Government delivering on Budget 2022 commitments to Canadians

August 9, 2022 - Ottawa, Ontario - Department of Finance Canada

Today the federal government is moving forward with consultations that will advance key budget priorities.

The government is publishing draft legislation to deliver a number of commitments to Canadians, including those in Budget 2022.

Canadians are invited to share their views and feedback on the proposed measures as the government works toward legislative implementation in the coming months.

Budget 2022 Tax Measures and Amendments to Support a Growing Economy

Today, the Department of Finance has released for public comment draft legislative proposals to implement Budget 2022 tax measures and amendments. These proposals relate to:

• The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account (FHSA)
• The First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit (HBTC)
• The Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit
• The Residential Property Flipping Rule
• The Medical Expense Tax Credit for Surrogacy and Other Expenses
• Borrowing by Defined Benefit Pension Plans
• Annual Disbursement Quota for Registered Charities
• Reporting Requirements for Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) and Registered Retirement Income Funds (RRIFs)
• The Canada Recovery Dividend and the Additional Tax on Banks and Life Insurers
• The Investment Tax Credit for Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage
• Clean Technology Tax Incentives – Air-Source Heat Pumps
• The Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit
• Eliminating Flow-Through Shares for Oil, Gas and Coal Activities
• The Small Business Deduction
• International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS 17)
• Hedging and Short Selling by Canadian Financial Institutions
• The Application of the General Anti-Avoidance Rule to Tax Attributes
• Substantive Canadian-Controlled Private Corporations
• Interest Coupon Stripping
• Quarterly Remittances and Technical Amendments to the Cannabis Taxation Framework

Previously Announced Measures

• Enhanced Reporting Requirements for Trusts
• Mandatory Disclosure Rules
• The Avoidance of Tax Debts
• The Electronic Filing and Certification of Tax and Information Returns
• Fixing Contribution Errors in Registered Pension Plans  

Tax Improvements and Other Tax Measures

• Proposed amendments to implement technical tax amendments to improve the certainty and integrity of the tax system
• Modifications to the vaping taxation framework related to marking, customs storage, and duty liability
• Draft regulations under the Underused Housing Tax Act and amendments to the Underused Housing Tax Act and related amendments to the Income Tax Act

Canadians are invited to provide comments on Budget 2022, and other, tax draft legislative proposals. Please send comments to Consultation-Legislation@fin.gc.ca by September 30, 2022. References to "Announcement Date" in the draft proposals, and the accompanying explanatory notes, refer to today’s release date.

Reinforcing Transparency and the Rule of Law

• Targeted consultations with select key stakeholders on strengthening Canada’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing (AML/ATF) provisions as they pertain to correspondent banking and the armoured car sector.
• Targeted consultations on creating, in partnership with provincial and territorial governments, a publicly-accessible beneficial ownership registry of real property  to counter the misuse of anonymous legal entities for illicit purposes.

Ensuring a Fair Tax System

• Engagement with interested Indigenous groups and organizations on a fuel, alcohol, cannabis and tobacco (FACT) sales tax framework that would support interested Indigenous governments to implement a FACT sales tax within their reserves or settlement lands.
• Consultations on ways to strengthen and modernize the General Anti-Avoidance Rule, an important tool for challenging abusive tax avoidance.

Strengthening Diversity and Communication in Corporate Governance

• Consultations on the corporate governance of federally regulated financial institutions, to support greater diversity on their boards and among their senior management, and to expand the use of electronic communications by these institutions

Taking Action to Address Predatory Lending

• Consultations on fighting predatory lending by lowering the criminal rate of interest in the Criminal Code of Canada applicable to, among other things, installment loans offered by payday lenders.

Addressing the Growing Digital Economy

• Consultations focused on the digitalization of money and maintaining financial sector stability and security.

Supporting Canada’s Trade and Development Goals

• Consultations on the renewal of Canada’s tariff preference programs for imports from developing and least developed countries, which are set to expire in 2024.

Details on how to take part in those consultations that are open to the public are available via the links in the above bullets. To provide feedback on any of the aforementioned consultations, please send comments to: financepublic-financepublique@fin.gc.ca.