A Year in Review: TaxCycle Highlights for 2022-23
This is the time of year when we like to reflect on what the previous tax season brought to TaxCycle. From legislative changes and new services from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Revenu Québec, to the invaluable contributions from our clients. Your feedback, shared during webinars, on the support lines or in posts on ProTaxCommunity.com, has been pivotal to TaxCycle's progress.
In case you didn’t read each set of release notes in detail this year, here’s the comprehensive list of what you helped create and improve in TaxCycle this past tax season. (Can you spot your idea?)
Significant CRA and Provincial Initiatives
Many CRA changes require additional research and design to implement them well in TaxCycle, and make them available quickly as well as easy-to-use. Worth noting this year are the following:
TaxCycle T1
- Added a Quick Fix review message on the T5008SlipSummary to allow TaxCycle to complete all spousal percentage fields automatically. This option is off by default, so you must activate it in T1/TP1 Options first.
- Added a question to the Filing section of the Info worksheet to track whether filing a UHT-2900 return is required. Answering Yes to this question adds a new paragraph in the client letter (CLetter) to communicate the filing obligation and deadline.
- Added a check box on the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) worksheet to indicate whether to calculate the GIS.
- Removed form TP-1029.9 from the list of forms to sign in the 2022 TP1 sections client letters.
- Added a home phone field to the next year’s address section on the Engagement worksheet.
- Added carry-forward of phone number fields from the next year’s address section on the Engagement worksheet to the following year’s Info worksheet.
- Added a new check box on the Interest worksheet to allow you to add the interest and penalties to the total owing on the T7DR(A) remittance voucher. A similar field also appears for the Québec TP-1026.0.1.P remittance slip.
- Also added a new field to the T7DR(A) remittance voucher and the Québec TP-1026.0.1.P remittance slip to enter the estimated taxes, penalties and interest payable manually or automatically transfer them from the Interest worksheet.
- Added a new section on the PensionSummary to show the detailed calculation and tax savings for the Québec retirement income transfer to or from the spouse.
- Added the following forms:
- NS479, Nova Scotia Credits—Children’s Sports and Arts tax credit
- T2039, Air Quality Improvement Tax Credit
- T1B, Request to Deduct Federal COVID-19 Benefits Repayment in a Prior Year
- Removed form TP-1029.9 Tax Credit for Taxi Drivers or Taxi Owners.
- Added a suggestion message to non-resident returns with rental operations that filing the UHT-2900 may be required in some cases.
- Updated T1 Create Forms to include the transfer of the address for Canadian rental properties entered on the T776, and added the transfer for the email and mobile phone number.
- Added a review message when a rebate is claimed on the GST370 and there is no prior year GST rebate included in the income.
- Added new workflow items for Prior year Notice of Assessment reviewed and CRA Represent a Client summary reviewed.
TaxCycle T2
- New schedules added to TaxCycle T2:
- Schedule 67, Canada Recovery Dividend
- Schedule 68, Additional Tax on Banks and Life Insurers
- Schedule 432, Additional Certificate Numbers for the British Columbia Clean Buildings Tax Credit
- New Schedule 8 that includes the new Part 1 table and question 105, both of which are now transmitted to the CRA when you file the return.
- Added two more add-back amounts to Schedule 63 that flow automatically from Schedule 1, lines 309 and 313, when you choose to complete Schedule 63 from Schedule 125.
- New Create T4 or Create T5 buttons on the Data menu to create these slips from a file open in the latest T2 module (.2023T2).
- New Québec CO-17 forms:
- FM-220.3, Property tax refund for forest producers
- CO-1140, Calculation of the paid-up capital of a financial institution
- CO-1140.A, Paid-up capital to be used for purposes other than the calculation of the tax on capital
- CO-1159.2, Compensation tax for financial institutions
- CO-1167, Insurance corporations: Calculation of premiums payable, taxable premiums and tax on capital respecting marine insurance
- CO-1175.4, Life insurance corporation: Calculation of the tax on capital
- CO-771.R.14, Proportion of business carried on in Québec and elsewhere by an insurance corporation
- CO-1029.8.36.SM, Tax credit for the production of performances
- New Québec CO-17 schedules to support immediate expensing calculations:
- CO-130.AD Capital Cost Allowance in Respect of Immediate Expensing Property. This new form calculates automatically from T2SCH8.
