‘Welcome news’: CRA handling of bare trust filing to be probed
Global News
According to the Canada Revenue Agency, a total of 51,578 bare trust forms for the 2023 tax year had been received as of June amid confusion over the filing requirement.
Canada’s taxpayers’ ombudsperson is launching a systemic review into the Canada Revenue Agency’s handling of bare trust reporting requirements, months after Canadians were left confused on if they needed to file the returns before the agency hit pause.
The ombudsperson’s office made the announcement on Wednesday, saying François Boileau would look into whether the CRA respected taxpayers’ rights in its administration of the reporting requirements for the 2023 tax year.
“This is welcome news,” Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said in an interview with Global News. “So we can kind of get to the bottom of the debacle.”
The filing requirement was new this year, but many Canadians were unaware if they may even be part of an arrangement, causing many to seek help from professionals on what to do.
Days before the April 2 deadline, the CRA announced Canadians would not be required to file a T3 tax return and Schedule 15 unless the agency made a direct request.
Global News heard from several Canadian taxpayers and those who helped with filings who were left “angry” about the sudden about-face.
Amid concerns over the handling, and what he called a “lack of procedural fairness” and potential “violation of rights” under the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, Conservative MP Adam Chambers wrote to Boileau in April asking for a review.
Boileau wrote on Wednesday that taxpayers, representatives and MPs had reached out to express concerns, including that some bare trustees already paid hundreds of dollars to meet the filing obligations.