The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue, and Ron Cannan, Member of Parliament for Kelowna-Lake Country, met today with leaders from the Kelowna business community to discuss priorities and hear their suggestions ahead of the 2015 federal budget.

The discussions centered on how to continue advancing the Government of Canada’s low-tax plan for job creation, economic growth, and long-term prosperity, for the benefit of families and communities from coast to coast to coast. Minister Findlay highlighted tax reduction measures and benefits for families recently proposed by the Government, including the increase of the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB), the introduction of a Family Tax Cut, and the increase of the Child Care Expense Deduction.

Minister Findlay also highlighted the Government of Canada’s ongoing commitment to cut red tape and to introduce, simplify, and enhance services to meet the needs of Canadian small and medium businesses. Minister Findlay noted the many actions the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has taken to reduce the red tape burden for businesses, including:

• Through the CRA’s secure online self-service portal, businesses now have greater control over more than 50 different transactions such as registering for services, making payments, filing returns, making account changes, asking questions, viewing balances, and, starting October 20, managing banking information online and signing up for pre?authorized debit services;
• The remittance thresholds for employer source deductions were revised to reduce the maximum number of payments that businesses are required to submit to the CRA, in the process eliminating more than 800,000 payroll remittances for over 50,000 small and medium-sized employers;
• Recognizing that a concise and consistent plain language approach to the millions of notices and letters sent to Canadians will help to ensure taxpayers are better supported in meeting their tax obligations and accessing the benefits to which they may be entitled, the CRA is improving the clarity and simplicity of its communications with individuals and businesses; and
• The CRA launched its first-ever mobile app, the Business Tax Reminders app, which allows small and medium-sized businesses to create custom reminders and alerts for dates related to instalment payments, returns, and remittances.

The CRA works closely with many business and other stakeholder associations on its red tape reduction agenda, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), and the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada. Public consultations were held throughout the fall, online and in person in more than 20 communities across Canada. The feedback from these consultations will help the CRA set priorities to continue to cut red tape over the coming years.

To ensure that all Canadians can participate in the pre-budget consultation process, the federal government has launched online consultations. Those interested in participating can find more information on the Department of Finance Canada website.