- TP-130.EN Immediate Expensing Limit Agreement. This new form is used to allocate the $1.5 million immediate expensing limit.
- New question added on the Info worksheet, in the Québec section, related to question 31 on the CO-17: “Is the corporation exempt from income tax under section 984, 985, 991, 995, 996 or 998 of the Taxation Act?”
- When the answer to question 31 on the CO-17 is “No,” the CO-771 is now transmitted to Revenu Québec if line 299 of the CO-17 is greater than zero and the corporation is not a tax-exempt corporation.
TaxCycle T3
- Added EFILE support for T3ATH-IND, T3M and T3S.
- New forms for paper-filing only:
- 3GR, Group Income Tax and Information Return for RRSP, RRIF, RESP, or RDSP Trusts
- T3GR-WS, Worksheet for Part XI. 1 Tax on Non-Qualified Property of an RRSP, RRIF, or RESP trust
- T1061, Canadian Amateur Athlete Trust Group Information Return
- T3PRP, T3 Pooled Registered Pension Plan Tax Return
- T3RI, Registered Investment Income Tax Return
- T3SIFTWS, SIFT (specified investment flow-through) worksheet specifically for inter vivos SIFT trusts
- Corrected an issue where AgriInvest Fund 2 was not allocating amounts to beneficiaries when applicable.
- Added recipient ID reference as a selectable description when printing.
TaxCycle T5013
- Immediate expensing of depreciable property and automatic allocation of unallocated net income variance.
- New Schedule 63 (T5013SCH63) for the Return of Fuel Charge Proceeds to Farmers Tax Credit.
- New Schedule 65 (T5013SCH65) for the Air Quality Improvement Tax Credit.
- New option to show second slip preview on the T5013Partner worksheet when applicable.
- Added a review message to the Info worksheet to verify the residency of the partnership when a partner resides outside of Canada.
- Resolved an issue where TaxCycle displayed an error message related to T5013SCH63 (Return of Fuel Charge Proceeds to Farmers Tax Credit) when attempting to transmit T5013 returns from 2021 or prior years.
- Resolved an issue where, when there was a dissolution of the partnership and the adjusted cost base (ACB) was negative for a limited partner, the slip footnote incorrectly calculated a negative deemed capital gain under ITA 40(3.1) when claiming a deemed capital loss under ITA 40(3.12).
- Added partner ID as a selectable description (Recipient Reference) when printing.
- Added a new method to set the country of residence for partners as something other than the mailing address.
- Updated the variance on line 220 of the T5013 and line H of the RL-15 to take into account limited losses that cannot be carried forward by partners that are partnerships (tiered partnerships).
TaxCycle Forms
- Updated RC243, Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) Return.
- Added electronic signature support to forms AUT01 and AUT01X.
- Added a UHT worksheet to record and track properties that are subject to the Underused Housing Tax.
- Added smart copy/paste support for UHT forms.
- Updated form T1261, Application for a Canada Revenue Agency Individual Tax Number (ITN) for Non-Residents to the latest version available from the CRA.
- Updated the UHT-2900 work chart to always show the Partnership and trust related questions. Removed the transfer for the Charity business number (BN).
Added the following forms:
- RC193, Service Feedback
- RC325, Address Change Request
- T1158, Registration of Family Support Payments
- R105-S, Regulation 105 Simplified Waiver Application for Non-resident Artists and Athletes Earning No More Than CAN $15,000
- T2055, Election in Respect of a Capital Gains Dividend Under Subsection 131(1).
