On February 6, 2014, the CRA issued its final warning, in the form of GST/HST Notice No. 284, to joint ventures that use bare trust nominees to file GST/HST returns on their behalf. The CRA has always maintained that such practice is inconsistent with section 273 of the Excise Tax Act (the “ETA”) and it announced that it will no longer tolerate the practice after 2014. Interestingly, as part of the 2014 federal Budget released less than a week afterwards, the Department of Finance proposed to expand the section 273 election regime so that more commercial joint ventures can benefit from the regime.

On January 17, 2014, the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) finally announced its intention to introduce a registration system for tax preparers who prepare tax returns for a fee. The new registration system, entitled Registration of Tax Preparers Program (“RTPP”), if implemented, will require tax preparers to register with the CRA during its 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Toward the end of the year, tax practitioners tend to flood the blogosphere with “last minute tax tips”. We prefer to take a different approach because good tax planning shouldn’t be “last minute”… it should be done year round. Furthermore, those able to anticipate tax changes are favourably positioned to plan their affairs accordingly, and in a proactive manner. Before Jay Leno introduced his “Headlines” comedy bit and before David Letterman introduced the “Top Ten List”, Johnny Carson appeared on stage in an outrageous costume and used his mystical powers of premonition as Carnac the Magnificent. In an ode to the King of Late Night, and with apologies to Ed McMahon, we give you “Carnac the Magnificent” and an assembly of the following tax predictions for 2014.