Another busy tax season has come to a close and many of our staff are enjoying some well-earned vacation time. We hope you and your families enjoy all that B.C. has to offer! Since our last newsletter, we’ve welcomed back Nodoka Matsui of the administrative department from maternity leave and now wish Lynsey Sturgeon a safe delivery for baby #2. We’ve said goodbye to Steve Kwalk, one of our Senior Accountants and wish him well in his future endeavours. We had many great students join us for a busy tax season this year: 3 CPA and 5 Co-Op students. We thank them for all their contributions.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our dedicated staff whom persevere through our busy tax season and put in countless overtime hours to complete income tax returns, finalize audited financial statements and so much more. June 30th really marks the end of our busy season. Our staff make the extra efforts to respond to your emails and phone calls in a timely manner while getting pulled in multiple directions.
As we transition through the summer months, our minds start to focus on changes to income tax matters that will impact 2026 tax filings. There are a few matters that deserve some attention.
1) Bill C15 was enacted this Spring. A few big takeaways include: the extension of loss carryback for graduated rate estates, multiple changes to the SR&ED program, a clean electricity tax credit, expansion of capital gains rollovers, increase to the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption to $1.25M for dispositions on or after 25 June 2024 (and indexed starting in 2026) the exemption of the Canada Disability Benefit from personal income, changes to bare trust reporting for the 2026 year and much more.
2) In connection with the changes for bare trust reporting in the coming year, if you have or think you may have a bare trust, now is the time to start discussing this with us. In simplistic terms, a bare trust is where one person holds legal interest in a property for the benefit of another person. There does not need to be a formal trust deed in place to have a bare trust relationship. We will be circulating a separate letter to our clients with greater details in the coming months.
3) CRA enforcement action continues to occupy a significant amount of our tax group’s capacity. The CRA implements sophisticated compliance identification techniques and takes aggressive actions on their findings. These are not just isolated to large dollar value transactions, but can be hyper focused on individual expense items reported on your tax returns. We would like to remind you to ensure you maintain appropriate records to support all claims.
4) PST on accounting services – Budget 2026 announced an expansion of the provincial sales tax (PST) to certain professional services effective 1 October 2026. Therefore, for accounting services provided subsequent to 1 October 2026, PST will be charged on those invoices at the 7% PST rate. If you think your business provides professional services that may fall under these new rules and you require assistance with navigating these rules, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Please ensure you are signed up to use our secure Rolfe, Benson Portal. This allows for the secure transmission of your confidential information AND the confidential information others have entrusted you with. If you’ve not already signed up, please contact the EA responsible for your file or contact us at admin@rolfebenson.com and put “portal sign-up” in the email subject heading.
Thank you for reading this newsletter and if there are any topics that apply to you or you would like further information on, please do not hesitate to reach out to us, whether directly through your contact or at admin@rolfebenson.com.
Aaron Kuzik, CPA
Managing Partner
