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Escape Room 2 – The NEW Real Estate Owner Tax Game – High Stakes Edition

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20 minute read

By Cory G. Litzenberger, CPA, CMA, CFP, C.Mgr – CEO | Director of CGL Tax

Justin time for Tax Season, we have a new version of our most popular game, but this time you are now trying to convert your Real Estate to tax-Freeland.

No those are not typos.

In 2017, we released Escape Room – The NEW Small Business Tax Game – Family Edition after then Federal Liberal Finance Minister, Bill Morneau, finally released the new version of

the Tax on Split Income (“TOSI”) or the so-called “income sprinkling” rules.

This time, in this game, there are fewer unconditional exits, and the stakes are higher.

So just like I said in December 2017:

“These rules are written like a bad “escape room” game. The way these rules are written, everyone is caught… unless you can escape… and the exits are not clearly marked.”

The talking points in the media have been that the Underused Housing Tax (UHT) Act would only apply to non-resident and foreign owners.

However, what they failed to mention is that many Canadians will be caught by the filing requirement and will have to file or face penalties, even if they won’t owe any tax.

This ain’t your Daddy’s failure to file penalty.

Failing to file a UHT return faces a minimum penalty of $5,000 per individual, per property and  $10,000 if you are a corporation.

This makes the failure to file a T1135 Foreign Property form look like pocket change.

So while you may not have to pay any UHT, you still might have to pay even more if you didn’t know you had to file it already this tax season because:

  • the Underused Housing Tax Act is not part of the Income Tax Act;
  • there are requirements to file even if you don’t owe;
  • it is due on April 30 irrespective of your ordinary income tax filing deadline
  • the filing is entirely separate from any other tax filing; and
  • at the time of this article’s publication, it cannot be e-filed – it must be filled out and sent manually.

The prescribed Form UHT-2900 only came out on January 31, 2023, and applies to 2022.

As a result, you will need to figure out if you must file it by April 30 this year or face a minimum $5,000 penalty, per person, per property, for failure to file.

As this is new legislation with large penalty amounts, some practitioners are unaware if their errors and omissions insurance even includes coverage for these returns. This means you can expect to see extremely high fees for preparing these forms.

Can you think of a better way to navigate the messy rules than by playing a game for you to play this Tax Season?

Escape Room 2 – Rules of the Game

IMPORTANT RULES OF THE GAME: This is not an all-inclusive list. The below information is a high-level summary of the more common areas of concern. You should seek specialist advice on your specific circumstances and how the new rules will apply to you.


1) Were you the legal owner (a person/entity registered on title)jointly or otherwise, of a residential property in Canada as of December 31?

If yes, you are still trapped and get to keep playing.

If not, Congrats! You escaped! You can go back to paying rent or sleeping in your vehicle without having to worry about the UHT.


2) Are you a publicly-traded Trust or Corporation that is incorporated under the laws of Canada or a province and listed on a Canadian Stock Exchange?

If yes, Congrats! You escaped! You may continue working on your Securities filings for your upcoming AGM.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


3) Are you a Registered Charity, Cooperative Housing Corporation, Municipality, Indigenous Governing Body, Government of Canada, Provincial Government, University, Public College, School Authority or Hospital Authority? 

If yes, Congrats! You escaped! You may continue dealing with your annual audit of financial statements.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


4) Are you an individually wealthy person that does not like to share with others?

For example, you own one or more multiple residential properties – but every single one of them is only in your personal name. No spouse, no corporation, no trust, no partnerships, no friends, no one!             

If yes, Congrats! You escaped! You may go back to swimming alone in your pool of wealth.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


5) Is the only reason you are on the land title because you are currently the executor or administrator of someone’s estate? 

If yes, Congrats! You escaped! You may continue to grieve and fill out the mountains of government paperwork while everyone else asks you “where’s my inheritance?”

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


6) Are you an individual Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada (under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act) that does not have a business, farm, or rental property owned with another person that could possibly be viewed as a partnership?

If yes, Congrats! You escaped! You may continue to live in your home, paycheque to paycheque, while your cost of payroll deductions and mortgage interest continue to rise and eat away at it.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


7) Does your business, farm, or rental property co-owned with another person have a residential dwelling on it? 

