Property purchase

June tax news: Buying property from a non-resident, HST rules–and more

BUYING PROPERTY FROM A NON-RESIDENT If you are buying real estate — such as a house or condominium, or a commercial property — from a non-resident of Canada, you need to know about your obligation to withhold tax unless the vendor provides you with a “section 116 certificate” from the Canada Revenue Agency. A non-residents […]

May tax news: Estate strategies, tuition tax credits–and more

ESTATES AND THE “PIPELINE” STRATEGY When a person dies, they are deemed to dispose of most of their capital properties at fair market value. This deemed disposition may trigger capital gains or losses, depending on the tax cost of the properties relative to their current fair market value. The person who acquires the property as […]

CRA prescribed rate

March tax news: CRA red flags, a Netflix tax—and more

TEN COMMON TAX MISTAKES What are the most common areas where Canada Revenue Agency auditors find errors that they can assess? Here are some of the most common tax problems or mistakes that people make, and for which tax assessments or reassessments may be issued. Watch out for them! Meals and entertainment: If you are […]

February Tax News: Income splitting, car expense limits–and more

INCOME SPLITTING AND ATTRIBUTION RULES The Canadian income tax system employs a graduated tax rate system, which means that the higher your taxable income, the higher tax rate or tax bracket that applies to the income. As such, if you are in a high tax bracket and a family member is in a low tax […]

Changes to Quebec Sales Tax rules put collection onus on digital service providers

If doing business in Quebec was already tricky for companies residing outside of La Belle Province, it’s now become even more complex thanks to important amendments to provincial tax legislation. Many organizations would be forgiven for missing changes to the Act Respecting the Quebec Sales Tax, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The amendments […]

What’s the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion?

In recent weeks we saw the publication of a landmark investigation into U.S. President Donald Trump’s business dealings surrounding the sweeping real estate empire built by family patriarch Fred Trump, all the way up to the present-day management of the business under Trump scions Donald Jr. and Eric. Indeed, the venerable New York Times declared […]

Morneau’s new ‘simplified’ income sprinkling rules not so simple, tax changes still poised to negatively impact certain SMEs

Shortly after the release of the report by the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance, which is highly critical of the Department of Finance’s proposals on the taxation of private corporations, Finance Minister Bill Morneau released what he referred to as clarified rules around income sprinkling. Unfortunately, the release came with the same rhetoric used […]

An ongoing business debate: Should I buy or lease my vehicle?

In more than 30 years of practice as a Chartered Accountant, one of the most common two questions I’ve been asked by clients is whether they should buy or lease a car, and whether they should buy personally or under their company name. Inevitably my answer has been, “It all depends.”  How long do you […]

Webinar–Canadian federal tax reform: How will it affect your business

When the Department of Finance released its proposed changes to the taxation of private corporations in Canada on July 18, 2017, entrepreneurs across the country immediately took issue with measures they felt would cause undue financial harm to their businesses. And for good reason. If passed, these proposals will have extensive implications for all private […]

Ontario offers small business owners a tax cut in fall economic statement

Small business owners in Ontario are getting a break on their taxes. This week Minister of Finance Charles Sousa delivered a fall economic statement that will lower the corporate small business income tax rate on the first $500,000 of business income to 3.5 per cent from 4.5 per cent, by January 1, 2018. The change […]