What the federal budget means for your taxes | Hanomansing Live

There will be some significant changes in how many of us pay our taxes and, in some cases, how much we'll pay. To get an understanding of this, let's bring in Ryan Miner. He's the Director of Taxation at CPA Canada, which represents chartered professional accountants. And, Ryan, you were in the lockup today, so you studied all of this before it all became public. Before we get into specifics, is there a broad theme to how this budget deals with tax changes? Well, I would say, actually, there's two broad themes. The budget is heavily laden with simplification measures, measures geared towards reducing costs on individuals and businesses that have to comply with the tax system, such as filing a tax return. The second major theme, from my perspective, is the heavy emphasis on encouraging investment and growth. There are some very significant measures. In addition to the mega productivity deduction announced previously to encourage investment. So there's so much in here. Why don't we go through a few highlights, you know, for our audience across the country? What would you like to highlight? Oh, goodness. In terms of simplification, you know, a few things that viewers should know. I mean, in terms of the filing deadline, as mentioned earlier, May 15 will become the new filing date if the budget passes. I want to point out, too, that would include self-employed individuals that would otherwise be filing by June 15. Under this budget, they'll have to file earlier, May 15. So that may come as a surprise to individuals with self-employment income. A pleasant surprise is the installment threshold. For corporations and individuals, it's going up to $7,500. It was $3,000 before. So, you know, a lot of individuals that have income such as CPP, where there's little to no tax taken off, often find themselves having to pay quarterly installments. So at least threshold at which individuals will have to pay those installments is going up and hopefully will not require these individuals that would otherwise have to pay installments to make them further. There's going to be a change to our RRSP's... Oh, sorry, go ahead, go ahead. Well, I was just going to add another nuisance for tax filers is Form 35, when you have foreign investments. That is going up to $200,000, the threshold at which you have to file this form. So if you invest in foreign stocks, bonds, etc., the threshold is now $200,000, which will relieve quite a few individuals from having to file that form. Okay, now here's a change that is going to affect a lot of people, most people probably, who are watching, but it's kind of complicated, so for those of you who are watching, bear with us. Tell us about what changes with RRSPs. Well, the RRSP change is framed as a consultation. The budget proposes that individuals with RRSPs will not have to convert to a RRIF at age 71. But it goes on to mention that these individuals would still have to withdraw the minimum amount every year. So it seems to me it's a simplification measure in that you don't have to go the extra step of converting your RRSP. It sort of does it by default, and it seems to me you'll be entering RIF rules. But again, this is framed as a consultation. The government will be consulting on other technical aspects of this change before it's enacted. One last thing. Affordability is an important pillar in this budget, according to the federal government. As you look at these tax changes, does it fulfill that promise in terms of affordability? Well, this budget in and of itself, not so much. I mean, there is the enhancement to the Canada groceries and essentials supplement. There's going to be a boost in 2027. But, you know, combined with other measures like eliminating the fuel tax, which is helpful, eliminating the GST, HST on first-time homebuyers, reducing the lowest rate of tax from 15% to 14% are all helpful in tending towards affordability. So, you know, if you look at it as a package, yes, there have been quite a few good affordability affordability measures announced by the government in this budget and before. All right. Brian Miner, Director of Taxation at CPA Canada, representing Chartered Professional Accountants. Thank you.