If you are running your own small or medium-sized business, when is the best time to engage the services of a business consultant? In my professional experience, there are five times in particular when reaching out past your own resources to the expertise of another is especially valuable. The first is when you establish your business. You know what service or product you want … Read more
More than two million Canadians each year receive that dreaded letter from Canada Revenue Agency informing them their tax returns have been re-assessed or they are being audited. Most people are aware that this is happening. Either they have been through it themselves or they know somebody who has been contacted. What is not as well known is that the people being re-assessed could … Read more
Almost half of small business operators in Canada cite doing their daily bookkeeping as the task they least like to do. Sadly that translates to a high number of entrepreneurs putting off this undesirable chore, telling themselves their talents are better invested in devising innovative ways to grow their businesses. It’s hard to argue with that train of thought. The problem is, you cannot … Read more
Years of doing corporate and small business accounting for clients and preparing income tax returns for them has taught me two things about most Canadians. First, we are a nation of procrastinators when it comes to taxes. Second, we live largely in the present. What that means in accounting terms is that our memories about what happened from one year to the next can … Read more
When disability strikes, it not only impacts your quality of life, but also your ability to earn a living. Even if you are not the person with the disability, but you have to support them financially, the burden can quickly accumulate. That is why in Canada the federal government does allow for a Disability Tax Credit to assist people in such circumstances. It is … Read more
By their nature, entrepreneurs are inclined to want to do everything themselves. These are the people who don’t want to work in 9 to 5 cubicles following the directions and dreams of others. They want to set their own work hours, soar to their own standards, and fulfill their own goals. This admirable personality that allows them to find the courage to think up … Read more
When it comes to finding work, the world is getting smaller and smaller. It is not unusual for companies to ask valued employees to go work for a term in a foreign country. Sometimes a six-month assignment turns into a two-year absence. If you do a good job under such circumstances, you are marked as the employee who can function well in different cultures … Read more
Most people focus all their efforts to find and organize their receipts around tax season. But if you take the time to regularly file important papers relevant to your taxes through all the other seasons, you will be less likely to miss out on allowable tax deductions. For example, we are in back-to-school season and many teachers end up spending quite a bit of … Read more
In the weeks following the filing of income tax returns for both individuals and businesses, many Canadians dread the arrival by mail of brown envelopes from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). We believe that we handled our taxation issues properly, but we all have a tremor of insecurity when we are contacted for fear that we have been signaled out for an audit. We … Read more
The irony of victims of most tax refund scam artists this time of the year is that they are the so-called good-guys. People who don’t want any trouble with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and want to pay what they owe and be done with it are more vulnerable to the fraudulent demands for payment than those who are less responsible. What happens is that … Read more
