{"id":455825,"date":"2026-02-05T16:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455825\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T16:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:49:12","slug":"tips-for-responding-to-a-cra-reassessment-from-a-financial-planner-who-did-it-himself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/455825\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips for responding to a CRA reassessment \u2013 from a financial planner who did it himself"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The CRA hadn\u2019t considered that deductions taken for meeting continuing education requirements are also associated with salaried financial planners.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

John Burns is well aware of the professional tax deductions he can claim.<\/p>\n

A salaried financial planner with the public service with more than 40 years in the industry, Mr. Burns filed his 2024 tax return early last year. <\/p>\n

He claimed expenses for two professional conventions \u2013 including registration fees, travel and meals \u2013 and submitted his receipts. He attended the events in part to obtain the continuing education (CE) credits needed for his certified financial planner (CFP) and trust and estate practitioner designations. <\/p>\n

Mr. Burns received his notice of assessment in the spring with no issues. But last August, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent Mr. Burns a reassessment, disallowing his conference expenses. <\/p>\n

Mr. Burns filed a notice of objection and won his claim, resulting in $1,700 returned to him. He spoke with Globe Advisor about the process and the outcome.<\/p>\n

What was your reaction when you received the reassessment?<\/p>\n

I immediately went into high gear and identified all my tax receipts and claims. I even went into Google Gemini to do a deep dive into all the different tax references. AI was very good at helping with the minutiae of the Income Tax Act and the policies and regulations the CRA had laid out. <\/p>\n

How did you respond, specifically?<\/p>\n

I responded to the CRA by letter within days of receiving the reassessment. I sent backup documentation about my job description. I explained that with the Financial Professionals Title Protection Act in Ontario, I wouldn\u2019t be allowed to hold my job position or call myself a senior financial planner without having the CFP designation.<\/p>\n

I then had to explain to the CRA that to keep the CFP, CE is necessary. CE has mandatory annual requalification costs that allow me to retain my designations and continue to earn professional income. So, the fees pertaining to the symposiums should be valid. I submitted proof of completing the required 30 hours of CE.<\/p>\n

Have you claimed these convention fees in the past?<\/p>\n

No, this was the first time. I was formerly a board member and organizer of these conferences, so, as a result, I did not have to pay my own way into these courses. <\/p>\n

Were conference fees the only sticking point?<\/p>\n

That and also the fact that I\u2019m paid a salary. Many financial planners run their own businesses, so claiming these deductions is fine. I think the CRA hadn\u2019t considered that these deductions are also associated with salaried financial planners. <\/p>\n

What takeaways can you offer advisors who may find themselves battling the CRA in the future?<\/p>\n

Even if you think you are correct and the CRA is wrong, it\u2019s important to be civil and respectful. The person at the other end is there to serve you as a taxpayer. Humans are humans. Remember, they have the ability to delay, expedite or just stall. Be evidence-based and, in your letter, back up why you think your objection is valid. <\/p>\n

And be aware that it\u2019s your own case \u2013 you\u2019re not necessarily creating precedent. I won this battle, but someone else may go in and they\u2019ll find some other precedent, glitch, or some reason to deny the appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The CRA hadn\u2019t considered that deductions taken for meeting continuing education requirements are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1397,45,49,48,133,5266,2922,131,132],"class_list":["post-455825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-appwebview","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-globe-advisor","tag-noastack","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}