TaxCycle T4, T5, NR4, T5018 and T3010
- T3010—Added form T1441, Qualifying Disbursements: Grants to Non-Qualified Donees (Grantees)
TaxCycle RL
- Electronic signature support for RL-31.
- When printing a RL slip that was not filed electronically, TaxCycle now adds a message to the printed slip that reads, “For Review only. Transmit slips before printing.” The message is removed once the slip is transmitted.
- New check box to remove the prior sequence number for re-amended RL slips. If a slip was amended or transmitted, check the box and TaxCycle will display a message instructing you to remove the prior sequence number.
Workflow
- Resolved an issue where TaxCycle did not scroll through the list of workflow items using the mouse scroll wheel.
Client Manager
- Updated the Export Contact Information report to include the client’s date of birth.
- Added Office ID and P.O. Box Location fields to the Full Data Export report. Also added a P.O. Box Location field to the Contact Information report.
- Added a new option to display negative monetary amounts in parentheses in search results.
- Added a new check box to Show server warning messages on start-up in TaxCycle Options, in case TaxCycle incorrectly displays a warning message that the Client Manager server is unreachable or has stopped for any reason. Uncheck the box to hide the server warning messages on start-up.
- Added a Household and Household Dependants column to the Client Manager search results. The Household column lists every member of the household including dependants entered on the dependant worksheet (Dep), while the Household Dependants column lists all dependants including those entered on the Dep worksheet.
Templates
- T1 2022 pre-season and 2021-22 post-season letters (PreSeason, PostSeason, JPreSeason, JPostSeason, FPreSeason, FPostSeason)
- Added a question to the Checklist snippet to ask whether the taxpayer has income that is exempt under the Indian Act.
- Added a question to the Checklist snippet to ask whether taxpayers in Ontario or Nunavut consent to sharing their information for the purposes of organ and tissue donation.
- Updated the signature area on the last page to use the same layout as the Engagement letter (ELetter) and include the Legal Representative information if entered on the Info worksheet.
- T1 2022 and 2021—Added mention of the digital news subscription tax credit to the pre-season and post-season letters.
- Changed post-season letters to use the next-year address, phone numbers and email address if entered on the Engagement worksheet. If you enter a next-year address, phone number or email address on the Engagement worksheet, the post-season letters now use that information instead of the details from the Info worksheet. The new information appears in the mailing address on the first page of the letter, and in the section for confirming contact information on the tax information checklist page.
- T1 client, joint and deceased client letters (CLetter, JLetter and DLetter)
- Improved the condition that displays the RRSP over-contribution paragraph so that it only appears when applicable.
- Added a paragraph about the interim Canada dental benefit to the 2022 letters.
- Updated a paragraph for the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit in 2022.
- Added “and taxation year” to instructions on what to write on a cheque for payment in the client letters for 2021 and 2022.
- Fixed the pension income splitting paragraph in the 2022 and 2021 joint client letter so that it only appears for the pensioner and not the transferee.
- Added a paragraph on Québec retirement income transfer to a spouse or partner
- Removed form TP-1029.9 from the list of forms to sign in the 2022 TP1 sections.
- T1 2022—Improved the wording of the introductory paragraph in the incomplete slips email templates. This affects both the English and French templates: ISlips, JISlips, FISlips, FeuilletsI, FeuilletsIJ, FeuilletsIF.
- T1 2022—Moved combined balance to the top of the joint and family invoice.
- T1 engagement letters (ELetter and DELetter)
- Modified layout and wording of the Engagement letter to fit better on a single page, provided that the letterhead is not too large (English only). The French version of the letter has also been modified to be more compact.
- In 2022 and 2021, changed the letter to use the “Engagement Start Date” field from the Engagement worksheet to insert the date in the letter. If no date is entered on the Engagement worksheet, the letter will use today’s date.
- T1, T2, T5013—Added a reference to the Engagement letter (ELetter) clarifying the client’s responsibilities under the Underused Housing Tax Act.
- Added a ClientCopyEmail template to all slips modules.
