Immigration Canada

What new Canadians should know about the tax system

By Mark Gollom, CBC News

New Canadians can take advantage of a number of ways to reduce taxes.

When Tahir Mazari arrived in Canada in 1999 from Afghanistan, filing his taxes for the first time was a challenging task.

"At the beginning it was difficult for me [knowing] what to do, but some of my friends helped me," he said. "We [didn’t have] that system in our country. It was very new to us."

Mazari now volunteers in Ottawa at ACORN Canada to help new Canadians with their taxes come tax time.

"Usually they come to file their taxes, but they are not familiar with the documents," he said.

Canadians who have lived in the country all their lives struggle every year to file their taxes, but new immigrants not familiar with the system may face even greater challenges.

"The whole concept can be quite foreign to somebody, no pun intended," said Brian Quinlan, an accountant with Toronto-based Campbell Lawless.

"Sometimes new people to Canada are afraid a little bit, depending where they're from and what their background is. They might be afraid of 'big government.'"

A number of community groups and chartered accountant organizations provide free tax clinics at various locations to lower income Canadians and and recent immigrants.

The Canadian government also hosts the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program – a partnership between the Canada Revenue Agency and community organizations who host tax clinics and arrange volunteers.

The CRA provides training, tax software, and a network of CVITP coordinators across the country to help the community organizations and volunteers deliver the program.

The CVITP says it helps more than half a million Canadians file their tax returns every year.

Filing tips

Quinlan offered a few tips for new Canadians when it comes to filing their taxes.

He said they may be eligible for credits like the GST credit,Canada Child Tax Benefit, Universal Child Care Benefit credits or credits for rent or property taxes.

"It’s good to file, because a lot of our credits are based on your tax return. So if the government doesn’t know your income, you won't get these credits sent to you."

Quinlan noted that moving expenses can be written off if you're coming to Canada to take a job or for self employment.

As well, new Canadians should be reminded that new homebuyers could be eligible for the First-Time Home Buyers $5,000 tax credit.

New Canadians also needn’t worry about being taxed on assets they bring in when they arrive, Quinlan said.

"There’s no real tax implication of bringing assets in. You’re not taxed on the amount coming in.

"When you become a resident it's just like you bought all of those assets the day you became a resident here. So if you sell it in a year at a gain, Canada's only going to tax that gain from the day you arrived," he said.

Immigrants who know they will be coming to Canada can also set up what's known as an immigrant trust before they arrive, which allows them to get a deferral of tax of five years on some of the income they’re generating outside of Canada. The disadvantage is that it only makes financial sense for people with major assets, since it generally costs tens of thousands in legal and financial fees to set up a trust.

Ottawa underestimates cost of immigration backlog wipeout, group warns

Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, looking northwards towards the Parliament Buildings from Queen Street (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

Ottawa’s plan to wipe out its immigration backlog will cost taxpayers at least $6.2 million more than the $130 million estimated by the federal government, says the immigration consulting industry.

When Ottawa announced in March that it would return files and processing fees to applicants waiting in the backlog, its estimate did not include administrative costs such as courier services to send the files back to 280,000 people, said the Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants.

“The budgeted costs of a backlog wipeout are much higher than calculated and also do not include ... liabilities of lawsuits affecting the administration for years to come,” warned Gerd Damitz, the association’s co-founding and past president.

The industry’s own estimate of the processing fees amounts to $145 million. That’s because some applicants also paid landing fees — between $490 and $975 each — upfront.

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Jason Kenney confirmed the estimate did not factor in administrative costs, which will come out of the department’s operational budget.

The spokesperson said the department won’t return “physical” application files to affected applicants. The documents will be disposed of, in accordance with government privacy and audit rules.

While the industry appreciates the government’s attempt to bring in a “just-in-time” immigration system to respond to labour market needs, Damitz said the breach of contracts with would-be migrants will damage Canada’s reputation.

On Monday, immigration applicants affected by the decision will stage simultaneous protests in London, Hong Kong, Chandigarh, Karachi and Lahore to raise awareness of their plight and to condemn Ottawa’s plan.

“We want to warn any prospective immigrant of the dubious and uncertain Canadian policies,” said Preet Deep Singh, an organizer based in London.

Toronto immigration consultant Alli Amlani said Ottawa’s wipeout plan will force many in the consulting industry out of business.

