Implementing Budget 2024

• Amendments would 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 would help fill labour shortages in the skilled trades, with applications considered on a first-come, first-served basis. 
  • Proposed changes would 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 would widen the Film and Television Tax Credit program’s application window, create greater administrative flexibility and enable productions to get their tax credits earlier. 
• Amendments would ensure the program has clear rules, appropriate oversight and less red tape.  

Proposed changes would 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 the program will be established in regulation to help attract new production genres and provide consideration for filming in diverse parts of Alberta – including rural areas of the province.

• Amendments would raise land title transfer and mortgage registration charges while ensuring that they remain the lowest in the country.
  • The proposed change would 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 will help to support the efficient, modernized operation of the Land Titles Office, as well as provincial infrastructure priorities.

• Amendments would 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 would give the government flexibility to capitalize on new and emerging opportunities, while still complying with the fiscal framework.
• Amendments would require government to provide a fiscal update only for the current fiscal year in its mid-year reporting. Legislation currently requires the government to provide an update on the full 3-year fiscal plan in every mid-year fiscal update.

• Amendments would increase the tobacco tax rate on cigarettes to 30 cents from 27.5 cents per cigarette.
• Amendments would 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. Bill 10 would retroactively authorize both increases.

• Amendments would 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 and agri-processing facility in Alberta.
• Amendments would 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 would signal to investors that Alberta is a friendly, competitive place to do business and create new jobs in food and ag processing.