Many mature businesses have endured this at least once during their life time – a CRA tax audit. Most businesses survive an audit with no issue. This happens when the business has an adequate set of financial records that is easy for the CRA auditor to examine. So what makes up an adequate set of financial records. First of all, the CRA audit has changed from twenty years ago. In the past, an actual person came to the business premise to examine the books and records. Hence if the ... Read More
Lack of Sophistication May Not Get You Off the Hook With CRA
Vancouver Tax Audit Services: the CRA's Negligence Penalty The CTV news show W5 aired an episode on February 9, 2014 called Punitive Penalties about a program named the Fiscal Arbitrators where 1804 Canadian taxpayers paid thousands of dollars to be part of what they thought was a legal tax scheme. The scheme did not end well as the participating taxpayers were later reassessed by CRA. The “news” part of this story is that CRA also slapped the taxpayers involved with gross negligence ... Read More
Know Your Tax Laws, Keep Your Receipts, Document Your Activities
The past year, I have noticed quite a few more requests from CRA to review medical expenses, donation receipts, and HST returns filed. The best thing for a business owner being audited is that they have been honest with their tax affairs. The second best thing is for the business owner to have a competent professional Vancouver accountant to assist them through the process. If the records are complete and accurate and the professional accountant has experience dealing with CRA, then the audit ... Read More
Lose The Tax Anxiety; Mew & Company Accountants to the Rescue!
“Taxes grow without rain.” This Jewish proverb is a crisp and beautiful expression of the agony that almost all taxpayers feel around the world. However, not all taxpayers are fortunate enough to have a simple and easy solution to this problem like Canadians do. With a reliable and extremely lucrative group of professionals like Mew and Company Chartered Accountants, both individuals and businesses can relax and watch while these expert Chartered Accountants work to make things simpler and ... Read More
Feeling tax fatigue? Mew and Company Chartered Accountants can help!
“The difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets.” –Will Rogers. Will Rogers hit the right chord with his quote. All taxpayers will agree that there is nothing worse than continuously paying an amount of earnings and hard-earned income as taxes to the government, without ever seeing the end of it. The percentage constantly increases, as the burden of rectifying ongoing economic strife is laid increasingly on the common man. As if that wasn't ... Read More
CRA – The Straw that Breaks the Camel’s Back
At Mew & Company Chartered Accountants in Vancouver, we work with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) through an "honor system", which means a business reports its income and expenses without having to remit receipts and bank deposit books to prove its accuracy. This honor system is an efficient and economical way to collect taxes. Many savvy business professionals know that it is not wise to mess around with the CRA. These people work with competent bookkeepers and reputable tax advisors to ... Read More
Choose Your Professional Vancouver Accountant with Care
When an incorporated business in Vancouver calls asking for professional representation for a CRA audit, the first question I ask myself is “Why is the person who was paid to prepare the tax return not doing the representing?” A very common answer is something like “My wife who is not a professional accountant prepared the tax return. She does not have the knowledge to deal with the CRA.” However, this year, I received an unexpected answer: “My accountant has been charged with fraud." The ... Read More
Vancouver Business Tax Audit – When CRA Comes Knocking
If your Vancouver business receives a letter from the CRA (Canadian Revenue Agency) asking for documentation to support an HST or corporate tax return, it is not a good idea to deal with the matter on your own. Hire a Vancouver chartered accountant to represent you during the business tax audit. First of all, CRA auditors are accountants. When they request information, they basically expect to see accounting information, not a lengthy verbal explanation on why your HST return for this year is ... Read More
Vancouver Corporate Reorganization and Tax Planning
Corporate reorganization involving the exchange of shares is a very powerful and versatile tax planning tool. The simplest and most common corporate reorganization method involves the shareholder of a corporation exchanging all of his/her shares in one class of existing shares, for shares of another authorized class. The primary focus of the share exchange is the “freezing” of the current fair market value of the shares given up by the shareholder, who is referred to as the "transferor". In ... Read More
The Quick Method for B.C. Consultants and Other Professionals – Why It Makes Sense
In British Columbia, a service business with total sales of $200,000 or less, inclusive of HST, qualifies to use the Quick Method of remitting HST to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). In general, the Quick Method allows a business that provides taxable services to collect the 12% HST as required under the Excise Tax Act but remit a lower rate to CRA. The trade off is that the business is not entitled to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) on its expenses when remitting the HST collected. However, the ... Read More
