The 2012 Canadian Federal Budget

The 2012 Canadian Federal Budget will be presented in the
next few weeks.  KPMG is committed to
helping you determine how these changes will affect you and your business.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will deliver the Conservative
government’s 2012 federal budget on March 29, 2012. With a majority government
in power and the next election years away, this year’s budget may be an
important one that could include significant changes to the tax system.

What else to expect

The Department of Finance has indicated that we can expect a
focus on so-called “tax integrity” items in the 2012 budget. For example, the
2011 federal budget included new rules that limit the tax deferral
opportunities for corporate partnerships and new anti-avoidance rules for
RRSPs. A senior Finance official indicated at the Canadian Tax Foundation
conference in November 2011 that we can likely expect to see more of these
types of measures to broaden the tax base.

There will be changes to :

International competitiveness and

Personal tax changes such as;

 Charitable giving
To encourage greater
charitable giving, the Committee recommends that the government support
initiatives such as the Committee’s study on tax incentives for charitable
donations.

Some witnesses before the Committee advocated a “stretch” tax credit that
would apply to amounts that exceed a donor’s previous highest level of giving.
This measure could provide an extra 10% credit for donations exceeding the
previous highest level up to an annual donation limit of $10,000.

To read more visit the following KPMG link 2012 New Federal Budget

Discussion Questions:

1. Why do governments issue a budget on a yearly basis?

2. Does the Canadian citizen benefit from a Budget?

3. After reading the real budget issued on March 29, by our Harper government, was this budget important to you?