income tax during those years.

Whitton informed Thompson of Honda budget limits for electrical contracts as well as the bids of other suppliers. He encouraged Thompson to submit inflated bids approaching Honda’s budget limits and competitive to the bids of other suppliers. In exchange for using his influence to ensure that Thompson Ltd. was the successful bidder, Whitton received 90% of the inflated portion of these bids as a kickback.

In addition to money, Whitton requested and received a sports utility vehicle, two snowmobiles, tractor and accessories, a travel trailer, swimming pool plus related accessories, two all terrain vehicles and trailer, a large screen television, kitchen renovations and fencing.

The preceding information was obtained from the court records.

“Paying taxes is the law,” said Darrell Mahoney, Assistant Commissioner, Ontario Region, CRA. “The vast majority of Canadians accept their tax obligations. In fairness to those law-abiding citizens, the CRA will continue to conduct audit, prosecution, and other enforcement activities on the small minority of individuals who try to evade their obligations,” he added.

Individuals who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They may not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These individuals may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) can be found on the CRA’s website at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

As a rule, you can deduct any reasonable current expense you paid or will have to pay to earn business income. The expenses you can deduct include any GST/HST you incur on these expenses less the amount of any input tax credit claimed.

You cannot deduct personal expenses. Deduct only the business part of expenses from business income. In addition, you cannot claim expenses you incur to buy capital property.

For more information, see the List of expenses below.

Everyone wants to minimize the taxes they pay, but at what cost? If you’re dealing with a “professional” who lacks professionalism, you’re taking your chances. There is no amount of savings that is worth dealing with a company that doesn’t insist on doing things the right way.

Toronto tax preparer guilty of over million dollar tax fraud scheme

Toronto, Ontario, March 21, 2012…The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that Christopher Paterson of Toronto pleaded guilty on March 19, 2012, in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto, to one count of fraud over $5,000. Paterson received an 18 month conditional sentence and 200 hours of community service. In addition, Paterson cannot prepare or file any tax returns or tax appeals on behalf of any person other than himself. Paterson must maintain employment and comply with other statutory conditions.

A CRA investigation revealed that Paterson prepared 144 false income tax returns for the 2004 to 2008 tax years on behalf of himself and 87 clients. He claimed a total of $1,094,559 in false charitable donation deductions on these fraudulent returns, reducing the amount of federal taxes owed. As a result, refunds totalling $313,992 were issued to Paterson’s clients to which they were not entitled. In addition, Paterson also attempted to claim another $154,148 in false charitable donations claims on 16 of his clients’ income tax returns, resulting in those clients attempting to understate federal taxes by $44,255.

Paterson operated a tax preparation business called TaxTips1. Paterson sold false charitable donations receipts of various amounts to his clients for a fee. He then used these charitable donation receipts to prepare his clients income tax returns, and submitted the false receipts along with the returns to the CRA.

The information in this news release was obtained from the court records.

Taxpayers who claim false expenses, credits or rebates from the government are subject to serious consequences. They are liable not only for corrections to their tax returns and payment of the full amount of tax owing, but also to penalties and interest. In addition, if convicted of tax evasion, the court may fine them up to 200% of the tax evaded and sentence them for up to a five-year jail term.

Individuals who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They may not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These individuals may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) can be found on the CRA’s website at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

Most registrants claim their input tax credits (ITCs) when they file their GST/HST return for the reporting period in which they made their purchases. However, you may have ITCs that you did not claim when you filed the return for the corresponding reporting period.

If so, you can claim those ITCs on a future GST/HST return as long as it is filed by the due date of the return for the last reporting period that ends within four years after the end of the reporting period in which the ITC could have first been claimed.

Example
You are a quarterly filer and you buy office furniture in the reporting period October 1, 2011, to December 31, 2011, for which you can claim an ITC. The due date of the return for this reporting period is January 31, 2012.