For example, is your home on the same land title as your farmland or business?

If yes, Congrats! … haha – fooled you! You’re still trapped, and now you get to play the UHT Escape Room Game – Advanced Edition

If not, Congrats! You just made it out – lucky number 7!


Welcome to UHT Escape Room Game – Advanced Edition

In this Edition, everyone must file or face a minimum $5,000 penalty per person on each property.

For example, husband/wife partnership with three residential properties = 2 x 3 x $5,000 = $30,000 penalty if you don’t file!


8) Are you a Specified Canadian Corporation where at least 90% of the ownership and control (direct and indirect) are held by other Specified Canadian Corporations, Canadian Citizens, or Permanent Residents of Canada?      

If yes, you have to file but you won’t have to pay. Don’t forget to file by April 30 no matter what your fiscal year-end date is!

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


9) Are you a Specified Canadian Partnership where every member of the partnership is either a Specified Canadian Corporation, or would not have to file if we ignored the whole “partner of a partnership” thing?     

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but won’t have to pay.

If not, You’re still trapped – keep playing.


10) Are you a Specified Canadian Trust where every beneficiary of the trust is either a Specified Canadian Corporation, or would have escaped from filing if they were the owner themselves?

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but won’t have to pay.

If not, You’re still trapped – keep playing.


11) In this filing year or last year, were you an owner of a property when another co-owner that owned 25% or more died?        

If yes, Congrats! It’s sure a good thing they died! You have to file but won’t have to pay

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


12) Did you die this year or last year (or are you the executor for someone that did and you were not on the land title before they died)

If yes, then UHT definitely puts the FUN in FUNeral! You have to file, but won’t have to pay – don’t forget to play again next year!

If not, you’re still trapped (but alive) – keep playing.


13) Did you buy the property this year and never owned or had your name on it before in the past decade?  

If yes, Congrats on becoming a home-owner, on your first… or second… or third… or… well it doesn’t matter how many homes you have, just as long as you bought it this year. You have to file but don’t have to pay – play again next year!

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


14) Was the property still under construction before April Fools’ Day of the filing year?          

If yes, Congrats – this isn’t an April Fools’ prank. You have to file, but don’t have to pay!

If not, You’re still trapped – keep playing.


15) Was the property finished before April Fools’ Day of the filing year, offered up for sale to the public, but never sold or occupied by an individual as a place of residence or lodging during the year?  

If yes, Congrats! Isn’t it fun making mortgage payments on a home no one wants? You have to file but don’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


16) Was the property unable to be lived in for at least 120 consecutive days because of renovations undertaken that occurred in a timely fashion?  

If yes, Congrats! As long as you haven’t used this escape door in the last decade, you can now use it. You have to file but don’t have to pay – otherwise, it’s still locked and you keep playing.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


17) Was the property unable to be lived in for at least 60 consecutive days in the year because of disaster or hazardous conditions caused by circumstances outside the reasonable control of an owner?             

If yes, Congrats! As long as you haven’t used this escape door more than once before for the same disaster or hazardous condition on the property you have to file, but not pay – otherwise, you’re still trapped.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


18)  Is the property unable to be accessed year-round because there is no maintained public access during the off-season? 

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but don’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


19) Is the property unsuitable for year-round use as a place of residence?        

If yes, Congrats! Keep following that boiled water advisory and burning everything around you to stay warm. The government is providing you with more blessings: you have to file but don’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


20) Is the property being used for at least a month consecutively and more than 180 days in the year by you, your spouse or common-law partner, child, or parent who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident? 

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but don’t have to pay – wasn’t this fun? – Be sure to play again next year!

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


21) Is the property the primary residence for you, your spouse or common-law partner, or for your child attending a designated learning institution? 

If yes, Congrats! You might have to file an election and your spouse must agree. If you need to convince them, tell them that marriage counselling will be cheaper than the failure to file penalty. That should get them to agree to anything. You have to file but don’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing.


22) Is the property a vacation property that is used by you or your spouse or common-law partner for at least 28 days in the year and is located in an “eligible area of Canada” (basically rural enough area where they might get dirty trying to find you)

If yes, Congrats on being able to take 4-weeks of vacation every year – you have to file, but won’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – and likely still at work – keep playing.


