Implementing Budget 2024

• Amendments implement and establish some of the criteria needed to qualify for the Alberta is Calling Attraction Bonus, a one-time, $5,000 refundable tax credit aimed at attracting out-of-province workers to Alberta to work in the skilled trades.
  • The attraction bonus will help fill labour shortages in the skilled trades, with applications considered on a first-come, first-served basis. 
  • Ensure the $10 million budgeted for the program can support 2,000 workers in receiving a tax refundable bonus.  
  • To be eligible for the bonus, applicants would need to move to Alberta in 2024, file a 2024 Alberta tax return and meet other eligibility criteria to be established through the regulation.
     

• Amendments widen the Film and Television Tax Credit program’s application window, create greater administrative flexibility and enable productions to get their tax credits earlier. 
• Amendment ensure the program has clear rules, appropriate oversight and less red tape.   

These changes to the act ensure the program remains competitive for years to come and that our province continues to be the destination of choice for the film and television industry. 

Additional changes to program requirements were established to help attract new production genres and provide consideration for filming in diverse parts of Alberta – including rural areas of the province. Changes came into force on June 7, 2024.

• Amendments raise land title transfer and mortgage registration charges while ensuring that they remain the lowest in the country.
  • Changes bring the current property value transfer fee of $2 per $5,000 of property value, and $1.50 per $5,000 of value for mortgages, to $5 per $5,000 of value for each transfer type.
  • The additional revenue helps support the efficient, modernized operation of the Land Titles Office, as well as provincial infrastructure priorities.

• Amendments exempt the Alberta Fund and the Alberta Carbon Capture Incentive Program (ACCIP) from in-year expense limitation rules in Alberta’s fiscal framework. 
  • The exemptions provide the government flexibility to capitalize on new and emerging opportunities, while still complying with the fiscal framework.
• Amendments require government to provide a fiscal update only for the current fiscal year in its mid-year reporting, instead of the full 3-year fiscal plan as previously legislated. 
   

• Amendments increase the tobacco tax rate on cigarettes to 30 cents from 27.5 cents per cigarette.
• Amendments increase the tobacco tax rate on smokeless tobacco to 35 cents from 27.5 cents per gram.

The increases align with government’s Tobacco and Vaping Reduction Strategy, which supports taxation to discourage consumption.

The tobacco tax rate increases were announced in Budget 2024 and took effect on March 1, 2024. The act retroactively authorized both increases.
 

• Amendments make it easier for registered partnerships to apply to the Agri-processing Investment Tax Credit program for a non-refundable 12% tax credit when they invest at least $10 million to build or expand an agri-processing facility in Alberta.
• Amendments  allow a registered partnership to apply using a single application and single investment plan for a combined investment of at least $10 million, rather than each corporation in the partnership submitting separate applications and investments.

These proposed changes signal to investors that Alberta is a friendly, competitive place to do business and create new jobs in food and ag processing.