On January 11, 2022, CRA updated its website to note that all regions in all provinces and territories except for Saskatchewan will be eligible for the Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit for period 12 (January 9-15).
CRA Relief for Employment Benefits
In 2020 CRA announced a series of positions in respect of employer-provided benefits relating to commuting and parking costs, as well as computers and home office equipment. On December 10, 2021* CRA updated their webpage to announce that these positions would be extended to December 31, 2021.
CRA clarified that up to $500 in total for computers or office equipment can be reimbursed for the March 15, 2020 to December 31, 2021 period in total. For example, if $400 was already reimbursed in 2020, only the next $100 in 2021 could be reimbursed without being taxable to the employee.
*This previously read “January 4, 2022”, but has been corrected.
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Update to International Guidance
In late December, the following paragraphs were added to CRA’s international guidance in respect of VII. Supplemental guidance, C. Cross-border employment income, (ii) Canadian Resident Employees:
2021 tax year
The CRA is extending to the 2021 tax year the same administrative relief applicable for affected individuals’ 2020 tax year. In other words, for affected individuals whose employers have continued to impose withholdings in 2021 as if the income was earned in the United States, the CRA will again provide an administrative concession and will consider the employment income from the United States employer to be sourced from the United States for 2021.
Additionally, for affected individuals who file their 2021 Canadian income tax return in accordance with the income sourcing rules in the Canada-United States income tax treaty, the same relief that was made available in respect of their 2020 tax year (e.g. treatment of FICA taxes and contributions to United States retirement plans) will be available for 2021. For affected individuals who file in accordance with the Canada-United States income tax treaty, the CRA will again consider granting relief of any interest and penalties imposed in respect of the payment of the individual’s 2021 income tax or in respect of instalment payments imposed on the individual.
Error in Wage Subsidy Spreadsheet
In late December, CRA provided the following advisory about an error which had occurred in their spreadsheet for the wage and hiring subsidy:
A previous version of the spreadsheet for wage and hiring may have shown you were not eligible for the THRP, when in fact you may be eligible.
Who this error may affect
You may have been affected if:
You were applying for period 22 (October 24 to November 20, 2021)
You used a version of the spreadsheet for wage and hiring (version 2021-1) that was available between Tuesday, December 21, 2021 at 6:00 am ET and Friday, December 24, 2021 at 12:00 pm ET
You indicated you are a qualifying tourism or hospitality entity and had both a current-month revenue drop and 12-month average revenue drop over 40%
Step 5 in the spreadsheet showed a zero dollar amount and gave the message that you were not eligible for the THRP
This error was only present in the calculation spreadsheet for wage and hiring support.
What to do if you think you have been affected by this error
If you did not apply for period 22:
Download the latest version of the spreadsheet and do your calculation again for period 22 to check if you are eligible to apply for the THRP - Wage
If you already applied for the HHBRP – Wage or CRHP for period 22:
Contact the Business Enquiries line at 1-800-959-5525 to make your THRP - Wage application