Welcome to our Winter 2024/2025 Newsletter. There is no doubt that with the new administration in the U.S. now in place, the Canadian economy will be facing many challenges in the coming year as a result of new Tariffs appear to be imminent. Domestically, we continue to face our own political uncertainty which has been directly affecting many of our client’s income tax matters. With the prorogation of parliament and recent news release from the Minister of Finance, the changes to the capital gains inclusion rate are being deferred to 2026. There is still some uncertainty if this will move forward, should there be a change in Government. There are a number of important legislative tax changes now in place that need to be considered for this Tax Season including updated Alternative Minimum Taxes and lifetime capital gains thresholds. You may feel some of these changes don’t apply to you, however I encourage you to read our Newsletter and check out our website for news alerts so you’re not caught under some of these changes, where penalties can be significant. Please contact us with any questions or concerns you may have.
We are excited to welcome many new staff, some have only been here a few weeks. A warm welcome to our co-op students, Wyatt Lee, Harveen Buttar, Joel D’Souza and Brandon Cao as well as CPA students Queenie Gonzales and returning student, Anoushka Naicker. We had some new staff join our Administrative Department and would like to welcome Nancy Backer to our Admin Team and two new EA’s, Regina Mekwunye and Aimee Vuilleumier. We wish Susan Walker well as we announce her retirement and welcome back Marilyn Ahumada from maternity leave. It seems our Firm is bursting with so much exciting news. We welcomed Dustin Gillis as manager this past summer.
We had a number of recent promotions this past Fall. Former Senior Manager, Chris Wang, became a Partner in our Firm on January 1st 2025. Chris is married to Tiffany, they have 2 kids ages 4 and 7 and live in Richmond. Gurman Sara and Cesar Munoz were promoted to Senior Manager in our Accounting and Assurance group. David Noort was promoted to Tax Manager. Heidi Leung and Michael Watts were promoted to Manager in our Accounting and Assurance group. Jordan McLean, our Human Resources leader, was promoted to Director of HR. We have been so fortunate to have many great staff that work so hard to meet deadlines and provide ongoing support to all our clients. We will continue to invest in our people so they can excel in their roles, but most importantly, provide expert advice to all of you.
As in previous years, we make annual donations to three deserving charities. This year made donations to Children’s Hospital Foundation, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice and the Salvation Army Harbour Lights.
As we get closer to the start of Tax Season, this is a reminder to ensure your tax planning and collection of materials for T1 Season is up-to-date. When all of your materials are collected, please submit them together through our secure Portal. Please visit rolfebenson.com and select “client centre” then “client portal”. If you need assistance, please contact your Partner’s Executive Assistant for help. Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have and keep your eyes open for our personal income tax welcome package!
Aaron Kuzik