23) Speaking of work – is the property being used by you or your spouse or common-law partner for at least a month consecutively and more than 180 days in the year just while you are working in Canada, and the property relates to that purpose?        

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but won’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – have you considered renting it out?


24) Is the property being rented under a written agreement for at least a month consecutively and more than 180 days in the year to someone paying at least 5% of the property value per year as rent?     

If yes, Congrats! You have to file but won’t have to pay.

If not, you’re still trapped – keep playing – and raise that rent! We wouldn’t want anyone to have affordable housing.


25) Is the property being rented under a written agreement for at least a month consecutively and more than 180 days in the year to an unrelated person?    

If yes, Congrats! But why are you charging them less than fair-value rent? What kind of slum lord are you? Stop making things affordable! You have to file but won’t have to pay.

If not, you are still trapped and now move on to the UHT Escape Room Game – High Stakes Edition


Welcome to UHT Escape Room Game – High Stakes Edition

In this edition of the UHT Escape Room Game, everyone must ante up and Pay to Play!


26) Is the Fair Market Value of the property lower than both the Property Tax Assessed Value and the most recent purchase price of the property?

If yes, you must have a formal appraisal done effective as of a date in the filing year or before the filing deadline. Then you only have to pay 1% of this value multiplied by your percentage of ownership as your UHT.

If not, either get that appraisal done or be happy that your property has increased in value. In the meantime keep playing.


27) Is the Property Tax Assessed Value more than the most recent purchase price?

If yes, Congrats! Not only has your property tax gone up, but so has your UHT – you owe 1% of this value multiplied by your percentage of ownership.

If no, Congrats on your property being worth less than you paid for it – keep playing.


28) Congrats on making it to the end. If you’ve come this far, it means:

  • You own property in Canada;
  • You are not a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident;
  • You are alive, or you’ve been dead for more than two years;
  • You don’t rent out the property under a written agreement …or if you do, it is to a relative, and it is way too affordable;
  • If it is a vacation property, you don’t use it for 4-weeks of vacation likely because you don’t get 4-weeks of vacation;
  • You don’t use the property for more than 30 days consecutively, nor more than 180 days in the year for a work-related purpose;
  • You didn’t bother getting a formal appraisal done;
  • You paid more than the current Property Tax Assessed value for the property; and
  • You wonder why they didn’t just say all this in the first place

Congrats – you get to pay 1% of the purchase price when you last acquired the property multiplied by your percentage of ownership.

Do you feel like you won?

Now… as for next year…

… I want to play a game…

CEO | Director CGL Tax Professional Corporation With the Income Tax Act always by his side on his smart-phone, Cory has taken tax-nerd to a whole other level. His background in strategic planning, tax-efficient corporate reorganizations, business management, and financial planning bring a well-rounded approach to assist private corporations and their owners increase their wealth through the strategies that work best for them. An entrepreneur himself, Cory started CGL with the idea that he wanted to help clients adapt to the ever-changing tax and economic environment and increase their wealth through optimizing the use of tax legislation coupled with strategic business planning and financial analysis. His relaxed blue-collar approach in a traditionally white-collar industry can raise a few eyebrows, but in his own words: “People don’t pay me for my looks. My modeling career ended at birth.” More info: https://CGLtax.ca/Litzenberger-Cory.html

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Crime

Eyebrows Raise as Karoline Leavitt Answers Tough Questions About Epstein

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The Vigilant Fox

Peter Doocy asked directly, “What happened to the Epstein client list that the Attorney General said she had on her desk?” Here’s how Leavitt tried to explain it.

The Epstein client list was supposed to be SITTING on Pam Bondi’s desk for review.

But months later, the DOJ says no such list even exists.

Karoline Leavitt was just asked why there was such a reversal in so little time.

Her responses today are raising eyebrows.

On February 21st, Pam Bondi told the world the Epstein client list was “sitting on [her] desk right now to review,” explaining it was part of a directive ordered by President Trump.

