Review of your Tax Return by the Canada Revenue Agency Nobody likes receiving a letter in the mail from CRA.  And when that letter tells you that your return is being reviewed – well, yuck…. Each year, CRA selects tens of thousands of income tax returns for review as part of their Processing Review (PR)…

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If you are like a third of Canadians and are unsure of how Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) work, this article will help clarify what they are, contribution limits, benefits, and how to use your TFSA. What is a TFSA? A Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) is a registered, general-purpose savings vehicle that allows Canadians to…

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A presentation by the United States Surety Information Office (www.suretyinfo.org) indicates that the rate of failure of contracting businesses was 20-30% between 2002 and 2012. Given such a high failure rate, it is worth examining the root causes of failure in order to understand how to minimize the chance of failure. It turns out that…

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The Issue Payroll is a significant expense for most of our clients and, not surprisingly, they are often looking to reduce the financial burden represented by payroll obligations.  One way to do this is to convert employees to self-employed independent contractors (ICs).  Care must be taken when doing so, however, as expensive consequences can result…

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Many contractors face bonding requirements in the form of bid bonds and performance bonds. The companies that provide these bonds want assurance that they are taking acceptable risks when providing bonds. Risk assessment includes a regular review of a contractor’s financial statements and operations. Here are the key items to consider when preparing financial reports…

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“Living Out Allowances” or “Subsistence Expenses” are a great way to get funds out of a corporation and into the shareholder’s hands on a tax free basis.  A number of our clients work in the resource sector – support services for mining, forestry, oil & gas, etc.  These clients can spend lots of time away…

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Another personal tax filing deadline has come and gone. Now is the time when you receive an unexpected letter from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), notifying you that they will be conducting a review of some of your expenses. The CRA reviews or audits hundreds of thousands of Canadians’ tax returns in a given year,…

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As a non-resident investor in Canadian real property, you are required to advise the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) within 10 days of selling your investment. Normally, this takes the form of an application for a Clearance Certificate since the person who bought the property from you is required to withhold tax and you want to minimize…

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Funny?…but we don’t love tax returns (we don’t even like them) Accountant = tax return. Right? Wrong. We don’t love tax returns. I’m talking about the personal returns. The ones due at the end of April. With endless slips and receipts and schedules and forms and ever-changing rules. These returns are the “necessary evil” of…

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When the PMO announced the new family income splitting initiative there was a lot of excitement among families. You’ve probably heard a fair share of criticism as well (which is to be expected when there’s politics involved). But what’s really going on with the family income tax splitting? Is it going to benefit you? Maybe. Here…

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