January 3, 2017
ATTENTION: Do you like to RV and Camp? Please read the following!
Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) recent change in their interpretation as campgrounds being a “specified investment business” and not an “active” business is putting hundreds of our Canadian Private Campground’s future in jeopardy. A specified investment business is described in the Income Tax Act as a business with the principal purpose of deriving income from property, including interest, dividends, rents, or royalties and has a Corporate Tax rate of around 50%. However, income from a “specified investment business” is only eligible for the Small Business Deduction if the corporation employs five or more full-time employees all year. The Small Business Tax Deduction allows a corporation to pay about 15% Corporate Tax which is fair and normal for all small sized Canadian businesses.
The majority of campgrounds do not employ five full-time employees which CRA has used as the minimum threshold for an “active business”. Most campgrounds are required to close during the winter months in order to comply with local zoning by-laws. Therefore being a seasonal business, our mostly small family run campgrounds employ most of their employees only 6 months of the year as it is simply not financially feasible or necessary to employ extra staff year-round.
As you can agree, no business especially seasonal campgrounds are financially capable of paying a 300% increase in Corporate Tax and this recent change by CRA could ultimately impact up to nearly 75% of our 2347 private campgrounds and force them to potentially close. This will unquestionably have a significant ripple effect on all RVers and Campers who will find it increasingly difficult to find available campsites during the camping season.
We have been advised that the House of Commons Finance Committee recommended to the Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, to include a change in the 2017 budget to have campgrounds eligible for the small business tax deduction rate.
However, to pressure the Minister of Finance, we desperately need your local MPs agreement to contact the Minister of Finance directly to support our campgrounds as soon as possible to make sure that this change is included in the 2017 Budget scheduled to be released at the end of February 2017.
If not resolved, this unfair situation will harm the entire RV and campground industry ultimately leading to: reduced number of campgrounds available for Domestic and International Tourism, loss of jobs, substantial loss of tax income, and diminished economic benefits in small communities across the country. All of this at a time when Canada is celebrating its 150th Birthday and expecting a flux of International Tourists into our country.
Please find your MP Contact details here . We thank you for your support!
By: Woodall’s Campground Magazine | Published on: Aug 16, 2021 Heather Blankenship, who has been involved in the outdoor hospitality industry as an RV park investor
**Featuring Canadian Camping and RV Council’s Newest Supplier Member!** By: Woodall’s Campground Magazine | Published on: Aug 18, 2021 Digital Era Media Inc., producers of MyDealers.ca and Canada’s