More than 250 of Amlani’s clients have been stuck in the queue, some since 2004, and they are asking him for refunds.

Despite a $1,000 non-refundable policy, Amlani must still fork out at least $72,000 to clients for “incomplete work” caused by the government’s sudden change in policy.

“It will push a lot of us out of business,” said Amlani, who has been a consultant for 22 years and expects to cut his staff from eight to four as a result. “You don’t get new referrals if your old cases don’t go through.”

According to an internal survey by the regulator of Canada’s 2,000 registered immigration consultants, the government plan affects 63 per cent of its members.

Some 95 per cent said they would consider leaving the industry, while 58 per cent are pondering class-action lawsuits against Ottawa to recover alleged damages.

According to the industry, the backlog consists of about 100,000 files, representing both principal applicants and their dependants. It said it would take less than five years to clear for the backlog.

Home prices in Canada fall

The distinctly black skyscrapers of the Toronto-Dominion Centre, designed by Mies van der Rohe. Tiếng Việt: Trung tâm Ngân hàng Toronto Dominion - Toronto, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

TORONTO – Home Capital Group said it’s capturing mortgage business from Canadian lenders including Toronto-Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce that are retreating from the nonprime market amid signs of a housing downturn.

“The big banks are sort of juggling around their mortgage strategy and as part of that, they’re tightening up in certain areas,” Home Capital President Martin Reid said in an interview. “We’re seeing some of the fallout.”

Canada’s banks have been exercising more caution on higher-risk mortgages after Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney warned that record household debt remains the biggest domestic risk to the economy.
Carney last week signaled the potential for interest rate increases that would cool off a housing market that has seen prices almost triple in some Canadian cities over the past decade.

“While interest rates have been at historic lows recently, the inevitable climb looks to be coming as soon as next year,” said Katie Archdekin, head of mortgage products at Bank of Montreal, the country’s fourth-biggest bank.

Home Capital, the Toronto mortgage lender, targets the Alt-A market – uninsured loans to home buyers who often don’t qualify at chartered banks because of their work history or other circumstances.
The Alt-A market is valued at 200 billion Canadian dollars, or 201 billion American dollars.
Home Capital’s clients include self-employed workers and new immigrants to Canada. Higher revenue from loans rejected by banks will add to earnings in Home Capital’s first-quarter results, to be released on May 2.

“We see opportunities with people that are really high- caliber borrowers with good proof of income, but their circumstances are a little different,” said Chief Executive Officer Gerald Soloway, who was interviewed with Reid.

Banks are paring back loans to below-prime borrowers amid signs that housing prices are starting to fall.
The Canadian Real Estate Association said April 16 that prices in Canada dropped 1.7 percent in March from the previous month, led by a decline of 3.1 percent in Vancouver.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said he’s “encouraged” by signs of a housing correction in Vancouver, preferring the market to “correct itself” without government intervention.

Immigration changes are long overdue

LORNE GUNTER

FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, APRIL 29, 2012 06:04 PM EDT

Two-thirds of refugee claimants who come to Canada ultimately have their applications turned down.

For claimants arriving from developed countries such as the U.S. and Europe — who some years make up nearly half of our claimants — the rejection rate is upwards of 90%.

Given those two facts, is it really all that awful that federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced last Wednesday that Ottawa would be scaling back the health benefits claimants receive while waiting to learn their fate?

Kenney explained that beginning in June, Ottawa will no longer foot the bill for prescription drugs, dental care, eye exams and glasses or “mobility devices” such as canes, walkers or prosthetics for citizens of other countries who are in Canada awaiting a refugee hearing.

Kenney’s reasoning? “We do not want to ask Canadians to pay for benefits for … refugee claimants that are more generous than what they are entitled to themselves” through their provincial health plans.

He added the move is also aimed at “taking away an incentive from people who may be considering filing an unfounded refugee claim.”

Our benefits are so generous that lots of refugee claims are nothing more than bogus attempts to skip the lineups for regular immigration and cash in. Many claimants are benefit shoppers rather than victims of persecution.

To hear the opposition talk, you’d think Kenney had implemented mandatory flogging of claimants.

New NDP leader Thomas Mulcair called this week’s benefit cuts “scandalous behaviour.” Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Bob Rae maintained this was nothing more than an attempt to “whip up hostility to refugees.”

Huh!?

How is it hostile to legitimate refugees to want to keep claim-jumpers from clogging up the system?