Shortly afterward, she and Kash Patel pledged to end the Epstein cover-up, promising to fully disclose the Epstein files to the public, hold accountable any government officials who withheld key evidence, and investigate why critical documents had been hidden in the first place.

But ever since late February, it seems the cover-up wasn’t exposed but buried even deeper by those who promised transparency.

First, they handed out the so-called “Epstein files” to influencers like golden Willy Wanka tickets, only for everyone to discover that almost all of the contents inside were already public and contained no new revelations.

Image

Fast-forward to May, and suddenly Kash Patel and Dan Bongino are declaring firmly that Epstein killed himself.

“I’ve seen the whole file. He killed himself,” Bongino stated bluntly to Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo.

Today, the Trump-appointed DOJ and FBI released a new report that’s turning heads and raising plenty of questions.

They concluded that Epstein had no clients, didn’t blackmail anyone, and definitely killed himself.

FBI Concludes Epstein Had No Clients, Didn’t Blackmail Anyone, and Definitely Killed Himself

FBI Concludes Epstein Had No Clients, Didn't Blackmail Anyone, and Definitely Killed Himself

This article originally appeared on Infowars and was republished with permission.

They also released surveillance footage and claimed it showed no one entered Epstein’s cell area, supporting the suicide ruling.

But people aren’t convinced. Some allege the video cuts off, with a minute of footage missing between 11:59 PM and midnight.

Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to questions about the Epstein client list in light of these new DOJ and FBI statements.

A reporter asked, “Karoline, the DOJ and FBI have now concluded there was no Jeffrey Epstein client list. What do you tell MAGA supporters who say they want anyone involved in Epstein’s alleged crimes held accountable?”

Leavitt replied, “This administration wants anyone who has ever committed a crime to be accountable, and I would argue this administration has done more to lock up bad guys than certainly the previous administration.”

She continued, “The Trump administration is committed to truth and transparency. That’s why the Attorney General and the FBI Director pledged, at the president’s direction, to do an exhaustive review of all the files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and his death. They put out a memo in conclusion of that review.”

“There was material they did not release because frankly it was incredibly graphic and contained child pornography, which is not something that is appropriate for public consumption,” she added.

“But they committed to an exhaustive investigation. That’s what they did and they provided the results of that.”

That’s transparency,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt was also pressed about Attorney General Pam Bondi’s comments in February when she claimed she had the Epstein list “on [her] desk.”

Peter Doocy asked, “Okay, so the FBI looks at the circumstances surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein. According to the report, this systematic review revealed no incriminating client list. So what happened to the Epstein client list that the Attorney General said she had on her desk?”

Leavitt responded, “I think if you go back and look at what the Attorney General said in that interview, which was on your network, on Fox News—”

Doocy pushed back, “I have the quote. John Roberts said: ‘DOJ may release the list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients, will that really happen?’ And she said, ‘It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.’”

Leavitt explained, “Yes. She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, that’s what the Attorney General was referring to. And I will let her speak for that.”

“But when it comes to the FBI and the Department of Justice, they are more than committed to ensuring that bad people are put behind bars.”

So, after months of patiently waiting, the American people get a nothing burger that simply repeats the same old claims we heard under Bill Barr.

Even worse, it’s purported that this is what “transparency” and “accountability” look like.

The story went from saying the Epstein client list was “on my desk” to “actually, there is no client list.

And the newly released video footage raises questions and, in the age of AI, proves nothing.

If there’s really nothing to hide, why does it still feel like they’re hiding everything?

And most importantly—who’s still being protected?

Thanks for reading to the end. I hope you found this timeline of events and recap helpful.

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Bruce Dowbiggin

Eau Canada! Join Us In An Inclusive New National Anthem

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This past week has seen (some) Canadians celebrating their heritage— now that Mike Myers has officially reinterpreted Canadian culture as a hockey sweater and Mr. Dressup. This quick-change was so popular that Canadian voters even forgot an entire decade of Justin Trudeau.

In the United States, the people who elected Donald Trump– and not Andrew Coyne– to run their nation celebrated Independence Day with stirring renditions off The Star Spangled Banner, although few could surpass the brilliant performance of the song by the late Whitney Houston at the 1991 Super Bowl.

