04 Jul 2013

It’s been a week of good news for small businesses, especially in the Calgary area.

Earlier this week, the federal government announced it was allowing businesses affected by the flood to extend their tax deadline to August 2.

Today, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) issued a news release saying it is making changes to cut red tape by further improving its online offerings.

In November 2012, the CRA held consultations across Canada to learn how it could improve services to small and medium-sized businesses. CRA representatives met with more than 140 small business owners, accountants and bookkeepers.

From the consultations, the CRA announced it is making commitments to:

  • Allow businesses to submit payroll inquiries through the My Business Account inquiries service
  • Allow businesses to update business banking and direct deposit information online
  • Improve access to My Business Account by reducing the processing time for a Business Consent Form from 14 days to five days
  • Increase outreach to businesses to ensure they are aware of less burdensome filing frequency options, such as filing quarterly rather than monthly

The My Business Account inquiries service was introduced in the last year, allowing businesses to use the CRA website to ask tax questions related to their account and receive information they can rely on in writing.

“Our government is listening to Canada’s small business community and we have already taken real steps to cut red tape so that small businesses across the country can continue to grow and create jobs,” said Revenue Minister Gail Shea.

“Improved technology put in place by our government has made it much easier for small businesses to manage their taxes and we are committed to continuing that process. With this latest suite of improvements, business owners and their tax professionals will have greater access to the online services they are asking for.”

More Canadians filing online

Did you file your taxes online this year?

If you did, you were among more than 76 per cent of Canadians who did so.

The CRA released its filing numbers as of June 20 and we learned that 20 million Canadians took advantage of the CRA’s online filing service. That number is an increase of three million people, or 17 per cent.

The CRA also experienced a jump in the number of people who signed up to use My Account. More than 546,000 Canadians registered and almost 425,000 joined Quick Access. These services allow you to track your refund, monitor your benefit and credit payments, view your registered retirement savings plan information, set up direct deposit and much more.

Can you help?

We sure can. We specialize in small-business accounting and financial services. Contact one of our tax specialists and we can help you optimize the tax benefits and credits available to self-employed individuals and small businesses.

Fill out our contact form or give us a call at 403-226-8297.