The Federal Government released the Fall Economic Statement 2020 on November 30, 2020. Here are the highlights of the Fall Economic Statement 2020:• The deficit is expected to reach $381.6 billion in 2020-21. In the next 2 years, the deficit is expected to fall to $121.2 billion in 2021-22 and to $50.7 billion in 2022-23. • The Federal Government plans to invest up to $100 billion over three years to jumpstart our economic recovery once the virus in under control. • The Federal Government will increase funding to provinces that are facing a year-over-year decline in non-resource revenues through the Fiscal...

The CRA announced it has resumed some business activities last September 2020. These activities include the following: • Appeals – The CRA’s dispute resolution and taxpayer relief programs are resuming operations. CRA is now contacting taxpayers who filed objections or CPP/EI appeals to the Minister or who applied for relief of penalties and interest. CRA will also start activating CPP/EI rulings this September. • Business Audits –The CRA’s business audit will focus on complex and aggressive tax planning arrangements using partnerships and trusts by sophisticated and high income earners and audits in the real estate sector to address non-compliance in Vancouver...

The CRA has released an update regarding the recent cyber attacks involving thousands of CRA accounts. Here is a summary: • CRA continues to cooperate with the RCMP in its ongoing investigations• Affected individuals will receive a letter from the CRA explaining how to confirm their identity and reactivate their account. Credit protection services will also be offered for free. • In some cases, applicants may be asked to call the CRA before receiving their next benefit payment and supporting documents may be requested. • The link between CRA’s My Account and My Service Canada Account continues to be disabled.• Updated...

Last month, the Federal Government reported incidents of credential stuffing attacks mounted on the GCKey service and CRA accounts. The attacks made use of usernames and passwords stolen in previous hacks involving non-governmental third parties to log into some GCKey accounts. The GCKey service itself was not compromised but in response, 9,300 GCKey credentials were revoked. Measures were then put in place to block subsequent attacks. In addition to this, the CRA identified suspicious activities in July and August on approximately 48,500 CRA user accounts. Safeguards were then put in place and individuals affected were not held liable for fraudulent claims...