‘Cart before the horse’ approach may cost LaSalle resident thousands in taxes

Kevin O’Neil stands to lose thousands of dollars and is now calling on the federal government to update their tax laws.

He says the current rules are out of date.

“The government has sort of put the cart before the horse,” O’Neil said. “They want everything to go back to the way it was but people haven't people haven't gone back to the office.”

According to 2021 numbers provided by Workforce Windsor Essex, Census data showed 5,145 American workers live in Windsor-Essex. O’Neil is one of them. “Many folks have to be onsite,” he said.” They're engineers or they work in healthcare. Those of us that have a desk job, we were asked during the pandemic to stay home.”

For two years O'Neil says the government allowed commuters to continue to file Canadian taxes as though they were still physically working stateside.

“Typically a commuter would take all the taxes they pay in the United States and they would apply those as a foreign tax credit to Canada and pay the difference to Canada,” he explained.

O'Neil continues to work from home, but the Canadian government did not issue the same waiver in 2022. He says he is going to lose about $11,000 USD in tax credits.

He started a petition asking the government to bring tax laws up to date.

“We need CRA to make some decisions and give us direction on how to file these tax returns,” said Mike Willson, a tax professional in LaSalle.

He was the first to sign the petition.

Some are working a hybrid model but O’Neil is one of many that have not returned to an office setting. Would he be able to cross the border, set up his laptop at a coffee shop in the U.S. and work for an hour in order to be considered a Canadian physically working in the States?

“We don't know for sure if CRA is going to accept that,” Willson said. “We don't know if they're going to accept it based on hours or days worked.”

O'Neil is asking accountants and tax professionals to keep a copy of the petition in their office hoping to get more signatures.

“Our member of parliament Chris Lewis has agreed to present that petition to the House of Commons. That will require the government to respond.”

CTV News Windsor reached out to the CRA asking about this petition and any potential rule changes. As of news time, the CRA was not in a position to answer our inquiry.  

“They're working on it,” Wilson said. “Sometimes their pace isn't as fast as we'd like it to be.”

Those interested in hosting or signing the petition can email Kevin O’Neil at [e-mail]