Immigration Canada

CANADA HAS 8TH BEST TAX SYSTEM IN THE WORLD

Income Tax rates by Country based on OECD 2005 data. "OECD Tax Database". Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development . . Retrieved 2007-01-30 . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sitting steady in the top 10 ranking for the last three studies, Canada remains in 8th place when it comes to its ease of paying taxes for businesses, finds a study by PwC and the World Bank Group. It reviews tax regimes in 189 economies around the world.

“Within North America, Canada maintains the lowest average total tax rate ranking largely due to its efforts to establish a tax-competitive and business-friendly environment,” says Brad Sakich, Canadian tax policy leader, PwC. “Privately owned small businesses in Canada should take comfort — the ranking demonstrates that Canadian government agencies support and encourage the creation of more such businesses.”

The factors that make Canada one of the best include:

Significant reduction in the corporate income tax rate on annual Canadian profits in excess of $500,000 since 2001.
Reduced corporate income tax rate on the first $500,000 of annual Canadian profits made by privately owned corporations.
Canada’s efforts to simplify electronic reporting, filing and payment, and the tax regulatory and compliance aspects of running a business (tax red-tape).

Read: Making tuition tax credits fairer

Here’s how Canada ranks compared to other G8 nations.

Economy	Overall (rank)	Tax Payments	Time to Comply (hrs)	Total Tax Rate (TTR)
Canada	8	8	131	24.3%
United Kingdom	14	8	110	34.0%
France	52	7	132	64.7%
United States	64	11	175	46.3%
Germany	89	9	218	49.4%

The report indicates that continuing simplification of tax red-tape in Canada remains important, but with the current economic climate, the main priority for businesses today should be tax rate stability.

Read: Ontario dividend tax rules change

Around the world

Some global key findings include:

among the regions, Europe and Central Asia made the biggest improvements in the ease of paying taxes over the past five years;
the global average for the time to comply has fallen every year since 2005. Time to comply is lowest in the United Arab Emirates where it takes 12 hours to deal with taxes that apply;
at 52.9%, Africa has the highest average TTR of any region; and
with a fall of 28 payments spread across all three types of tax (profit, labour, other) China has had the largest drop in the Asia Pacific region over the nine years of the study.

Originally published on Advisor.ca

Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program Announces Sweeping Changes for 2014

Province of Saskatchewan in Canada (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Government of Saskatchewan has announced that, in response to feedback from immigration stakeholders, the Saskatchewan Immigrant Nominee Program (SINP) will be overhauled and streamlined in the New Year.

The SINP is Saskatchewan’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP). Most Canadian provinces have dedicated PNPs, which allow them to nominate foreign nationals to the Federal government for Canadian Permanent Residency.

Changes to the SINP will become effective January 2, 2014. The program, which currently consists of nine immigration sub-categories, will see these sub-categories combined into three overarching categories. They will be as follows:
International Skilled Worker;
Saskatchewan Experience; and
Entrepreneur and Farm

In addition to changing the structure and content of the program, beginning in January all SINP applications will be submitted and processed electronically. By using an exclusively online system, the overall process will be made easier and more efficient for both applicants and visa officers.

A number of significant changes will be made to each of the three new immigration categories. Below is a brief summary of these changes, as well as a commentary on what applicants can expect from the new system.
International Skilled Worker Category
This category has been created for workers who wish to live and work in the Province of Saskatchewan. Applicants can be nominated by the SINP for immigration if they successfully demonstrate that they have the necessary experience, education, language and adaptability to thrive in the province.
The program will include the following criteria:
-A points system that assesses employment offers, education, work experience, language skills, family connections, and other factors. Family connection points have been increased and can now account for up to 20% of total points;
-Applicants must have language skills equivalent to or higher than Canadian Level Benchmark 4. These skills must be proven by submitting scores from an SINP-approved language exam;
-Applicants with work experience in a regulated profession (such as nursing or engineering) must obtain necessary provincial certification; and
-Applicants without a skilled job offer must submit a settlement plan and proof of settlement funds.

