Canadian Tax Podcast for the week of November 30, 2021. This week we cover:

• Bill C-2;
• Remote Work;
• CRA’s Cryptocurrency guide;
• Digital Service Tax;
• Deducting medical dues from multiple Provinces;
• Application of non-capital losses;
• Adding a spouse to house title;

“This is the Canadian Tax Podcast, Episode # 026, hosted by me, Cameron Ware. Good morning”

1. “Happy Tuesday, it is the week of November 30, 2021. We’ll start with the news.

• The liberal government has tabled bill C-2, giving more support to businesses recovering Covid.
• Bill C-2 aims to deliver targeted support to workers and businesses
• The government recently phased out other pandemic era benefits (CEWS and CERS)
• Cdn Hiring Recovery Program (wage subsidy) extended to May/22. (10% loss in revenue when compared to prior periods)
• Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit – $300/wk for affected workers
• https://globalnews.ca/news/8398662/canada-covid-benefit-update-chrystia-freeland/
• https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-2/first-reading
•  

• Working remotely big thing lately.
• Nearly 2/3 of Canadian employers were hire or open to hire remote employees across Canada, and 1/3 even said they would be open to hiring international employee.
• Issue here is tax reporting. Report by PWC says the tax reporting complexity is stalling hiring.
• One suggestion was to nix the T2200 form;
• Another was aligning Province of Employment with Province of Residence, and not where the employer is located.
• https://www.advisor.ca/news/economic/to-be-competitive-canada-must-address-payroll-barriers-to-remote-work
•  

• Are earnings made from crypto considered business income or capital gains?
• The CRA has treated cryptocurrencies as commodities and not currencies.
• When crypto is used to pay for goods, the CRA considers it to be a barter transaction.
• The treatment of crypto from tax perspective is an evolving situation.
• It depends a lot on holder’s behaviour. Very generally, at present it appears that if they are long term holds, it is treated as a capital asset, but short term is business inventory or business earnings.
• https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/programs/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/compliance/digital-currency/cryptocurrency-guide.html
•  

• Liberals are moving ahead with a digital services tax targeting tech giants.
• Potentially bringing in 3.4 billion over 5 years.
• BUT: Remember the OECD “minimum tax” agreement? = Might make the proposed Netflix Tax irrelevant.
• At present: Canada says they won’t phase in the OECD minimum tax til 2024, but it will be retroactive to 2022. In interim, Digital Services tax has go-ahead from Ottawa.
• US is grumpy about the Digital Services tax.
• https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/liberals-to-proceed-with-digital-services-tax-on-tech-giants
•  

VIEWER QUESTIONS

• Out of Province membership dues question
  • [Question]
  • Physician living in Ontario but travels to BC each month to practice. Would membership fees be deductible?
  • Short answer: Yes
• Non-capital loss balance
  • [Question]
  • How do use non-capital loss and how long can it be carried?
  • Back 3 years/Forward 20 years
• Adding a spouse on house title
  • [Question]
  • When refinancing a rental property to include spouse, will it trigger capital gains?
  • SS 73(1) assumed tsf’d at cost. Trap: Attribution.

That will wrap things up for today. Like always, if you have any questions, send them to [email protected], or find us on twitter: https://twitter.com/cdntaxpodcast  

This is Canadian Tax Podcast, thanks for listening.