For tax experts, a budget is the equivalent of our Super Bowl. In our case, we replace Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady with… Eric Girad and Chrystia Freeland. Less exciting, you say. Certainly! On the other hand, I wonder if watching the budget speech would be more interesting with beer, pizza and chicken wings. We could then talk about a Surper Budget… I’ll throw the idea out there.

Here are the three measures that caught my attention.

To remember in 30 seconds:

• Tax cut, tax cut and… tax cut;
• Tax benefits for major projects;
• Cryptocurrency users, Revenu Québec is coming. Prepare yourself accordingly!

Tax cuts for individuals;

The tax rate on taxable income up to $49,275 will be reduced from 15% to 14%;

The tax rate on taxable income between $49,276 and $98,540 will drop from 20% to 19%;

Tax vacation for companies to carry out a major investment project.

The government is introducing a new tax vacation for major investment projects. Under this program, a corporation or partnership carrying out a major investment project in Quebec will benefit from a tax vacation (income tax and/or employer contribution to the FSS).

The new tax vacation will last 10 years. It will be calculated́ by applying a rate of 15% (territory with low economic vitality), 20% (territory with intermediate economic vitality) or 25% (territory with high economic vitality) to the project’s cumulative total of eligible investments. In addition, the eligible investment threshold ranges from $100 million to $1 billion.

To qualify for the new tax vacation, a project must not be carried out in an excluded sector of activity (e.g. mining, construction, real estate services, advertising, healthcare, accommodation services, etc.).

The new tax vacation takes effect on March 22, 2023.

Quebec to tackle cryptocurrencies

The use of cryptocurrencies is booming, and the government is realizing that Revenu Québec doesn’t have the tools it needs to carry out the necessary tax audits. It has been announced that laws and regulations will soon be amended to enable Revenu Québec to compel taxpayers to disclose the possession or have used cryptocurrencies to make certain transactions and provide it with the details.

Source: Quebec Budget 2023-2024 (Additional information)

Coming soon: Canada’s budget on March 28, 2023