The CDN equivalent is some flavour of the month changing the words to O Canada at the Grey Cup game. Canada’s national anthem has always been open to interpretation by people who may or may not have Canada in their hearts. At the 2023 NBA All Star Game Canadian chanteuse Jully Black became the latest singer to attempt a manicure to the English lyrics of O Canada, penned for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony ( Calixa Lavallée composed the music, after which words were written by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The English lyrics have “evolved” over the years, just like the dress code for the CDN PM..)

Black amended the first line from “our home and native land” to our home ON native land”. Because something-something. But this creative license is nothing new. Unlike Chris Stapleton, Marvin Gaye or Whitney Houston with the Star Spangled Banner, interpreters of O Canada have seen fit to amend the lyrics to their sensibilities. Roger Doucet, famed anthem singer of the Montreal Canadiens in the 1970-80s, tried to add the words “we stand on guard for truth and liberty” in place of the first “we stand on guard for thee”.

In 1990, having nothing better to do, Toronto City Council voted 12 to 7 in favour of recommending that the phrase “our home and native land” be changed to “our home and cherished land” and that “in all thy sons command” be partly reverted to “in all of us command”. (The latter was officially adapted.)

While those attempts had mixed outcomes it appears it’s just a matter of time till Ms. Black’s class-conscious culling of the words is accepted. Being generous we here at IDLM thought we’d short-circuit piecemeal attempts to create a throughly Woke version of the anthem that would last till the latest fad come along. Herewith our 2023 definitive O Canada that even— maybe only— Justin Trudeau could love:

“O Canada” (Ignores the French fact in our culture) Change to “Eau Canada”

“Our home on native land” (ignores indigenous land claims) Change to “Get off our land, settlers”

“True patriot love in all of us commands” (Only true patriot love? There were officially 78 kinds of relationships in Trudeaupia. And commanding love?) Change to “Love the one you’re with”.

“With glowing hearts we see thee rise” (rise suggests triumph of white triumphalist dogma) Change to “Non judgementally we oppose the crushing impacts of Euro-based autocracy”

“The true north strong and free” (How can anyone be strong or free when we support America’s killing fields?) Change to “Heteronormative thinking must be stamped out at our borders. If we even have borders anymore.”

“From far and wide” (Body shaming) Change to “Obesity is a disease that is not helped by putting it in the national anthem.”

“O Canada” (biased against A, B, AB blood types) change to “Science Must Be Believed”

“We stand on guard for thee” (Spreads hate against the non ableist community) Change to “Please remain seated.”

“God keep our land” (God? God? What is this, the Reformation) “Change to “It’s your thing”

”Glorious and free” (Glorious harkens to the bourgeois subjugation of Indigenous thought processes by white Christian priests) Change to “A genocidal state if there ever was one”.

“O Canada we stand on guard for thee/ 

O Canada we stand on guard for thee”  The denial of trans rights is used twice here to emphasize the intolerable burdens faced by people of the LGBTQ2R community as they seek respect and compensation for the evils of the founding oppressors.) Change to “Eau Canada, after 6.5 hours of intensive lectures on the gender, race and dissociative application of class war on your citizens you may someday come to understand that this song is a manifestation of your bigotry and exploitation of minorities— and why rhyming lines like “thee and free” is the work of the devil or J.K. Rowling, whomever comes to mind first.”

There. That wasn’t so tough, was it? Flows trippingly off the tongue like Mark Carney refusing a special inquiry into China buying the electoral process.  Or perhaps we should simply accept a literal translation of the original French lyrics:

“O Canada!

Land of our ancestors

Glorious deeds circle your brow

For your arm knows how to wield the sword

Your arm knows how to carry the cross;

Your history is an epic

Of brilliant deeds

And your valour steeped in faith

Will protect our homes and our rights.”

Yikes. That’s downright fascistic. But it’s Quebec, and we have to allow them their peccadilloes. So circle your brow with glorious deeds, grab a cross and a sword and valour steeped in faith. And remember we must be adaptable in the new era.

Unless it’s Alberta using the adapting to fuel its CO2-belching machines. In which case it’s man the battlements and follow Mike Myers into the fight.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster  A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.

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