CRA’s bare trust filing change had costly consequences: ‘A lot of angry people’
Peter Corry from Alberta says he recently paid $700 for an accountant to file his bare trust tax returns, out of fear of a penalty for missing the April 2 deadline.
However, following the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) announcement last week that it is retracting the reporting requirement, Corry says he feels the money was spent for nothing.
“For being a responsible citizen and filing we lose money by the CRA changing the rules 4 days before the deadline! How do I get that money back?” Corry said in an email to Global News.
Like many Canadians who recently became aware of the new bare trust reporting requirement this year, Corry made quick arrangements to file as quickly as possible. That meant spending hundreds of dollars in accounting services and tax preparation fees.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), says Canadians have “every right to be ticked off with the CRA.”
“It’s almost like the CRA is going out of its way to make life harder for Canadians. Like, what are they doing waiting until the very last minute to announce these rule changes?” Terrazzano told Global News.
“The question is, is anyone from the CRA going to be held accountable for this? Because they should.”
On March 28, the CRA announced that Canadians with bare trust arrangements won’t be required to file a T3 tax return and Schedule 15 unless the agency makes a direct request for these filings. The change came just days before the deadline to file.
The CRA said the decision was made “in recognition that the new reporting requirements for bare trusts have had an unintended impact on Canadians.”
The requirement to file a return for bare trust arrangements was newly introduced by the CRA this year, but many
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