Paradise Papers And The New Voluntary Disclosures Program

If you have signed, or are about to sign, an agreement to buy a newly built home in Ontario, the HST you recover could be anything from nothing to $130,000. The difference usually comes down to a signing date, a price threshold, or whose name is on the purchase agreement, and not to whether you are buying your first home.

If the CRA has served you or your accounting firm with a CRA requirement for information, and you are wondering whether you can refuse it, delay it, or fight it later, the Federal Court of Appeal has now answered that question.

If you hold cryptocurrency, NFTs or other blockchain assets in someone else’s wallet, or hold assets in your own wallet for someone else, the arrangement is very likely a bare trust. Until recently, that carried almost no compliance consequence. It now carries three reporting obligations to track: the T3 filing for 2026, the T1135, and the proposed Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework from 2027.

Since 2022, the City of Toronto has imposed an annual Vacant Home Tax (VHT) on residential units left unoccupied for more than six months of the year. For most owners the tax is an afterthought: file the annual declaration, confirm the unit was lived in, and move on. But when the City’s administrative process breaks down, an owner can find themselves fighting a five-figure tax bill over a unit they insist was never vacant at all.

On September 15, 2026 (“Announcement Day”), the Department of Finance released draft legislative proposals to implement the “Productivity Mega Deduction,” permanent 100% first-year (“immediate”) expensing for a wide range of new or used depreciable property and for Canadian development expenses (“CDE”)...

On July 2, 2026, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) published its updated Guidance on the Common Reporting Standard (Updated CRS Guidance).

Canada's new Productivity Mega Deduction permanently provides immediate expensing for a wide range of depreciable property and Canadian development expenses, dramatically expanding the scope beyond the previously announced Productivity Super Deduction. The measure aims to reduce Canada's marginal effective tax rate on new business investment to 6.4%, positioning it as the lowest among major economies and less than half the U.S. rate.

Canada has introduced a permanent Productivity Mega Deduction allowing immediate expensing of up to 100% of eligible capital property costs and Canadian development expenses acquired after September 15, 2026. This measure aims to boost business investment and strengthen Canada's tax competitiveness by expanding immediate expensing eligibility from 15% to approximately two-thirds of capital investments, while reducing the country's marginal effective tax rate to 6.4%.

When a specified motor vehicle is acquired through a private sale (for instance, from an individual who is not registered for GST/HST purposes), the transaction is generally not subject to GST/HST.

The Federal Court has approved an $8.7 million class action settlement in Sweet v. His Majesty the King (2026 FC 590), resolving claims from the 2020 credential-stuffing cyberattacks on Government of Canada online accounts accessed via GCKey, including CRA My Account.

A regulatory shift now under consideration in Ontario could reshape how the province’s medical aesthetic clinics operate. The proposal, which would change how nurses are authorized to administer medical aesthetic services, invites a broader look at how Ontario currently regulates cosmetic injections and how the proposed changes would align the province more closely with the regulatory frameworks already in place elsewhere in Canada. While these procedures are often marketed as routine “spa” services, they remain medical acts that involve prescription products and carry clinical risks.

Starting November 1, 2026, BC's pay transparency reporting obligation expands to cover employers with 50 or more employees, significantly broadening the scope of the Pay Transparency Act and Pay Transparency Regulation (the "Act").

Effective September 8, 2026, Canada implemented retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. goods in response to the initial 50% tariffs imposed by the US under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. To operationalize these measures, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) issued Customs Notice 26-23, establishing binding administrative rules on how the surtax will be applied, calculated, and collected.

These ailments are usually short-term conditions, which can be reliably self-diagnosed and managed with minor treatment and minimal follow-up care.

The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) published its third quarterly release of the year on September 10, 2026, noting that the targeted adjustments made to its guidance were made with a view to supporting a resilient and competitive Canadian financial system.

On July 29, 2026, Health Canada announced that it had obtained a permanent injunction against a Québec-based company in connection with the sale of unauthorized injectable peptides in Canada. The announcement reflects Health Canada’s continued focus on peptide products and serves as a reminder that injectable peptides intended for human use are regulated as prescription drugs and are subject to Canada's drug regulatory framework.

This Bulletin summarizes key regulatory developments impacting the payments sector in 2025 and looks ahead to 2026.

A new regulatory framework for measuring and monitoring the energy performance of Québec’s building stock took effect on July 8, 2026, under the Regulation respecting the mandatory reporting of the environmental performance of certain buildings (the “Regulation”).

The Bank of Canada (the “Bank”) has published two proposed guidelines relating to the accreditation process for prospective participants under the Consumer-Driven Banking Framework: the Participating entity accreditation application requirements under the Consumer-Driven Banking Act (the “Participating Entity Guideline”) and the Third-party service provider accreditation application requirements under the Consumer-Driven Banking Act (the “TPSP Guideline”).

Under Order in Council 1358-2026, the Québec government authorizes, from September 7, 2026 to January 31, 2027, the Centre d'acquisitions gouvernementales (the “CAG”) to depart from the general principle that public calls for tenders must be open and without discrimination to foreign suppliers from jurisdictions bound by an intergovernmental agreement with Québec.