The last reporting period in which you can claim an ITC for the tax you were charged on the office furniture is the reporting period October 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015. The due date for this return is January 31, 2016. This means that you can claim the ITC in any return due and filed by January 31, 2016.

To support your claim for ITCs, the invoices or receipts you use must contain specific information. See the chart in Sales invoices for GST/HST registrants, for more information.

The time limit for claiming ITCs is reduced to two years for:

• listed financial institutions (other than a corporation that is deemed to be a financial institution because it has made an election to have certain supplies deemed to be financial services and that election is in effect); and
• persons with annual taxable supplies of goods and services of more than $6 million for each of the two preceding fiscal years.

However, the two-year limit does not apply to the following persons even if they fall into the second category listed above (these persons have four years to claim their ITCs):

• charities; and
• persons whose supplies of goods and services (other than financial services) during either of the two preceding fiscal years are at least 90% taxable supplies.

Under the two-year limit, you can claim your ITCs on any future return that is filed by the due date of the return for the last reporting period that ends within two years after the end of your fiscal year that includes the reporting period in which the ITC could have first been claimed.

Example
You are a monthly filer with a fiscal year end of December 31. You buy goods in the reporting period September 1 to 30, 2011, for which you can claim an ITC. The fiscal year that includes the September 2011 return ends on December 31, 2011. You can claim the ITC on any later return for a reporting period that ends by December 31, 2013 and is filed by January 31, 2014.

Brampton, Ontario, August 21, 2012 … The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that on August 17, 2012, Jim Payne, of Bolton, was fined a total of $12,000 in the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton. Ontario. He pleaded guilty to five counts of failing to file personal income tax returns and seven counts of failing to file corporate income tax returns. He was given four months to pay the fine. All outstanding returns have been filed.

Mr. Payne failed to file his 2006 to 2010 personal income tax returns. In addition he failed to file the 2006 to 2008 corporate income tax returns for Pashin Holdings Inc., a real estate development company as well as the 2007 to 2010 corporate income tax returns for V2R Group Inc. which performs general contract consulting.

The preceding information was obtained from the court records.

In addition to the fines imposed by the courts, individuals or corporations convicted of failing to file tax returns are still obligated to file the tax returns and pay the full amount of taxes owing, plus interest, as well as any civil penalties that may be assessed by the CRA.

Taxpayers who have not filed returns for previous years, or who have not reported all of their income, can still voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They may not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of any compliance action being initiated by the CRA against them. These taxpayers may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) can be found on the CRA’s website at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

Canadians and their tax advisers sometimes disagree with the CRA about the meaning of tax laws. These disagreements are normal and can be resolved.

However, over the past few years certain groups have begun publicizing incorrect and misleading advice about tax laws and the legal obligation to pay taxes.

People who accept such incorrect advice and fail to comply with the law could expose themselves to serious financial and legal problems. For more information, see Debunking tax myths.

The CRA and the Department of Finance Canada

When you’re searching government Web sites for tax-related information, your search will be easier if you’re aware of the different roles played by the CRA and by the Department of Finance Canada.

The CRA administers tax laws, but we don’t make or develop fiscal policies or tax laws.

• As a rule, the CRA Web site is where you’ll find information about what the current tax laws say and how they’re interpreted and applied.

The Department of Finance Canada is responsible for federal tax policy and legislation. The Minister of Finance and Parliament decide on tax amounts and how to calculate them.

• As a rule, the Department of Finance Canada Web site is where you’ll find information about proposed changes to tax laws, proposed tax cuts or increases, studies about the effects of taxation, and possible future tax policies. You may want to consult that department’s news releases and speeches.
• Details of legislation proposed or enacted during the current session of Parliament are available on the Parliamentary Web site.

Tax legislation is also developed by individual provinces and territories (Provincial and Territorial Governments page, Canada Site).

You may also wish to consult the Government of Canada Newsroom and the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development News Room.