The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is now surveying businesses and organizations as part of efforts to assess general readiness to comply with the reporting fees for service (RFS) requirement. RFS is the legislated requirement for businesses and organizations (including sole proprietors and corporations) to report fees paid to other businesses for services provided.
Currently, these payments, if they exceed $500 in a calendar year, must be reported to the CRA on the prescribed form, usually a T4A slip. However, there has been an enforcement moratorium in place since 2011, which essentially placed a hold on assessing penalties for failing to the complete box 048 of the T4A slip.
At the time, the moratorium was said to have been put in place to allow businesses and organizations time to gain familiarity with the changes and adopt practices to comply with the RFS requirement. Though it was intended as a temporary measure, the moratorium continues to be in place.
As compliant trucking companies know, a key part of the fight against tax evasion and Driver Inc. is the return of T4As. T4A issuance will not only introduce greater traceability for CRA, but it will also create greater accountability for eventual tax payment by all actors in the scheme, including companies and drivers.
CTA strongly believes that the moratorium on T4As has led to the staggering growth of the underground economy and the proliferation of employee drivers masking as Personal Service Businesses in our sector. CTA is encouraging all members to complete this survey and provide your input. In general, this survey looks to gauge the industry’s readiness to report, thoughts on potential thresholds, and the challenges companies might see if they were required to now issue T4As.
You can take the CRA survey here. Please note, the survey closes on July 22, 2024.