The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is reminding people that there is a new simplified reporting method for those who own foreign property with a total cost between $100,000 and $250,000.

All Canadian resident taxpayers are obliged to submit Form T1135, Foreign Income Verification Statement if at any time in the year they owned specified foreign property that cost more than $100,000.

The CRA has recently revised the form and it now includes two parts, the first of which features a simplified reporting method for taxpayers who held property with a total cost of less than $250,000. "This reporting method allows taxpayers to simply check a box for each type of property they held," says the CRA, and suggests that the new simplified method will help to reduce paperwork while allowing it to continue to address international tax evasion.

Part B of T1135 still contains the more detailed reporting method that taxpayers must use if they, at any time during a year, owned specified foreign property with a total cost of $250,000 or more.

The CRA notes that in 2013 the period for reassessing an income tax return was extended by three years if a taxpayer failed to report income from a specified foreign property on their return and Form T1135 was not filed, was not filed on time, or was filed inaccurately.