Indeed, if Kenney can reduce the number of bogus asylum-seekers, isn’t that good for true refugees? If there are fewer bogus claimants gumming up the system, won’t that help those with legitimate claims get heard faster and find safe harbour here sooner?

Kenney has long believed (and quite correctly) that if his department can reduce the number of claimants who arrive in Canada by weeding out those unlikely to be successful before they even leave their own countries, then our refugee system will be better able to protect those who truly face discrimination, persecution or even death in their homelands.

To this end, in the past three years he has also increased the number of countries from which visitors to Canada require visas. This permits foreign-based Canadian diplomats to identify potential sham claimants before they even board a plane headed here.

Kenney has also changed federal policy so that claimants arriving here without proper documents — such as the boatloads of Tamils and others who periodically pop up on the West Coast in rust bucket ships run by human smugglers — must wait in secure camps or barracks while their applications are vetted.

Formerly, they were allowed to disperse into the general population while awaiting adjudication. From there, it was almost impossible to locate and deport them if their claims were rejected, which so many ultimately were.

Kenney is aiming at reducing the time it takes to get refugee decisions from almost two years to just 60 days. And he would like to see the appeal process for failed claims reduced from six levels to just three or four and the delay time cut from nearly five years to just 12 months.

All of this outrages the New Dems and Libs, as well as immigration and multiculturalism advocates. But is it really all that outrageous that Canada should want to be a true asylum rather than a doormat?

Canadian Program Changes force Chinese Investors to US EB-5 Program

Česky: Kanadské muzeum civilizace v kanadské provincii Québec Deutsch: Gatineau: Canadian Museum of Civilization English: Gatineau, Québec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. Français: De soir, vue sur le Musée canadien des civilisations à Gatineau, Québec, Canada. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) April 23, 2012

Canada has been a major destination for wealthy Chinese investors since the 90s. To qualify, the investor has to own at least $1,600,000 assets. Unconditional permanent residence can be obtained if the investor deposits $800,000 for 5 years with the Canadian Federal government or the government of Quebec. The funds are completely secure as they are guaranteed by the Federal Government or by the Province of Quebec. It will be used for economic development and will be returned to the investor at the end of 5th year. Because of its safe nature of the Canadian program and it is relatively easier to be granted permanent residency in Canada, Canadian investment immigration program became a dominant program among Chinese emigration agents for last 15 years. The majority of 600+ licensed Chinese emigration agencies are now beginning to explore EB-5 program and investor program in European countries.

The most recent development that dramatically has changed the emigration industry in China is that the Canadian program reached its allocated quota in 2011 and is now “closed for renovation” leaving most China’s emigration agents with less profitable products they can choose to offer to their clients. The Canadian emigration authority is suggesting that the government it may develop the current program into an entrepreneur-investment program which would be requiring the acquisition of a business in Canada. Making it even worse for the Chinese emigration business, the Quebec immigration program reached its allocated quota of 2,700 on April 12, 2012 after 9 working days after it opened for petitions. Quebec program is now closed, it also closes the door to thousands of Chinese investors and have disappointed China’s agents since they don’t have anything to offer to their clients until March, 2013 when the program reopens again. Now many Chinese emigration brokers are looking into theU.S. EB-5 program which is becoming an important business option for them. Based on a April 20 survey by Gallup, 20 million Chinese population is interested in emigrating to the US and other countries.

The 2nd Annual EB-5 Investment Summit: Dealmakers Conference April 27, 2012 in New York City will update the latest developments in the EB-5 investors program. The event has drawn a lot attention from US capital seekers and commercial real estate developers. Brian Su of Artisan Business Group, Inc. has been organizing EB-5 events in both China and the US.

The all-day conference will feature EB-5 industry experts and VIP guests, including H. Ronald Klasko, Partner of Klasko, Rulon, Stock & Seltzer, LLP, and the EB-5 Chairman of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), Jeffrey B. Carr, President and Economist of Economic & Policy Resources, Inc., Mr. Boyd Campbell, Immigration Attorney of Immigration Law Center, LLC, Mr. Brian Su, CEO of Artisan Business Group, Inc., Joseph P. Whalen, Former USCIS Adjudicator, Mr. Ronald Fieldstone, Attorney & Partner, Arnstein & Lehr LLP, Ms. Hong Yu, US Project Manager of Wailian Overseas Consulting Group in China, and Mr. John Jiang, CEO of Micon International, Kevin Wright, President of Wright Johnson LLC, Dr. Scott Barnhart, Barnhart Economics Services, Ms. Jo Ann Clark, Founder of EB-5 Resource Center LLC. A 50-member executive delegation from China will also participate in the event.