For 2014, a total of 250 applications will be accepted from applicants who do not have a job offer in Saskatchewan. Applicants’ occupations must be included on a designated list of occupations. This list, as well as more detailed guidelines on the points system and application procedures, will be made available in December 2013.

Saskatchewan Experience Category
This category is geared towards individuals who are currently living and working in the province. It will consist of the following five sub-categories:
-Existing Work Permit
-Health Professionals
-Hospitality Sector Pilot Project
-Long Haul Truck Drivers
-Students (see changes below)

These programs currently exist as part of the SINP. No changes will be made to the first four sub-categories. However, changes have been made to the Students sub-category. These changes include:
-The Post-Graduation Work Permit and Master’s and PhD Graduate sub-categories, which are currently operating under the SINP, will be combined to create one general Students sub-category;
-Graduates from a Saskatchewan school must have a skilled job offer in the province that is relevant to their education, or a job offer requiring a post-secondary education. They must work in the province for 6 months before applying; and
-Graduates from a school outside of Saskatchewan must have a skilled job offer in the province that is relevant to their education, and must work in Saskatchewan for two years before applying.

Until December 31th, 2013, applications from an additional 250 out-of-province graduates and an additional 150 Saskatchewan graduates will be accepted for review.

Entrepreneur and Farm
This third category will consist of the following sub-categories, all of which already exist in the current SINP framework:
-Entrepreneur
-Farm Owners/Operators
-Young Farmers

Source: cpdhouse.org

Improving the Canadian Experience Class

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Ottawa, November 8, 2013 — Today, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced changes to improve the Canadian Experience Class (CEC) so that the program continues to attract top quality candidates.

“The Canadian Experience Class has allowed more than 25,000 people to stay in Canada permanently to contribute their skills and talents,” said Alexander. “The government is taking concrete action to reduce backlogs and processing times. By making these changes to the Canadian Experience Class, we are moving toward a more effective and efficient immigration system.”

In order to manage intake, maintain reasonable processing times and prevent a backlog from developing in the CEC, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) is introducing an annual cap on the number of new CEC applications. CIC will accept a maximum of 12,000 CEC applications from November 9, 2013, to October 31, 2014.

Despite the annual cap on applications, the department will admit approximately 15,000 individuals under the CEC in 2014.

CIC is also seeing an overrepresentation of certain occupations in the program. In order to bring in as diverse a skill set as possible, the department will introduce limits on the number of applications under certain occupations.

Effective November 9, 2013, CIC will introduce sub-caps of 200 applications each in certain skilled occupations. Also, six particular occupations will no longer be eligible for the CE

Between November 9, 2013 to October 31, 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will accept a maximum of 12,000 new applications under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC).

Because of an overrepresentation in the CEC applications received to date, the following six occupations will no longer be eligible for the CEC starting November 9, 2013:

cooks (NOC code 6322);
food service supervisors (NOC 6311);
administrative officers (NOC 1221);
administrative assistants (NOC 1241);
accounting technicians and bookkeepers (NOC 1311); and
retail sales supervisors (NOC 6211).

CIC already has a large inventory of applications in these occupations and will continue processing them to a final decision.

In addition, CIC will establish sub-caps of 200 applications each for National Occupational Classification (NOC) B occupations. These are mostly technical and administrative jobs or those in the skilled trades. NOC 0 and A (managerial and professional) occupations will not be sub-capped, but they will be subject to the overall cap of 12,000 applications.

Finally, CIC will maintain the same language criteria for applicants but will verify them upfront as of November 9, 2013. The current language requirements are Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 7 for NOC 0 and A occupations, and CLB 5 for NOC B occupations. This new measure will ensure that applicants who do not meet the minimum language requirements are screened out earlier and processing resources can be concentrated on those who are more likely to qualify.

At the same time, this is more client-friendly, as applicants who do not have the required language proficiency will have their applications returned to them along with the processing fee.