The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is pushing for small businesses to adopt electronic invoicing in an effort to speed up GST collection, says Blacklock’s Reporter..CRA conducted an in-house study that found most business owners questioned said “they were skeptical about the extent to which the CRA has the interests of business foremost and would prefer to get information from private sector companies, such as accounting software vendors,” said the report..The study was commissioned by the CRA to drive more small businesses to abandon paper invoicing via mail or e-mail in an effort to speed up GST collections..“It aims to advance thinking as to how the CRA can shift the focus of its compliance approach from relying on taxpayer-completed tax returns and post-filing strategies to include the use of real or near-real-time data from business transactions via modern technologies,” wrote researchers..None of the small business owners’ questions for the study said they use electronic invoicing and were not interested in making the switch due to various reservations about the process..Costs range from $15-30 per month for the use of most payment software for small business and although cost was a consideration it was the perceived “value for money” that led to many seeing “little to no benefit to using electronic invoicing,” said the report..CRA paid Sage Research Corporation nearly $69,000 for the study that polled focus groups with small business owners across the country..Business owners told researchers if the agency wanted to promote electronic invoicing to get quicker tax remittances, it (CRA) should pay for it..“Many participants essentially suggested making e-invoicing free or at least a very low cost,” said the study, while others suggested CRA provide rebates or tax breaks to those businesses that adopt electronic invoicing and share the burden of cost..“Those not interested in considering using electronic invoicing quite often commented that how they handle invoicing now works fine.”.Canada has 1,200,571 small businesses that employ 69 percent of the workforce. That accounts for 36% of new hiring and contributes 42% to the nation’s GDP, according to a 2020 Department of Industry report..A total of 902,752 small businesses have fewer than 10 employees..Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is pushing for small businesses to adopt electronic invoicing in an effort to speed up GST collection, says Blacklock’s Reporter..CRA conducted an in-house study that found most business owners questioned said “they were skeptical about the extent to which the CRA has the interests of business foremost and would prefer to get information from private sector companies, such as accounting software vendors,” said the report..The study was commissioned by the CRA to drive more small businesses to abandon paper invoicing via mail or e-mail in an effort to speed up GST collections..“It aims to advance thinking as to how the CRA can shift the focus of its compliance approach from relying on taxpayer-completed tax returns and post-filing strategies to include the use of real or near-real-time data from business transactions via modern technologies,” wrote researchers..None of the small business owners’ questions for the study said they use electronic invoicing and were not interested in making the switch due to various reservations about the process..Costs range from $15-30 per month for the use of most payment software for small business and although cost was a consideration it was the perceived “value for money” that led to many seeing “little to no benefit to using electronic invoicing,” said the report..CRA paid Sage Research Corporation nearly $69,000 for the study that polled focus groups with small business owners across the country..Business owners told researchers if the agency wanted to promote electronic invoicing to get quicker tax remittances, it (CRA) should pay for it..“Many participants essentially suggested making e-invoicing free or at least a very low cost,” said the study, while others suggested CRA provide rebates or tax breaks to those businesses that adopt electronic invoicing and share the burden of cost..“Those not interested in considering using electronic invoicing quite often commented that how they handle invoicing now works fine.”.Canada has 1,200,571 small businesses that employ 69 percent of the workforce. That accounts for 36% of new hiring and contributes 42% to the nation’s GDP, according to a 2020 Department of Industry report..A total of 902,752 small businesses have fewer than 10 employees..Melanie Risdon is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.mrisdon@westernstandardonline.com
