We are more than half way through our review of the CRA 12 Step Red Tape Reduction Plan and up until this point the proposed changes all seem to be in favor of the small business person. While they are not geared towards direct Canada tax relief they are in place to make the tax system easier to work with.
In the next two steps of the plan it focuses on the elimination of duplicate requests and betting timing on decision.
These are both important to you as a small business person. To what degree this action plan affects you will depend on how much interaction you have with the tax department. In any event if it comes within these two areas of the plan, these changes could make it much easier for you and your tax accountant.
What the CRA wants to do is be able to reuse the data that they already have and make sure that information you provide concerning your small business is retainable by all of the CRA departments. This cuts down on how often you have to submit the same information which in the past has been a real redundancy.
Out of the two points being covered here perhaps the most important that has a bigger effect on your business directly is related to waiting for decisions and appeals. This is currently a process that can take up to a whole year to deal with. If you are waiting for a decision that is going to have a big effect on your business then a long delay most certainly can have an adverse affect. The same can be said about appeals.
It would seem that the hold up in this area is that some tax regions are bigger than others. If you happen to be in a busy region then it means the CRA department for that area is much busier with this type of tax matter. What the CRA is contemplating is spreading out their workload to other offices that are less busy. This would certainly be a better use of manpower on their part. Also it would appear that they will categorize the decisions and appeals by complexity.
While this may not be something you are concerned about presently as you progress with your business in the future you could find yourself involve in a decision or appeal and it being handled in a timely manner would be more beneficial to you.