- T1, T2, T3 and T5013—Fixed the spacing on the signature area in Engagement letters (ELetter).
- T2, T3, T5013 and TaxCycle Forms—The Engagement letter (ELetter) now uses the “Engagement start” date from the Engagement worksheet to insert the date in the letter. If no date is entered on the Engagement worksheet, the letter will use today’s date.
- T2—Added a Dividends Paid section to the client letter (CLetter).
- T3—Added carry forward information for non-capital losses to the client letter (CLetter).
- T5013—Updated the wording in the client letter (CLetter) to reflect that not all partners are individuals.
- TaxCycle Forms—Fixed the order of the names in the Engagement letter (ELetter) template so that the person’s given name appears first.
- TaxCycle Forms—Improved the Engagement letter (ELetter) so it can support multiple contacts and different types of taxpayers:
- Updated the Address snippet to only show the address for a T1 contact if the T1 taxpayer type is selected.
- Updated the Salutation snippet to show both taxpayers in the address and salutation area if the file has two T1 contact people listed. Other types of taxpayers (T2, T5013, etc.) show “Dear client” for the salutation.
- Modified the wording in the first paragraph based on whether the engagement is for a T1 taxpayer or not.
- Fixed the names in the signature area to display the contact or authorized person for the correct taxpayer type.
- Added logic to show multiple signing fields if there are two T1 contacts or more than one authorized person for other taxpayer types.
- Added the
first() function that looks for the first instance that matches the condition. For example, you can use this function to display a section in a template if there is at least one dependant under the age of 12. It will show the text but will not repeat the text if there is more than one dependant who match the criteria. See the first() help topic for sample code.
Options
- T1—Added a New File option for AgriStability forms (T1163/1273).
- T1—Added a New File option for the Information about organ and tissue donations question for Ontario and Nunavut.
Billing and Invoicing
TaxFolder
It was another big year for TaxFolder. With your feedback, we implemented the following changes and improvements:
- View a history of TaxFolder events related to your firm.
- Send signature and approval requests in French from TaxCycle.
- Set a default language preference for your firm and new clients/preparers on the Organization page in Account Settings.
- Email notifications now respect the client and preparer’s language preference, and include the preferred language from TaxCycle templates and for the body of the email notification.
- Expanded the document status to show the state of the document approval or signature request.
- Reorganized Account Settings menu.
- A new Undo button below the signature box to allow clients to undo the last part of the signature they wrote. The client does not have to redraw the whole signature if they make a mistake—just the last portion drawn.
- Added a warning message that displays if you are printing to TaxFolder or DocuSign® without being signed in to TaxCycle (for example, when printing using print sets).
- New and improved TaxFolder website, including revamped help topics geared towards preparers and clients.
Of course, there were MANY more enhancements made to TaxFolder itself. Read the TaxFolder’s Third Year article to find out more.
Xero Integration
- Import T2125 and T776 Data From Xero to TaxCycle T1. Similar to the Xero T2 GIFI import, you must first map the accounts in the Xero organization to facilitate the import. When mapping your accounts in Xero, first select T1 + T2125 (TaxCycle) or T1 + T776 (TaxCycle) as the tax form in the Xero Tax Mapper.
- Added a new option to set a Default reference number for Xero invoices created from TaxCycle. The Billing worksheet now includes a field for this reference number, which is also included on the invoice.
Interface Changes
- TaxCycle now correctly remembers your window and sidebar placement choices on the Start screen after each version update.
Technology Updates
- Upgraded TaxCycle to use .NET 6, Microsoft’s latest version of .NET that offers long-term support (LTS).
- Provided a workaround for an issue with Canon Generic PCL6 Network printer drivers that was preventing printing for some printers.
DoxCycle
- Support for the TaxCycle .NET 6 upgrade to allow you to continue sharing data between DoxCycle and TaxCycle using TaxLink.
What About Other Years?
Curious about enhancements in prior years? Check out these news articles:
