CRA to continue with capital tax changes despite prorogation: Finance Department

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The federal government says the Canada Revenue Agency will continue to administer the capital gains tax changes proposed in the budget last year, even though they haven’t passed in Parliament, which is prorogued until March 24.

The Finance Department says parliamentary convention dictates that taxation proposals such as the capital gains taxation measures the Liberals introduced last year are effective as soon as the government tables a notice of ways and means motion.

The Liberals tabled in September a notice of a ways and means motion that introduced a bill meant to raise the portion of capital gains on which companies pay tax to two-thirds from one-half. The policy would also apply to individuals with capital gains earnings above $250,000.

Despite the current prorogation, the Finance Department says the CRA will issue taxpayer forms in accordance with the proposed capital gains rules by Jan. 31.

The department says the CRA will stop administering the policy if Parliament resumes and the government signals it will no longer proceed with the proposed changes to capital gains taxation.

The department’s update on capital gains comes a day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation and the proroguing of Parliament, which wiped the House of Commons docket of bills and motions that had yet to receive royal assent and caused confusion around the capital gains proposal.