Canada Tightens Real Estate Tax Loophole For Foreign Investors

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau has announced new measures designed to help stabilize Canada's housing market, particularly in overheated areas such as Vancouver and Toronto.

Among them will be the closure of a loophole some foreign residents are using to avoid paying capital gains tax on investment homes.

Going forward, only people who used their home as a principal residence will be eligible for the government's exemption, Morneau said.

"We want that exemption to be appropriately interpreted," he told reporters.

"We need to have the beneficial owner of the home being here in Canada, we have to have that owner living in the home as their principal residence."

File Income Tax By May 5, CRA Extends Deadline Due To Human Error

Janyce McGregor, CBC 
Canadians have been given five extra days to file their 2014 income tax returns, thanks to a "human error" at the Canada Revenue Agency.

Last Friday, the CRA issued a statement saying the deadline for filing tax returns electronically was May 5 at 3 a.m.

That was a mistake. On Monday, the agency issued a new statement, saying this year's deadline is, in fact, April 30.

Canada revenue agency tightens tax volunteer checks

The T1 General 2010 form is pictured in Toronto on April 13, 2011. The federal revenue agency is stepping up scrutiny of volunteers who help prepare income-tax returns after a suspected fraudster was spotted at a tax clinic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press
The federal revenue agency is stepping up scrutiny of volunteers who help prepare income-tax returns after a suspected fraudster was spotted at a tax clinic.

The Canada Revenue Agency is phasing in new screening measures over two years, including a mandatory police records check for the 2016 tax filing season.

For more than 40 years, the agency’s community volunteer income-tax program has helped low-income Canadians and others who need assistance filling out their tax forms.

The agency sponsors and promotes the program, but organizations and volunteers are not formally affiliated with the federal department.

That Quick! Fake tax man defrauded Calgary victims of $60K in phone scam

The Canadian Press 
As if dealing with the tax man isn't already bad enough, police in Calgary are warning about a telephone scam involving a caller who claims to be from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Police say it began last month when members of the public received a call from a man who said they owed back taxes and would be arrested if they didn't pay immediately.

The faux tax man had some of the victims' personal information, including their name, address and bank account details.

They were instructed to pay the debt with prepaid credit cards or through a money transfer service, and were kept on the phone until the transaction was complete.

Police say 35 victims were identified in 2014 and defrauded of a total of $60,000

Spain’s King Felipe VI Sister to Stand Trial for Fraud

The sister of Spain’s King Felipe VI, Infanta Cristina, is to stand trial for tax fraud after her appeal was thrown out by Judge Jose Castro in a Palma court on Friday.

The 49-year-old princess would become the first member of the Spanish royal family to stand trial.

She was cited as an accessory in an alleged tax fraud by her husband and former Olympic handball star, Inaki Urdangarin, charged with embezzling about 6 million euros (7 million dollars) public money through a charity he ran.

Goodnews! Child care tax break for parents

Prime Minister Stephen Harper does arts and crafts with a student at the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Jewish Community Campus in Vaughan, Ont., in October, after announcing an income-splitting proposal and other tax breaks for families. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

CBC

Families with children under 18 will receive new tax breaks starting Jan. 1, though Ottawa won't begin paying them out until July, just a few months before the federal election set for Oct. 19.

The universal child care benefit per child under six is to rise from $100 to $160 a month or $1,920 a year. For each child six to 17 years old, families can also now receive a federal tax credit of up to $720 per year. 

Those families will receive their first cheques in July, a lump-sum payment for the first half of 2015.