Everyone knows that the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) website is confusing and not updated very well (heck, even the Officer of the Auditor General of Canada admits it!), so this new initiative is unprecedented. I think it will change the way Canadians see taxes. Taxes won’t be so scary anymore, and hopefully, people will feel confident enough to do their own taxes well. They will feel empowered with tax information at their fingertips… instead of resorting to Googling “taxes Canada student loans” or something.
The content is CRA material, except that it is edited and updated by a panel of tax experts, including tax students, tax accountants, tax lawyers, and tax academics to reflect the current taxation law. They consult the Income Tax Act, the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal, and even the Supreme Court of Canada. You know that the information you’re getting is as good as gold.
Professor Alarie details the launch of the Taxwiki.ca website here on the University of Toronto blog. He plans to add information on GST/HST there too in the future.
I’ve already bookmarked the site and am looking forward to using it (a lot) when I do my taxes again next year. Hope you find it as useful as I do!
