If you have been looking for short-term liquid savings options for the cash in your corporate account lately you would know that the current interest rates are at historically low levels. The government has been paying interest on outstanding corporate taxpayer balances each quarter at a rate equal to the average yield on three-month government of Canada treasury bills sold in the first month of the preceding quarter, rounded up to the nearest percentage point, plus 2%. This had resulted in some corporations overpaying their taxes in order to take advantage of these favourable rates of return.
The 2010 Federal Budget proposed that effective July 1, 2010, the interest for overpayment of taxes payable by the government to corporations be reduced by 2%, to the average yield on three-month government of Canada treasury bills sold in the first month of the preceding quarter, rounded up to the nearest percentage point.
This had resulted in some corporations overpaying their taxes in order to take advantage of these favourable rates of return.