This year’s event is being hosted and sponsored by Artisan Business Group, Inc., Wailian Overseas Consulting Group, Wright Johnson LLC, Extell Regional Center, and Amazing Journey Investment Consulting Co. The Hilton New York will serve as the venue for the conference. Those attending the event also have the opportunity to meet the prior day with Artisan Business Group’s CEO, Mr. Brian Su, for a 1-hour private consultation.

For more information regarding the event, registration, or a private consultation with Mr. Su, please visit:http://www.EB5NewYorkSummit.org.

Press Contact:

Mr. Brian Su
Artisan Business Group, Inc.
http://www.EB5NewsBlog.org

Alberta praises new foreign-worker rules

BILL CURRY AND JOSH WINGROVE

OTTAWA AND EDMONTON— From Thursday's Globe and Mail

Canadian companies that want to bring in highly skilled foreign workers temporarily will be able to do so faster and pay them less under new federal immigration rules aimed at addressing the country’s persistent labour shortages.

In areas of the country that are booming economically – particularly Alberta – companies are complaining about the lack of skilled workers, a problem that Ottawa has identified as one of Canada’s biggest policy challenges. Of 190,000 temporary foreign workers who entered Canada last year, 25,500 went to Alberta.‬ Businesses that use the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, which allows employers to bring in workers if they can prove they have advertised the jobs locally without success, say they are relieved that it will become less cumbersome, but critics worry the changes will lead to lower wages across the country.

Under the new rules, Ottawa promises to respond to employer requests for highly skilled workers within 10 days, instead of the 12 to 14 weeks it currently takes to get a Labour Market Opinion – a government approval that’s one major step in bringing a worker into Canada.

Also, previous rules required foreign workers to receive the “average wage” paid to Canadian workers in the same region, but the new rules will allow employers to pay up to 15 per cent less than that average wage.‬ ‪In an interview, Human Resources Minster Diane Finley said Canada’s skills shortages mean there will be more temporary foreign workers coming to Canada regardless of the latest changes.‬

“[Wednesday]’s announcement is going to make the system more efficient, it’s going to be more effective for the employers and it’s going to add protection to temporary foreign workers who are brought in while still ensuring Canadians get first crack at the jobs,” she said.‬ ‪

While the new national rules will apply only to high-skilled jobs at first, the government says it could be expanded to include other occupations.‬ ‪Ms. Finley made the announcement in the small, industrial town of Nisku, in central Alberta, which produces infrastructure for energy producers. Labour-starved Alberta relies on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program as a key pillar of its fast-growing economy.

But although Alberta applauded the changes, the province is hoping for further changes to Canada’s immigration laws, including an increase in how many people Alberta can nominate for permanent residency under the provincial nominee program – or no cap at all. Currently, it can put forward 5,000 people per year.

“We’d like to see the cap removed, but if we could get it up to 10,000 that would be very helpful,” said Alberta Human Services Minister Dave Hancock, whose department includes the employment and immigration file.

“The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is not the be-all and end-all. It is a way to get workers when we need them,” Mr. Hancock said, but residency is preferred. “The permanence is an important factor. … Ideally, you want somebody who will actually come to stay.”

Alberta’s provincial government has also complained that a four-year cap on how long a worker can stay short-changes Canadian companies, which help develop employees’ skills (and, in some cases, fluency in English or French), then are forced to kick them out. Other countries are benefiting from Canada’s training, the Alberta government has argued.‬ ‪

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s Alberta director, Richard Truscott, applauded the changes and said the TFW program is a “godsend” for some businesses. He added that more changes are needed to cut red tape and improve the overall immigration system.‬ “This is one first step in that direction, but there are many more steps to go,” he said, noting the labour shortage is “going to get a lot worse before it gets better.”

Immigration consultant Peter Veress, the president of Calgary-based Vermax Group, also praised the move, saying a 10-day turnaround would be a big improvement.‬ He said the jobs are typically ones that Canadians don’t want. “I don’t think we can fix the [labour shortage] problem domestically,” he said.

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