Is the Capital Cost Allowance System in Canada Unnecessarily Complex?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether recurrent changes to Canada’s Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) system have significantly increased its complexity leading to incremental costs and inefficiencies for businesses. The study examines the extent to which the CCA system meets the principles of simplicity, equity and neutrality, assesses the efficiency of using the system as the vehicle for introducing economic incentives, and gauges how the CCA system affects the international competitiveness of Canadian businesses. Informed by views of accounting professionals and industry representatives, the results of the analysis provide evidence of the increased complexity of the CCA system. The system falls short on several key principles of a sound tax system and does not properly represent economic reality of the underlying assets. Moreover, the use of the system for economic incentives is generally not effective; however, representatives from certain industries emphasize the importance of such incentives for retaining international competitiveness.