Month: August 2018

What Does The CRA Audit Process Entail For A Business?

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As a business owner, especially of a small or medium-sized organization or as an individual contractor, you are more likely to be audited by the CRA. So, along with being prepared by hiring an accountant or relevant services, having a clear idea about what the audit process entails will help you to handle things better. Searching the internet will be quite helpful to gather information on CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario, as there are thousands of websites which will provide the required information. All you need to do is go through the site and the information it is providing.

Details Of The Process – During this research process you will come across the following information describing the steps of CRA tax audit, and they are:

  • The audit process is crucial to the CRA or Canada Revenue Agency
  • The aim of this process is to create a fair tax paying system for the citizens
  • The audit will commence when the CRA auditor contacts you through phone or email or both and inform about the audit to be taken place
  • The representative of the concerned authority will inform you about the date, time and place of the audit
  • The on-site audit takes place at your home or business or at the office or your representative
  • Upon arriving, the auditor will provide a valid ID and then start the audit
  • During the audit, every book and record of the taxpayer will be examined closely
  • The audit process includes checking the books along with asking questions
  • If the audit is not on-site, then it will happen at the office of the concerned authority
  • If you are assigned an auditor and he/she is situated outside your region, then he/she will ask you to either bring or electronically send the supporting documents
  • It is possible he/she will borrow some of the documents but only after informing you and providing relevant receipts with the promise of returning them as soon as they can
  • During the audit, all your financial records including both business and personal will be checked thoroughly and along with the records of your family members, if required
  • If the auditor is satisfied, then the audit will be closed and you will receive a completion letter
  • If the auditor finds that, you owe more tax or deserve a refund, then a reassessment will be done and the next steps will be decided

Knowing these points will help you to prepare for anything related to CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario and help your business further.

What Is The Importance Of Accounting Services For Your Business?

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When starting a small or medium-sized business, the owner thinks about a lot of scenarios regarding the growth and development, but never about the possibility of the venture failing. If you are wondering why such a thought can crop up at the first place, then it is crucial to know that, a large section of smaller businesses tend to fail within 18 months of their debut. One of the main reasons behind such a bleak picture is financial problems and incompetence. Therefore, opting for Accounting Services in North York Ontario will be in the best interest of your business.

The points of importance – If you are thinking about managing this area personally or trusting someone to do the job and not think much about, then it will be a huge mistake. Along with understanding the requirement of professional and capable accounting assistance for your business, knowing about the importance of such a step will help to make the right decision as well. The importance of hiring accounting services for your business are:

  • Not having the required knowledge and experience in accounting means you don’t know about all the tax deductions and breaks your business can get, yet you will be extremely interested to get as much break as possible. Having Accounting Services will help with this and you will get all the applicable tax benefits without trying too hard.
  • Tying to fix something after it has happened is not considered to be smart, however being prepared and stopping the issue from occurring in the first place is the wise thing to do. Having an accountant will mean dealing with all your financial calculations beforehand stopping audit from happening.
  • If you do not have the skills for accounting, then trying to managing this need of your business will be a fruitless effort. Even if you have the skills, the job will take up a lot o time and energy which you may not be able to afford and if you do, not being able to give you 100% won’t be fair for the organization. Hiring a capable professional to assist will be a wise decision.
  • You will have the capacity to make fast and real-time decisions, because every time there is some huge investment or purchase, you won’t have to calculate every single thing. The accountant will do the calculations, which will save time a lot of time by allowing you to make prompt and informed decisions.

This is why, hiring Accounting Services in North York Ontario is so important for your business.

Which Factors Can Trigger CRA Tax Audit For Your Business?

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The first thing you need to know about CRA tax audit is the simple fact that, you cannot possibly know when you will be audited. If your business is to come under the inspection, it will happen once you have been informed by the concerned authorities regarding the matter. So, the only thing you can do is research and gather information about CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario and the ways of dealing with the problem. This way, you will know about the professionals who can help and hire one when required.

The triggers to know about – During your research, it will become clear that despite not seeming so, CRA audit does function under rhyme and reason. This is why; there are a few actions which can trigger such an audit for your business. Knowing about these trigger points will help, but the whole matter to tax is an area full of complications. Hence, despite having the knowledge, you will always need help from a capable professional. The triggers that you need to keep in mind are:

  • Making unreasonable claim of expenses is a sure shot way of getting noticed by the concerned authority and ensure CRA audit. Always make sure that the expense claims made are not very high and are effectively proportionate with sales.
  • Using rounded-off totals is a huge triggering factor for CRA audit. If you provided rounded numbers as totals, then the concerned authority will know that, proper records are not being kept and you most likely do not have all the receipts. Using exact amounts will be less feasible to trigger an audit.
  • It may be easy for you to forget a T-slip, but CRA does not forget such things. They tend to charge you 10% penalty the first time and for the next times, the penalty will be 20%. So, being extra careful and not missing anything is another way to avoid the audit.
  • If your business falls under restaurants, construction or small retail category, then you have a good chance of getting audited. Keeping this in mind and being extra careful mostly does the trick.
  • Paying unusually high spousal or children salary and reporting business loses for year after year will have a great chance to trigger a CRA audit for your business. So, do not take these shortcuts and roundabout ways of saving tax.
  • Being self-employed or working as an independent contractor will increase the chance of getting audited. To stop that, you need to declare all your income or clearly state and prove that you are indeed self-employed and not an employee looking for more tax breaks.

Knowing about these points and taking the preventive measures will help you to deal with CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario successfully emerge victorious.

What Are Your Rights and Responsibilities Regarding CRA Tax Audit?

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If you are a small or medium-sized businessman or individual contractor in Canada, then experiencing CRA tax audit us pretty common and normal. Every year, the concerned authority sends capable auditors and audit the books and financial details of businesses all over the country. This is done to ensure that the tax system is fair to everyone in the country. To that end, if you think that the tax audit and assessment has not been done properly in your case, it is very easy and advisable to go for CRA Tax Remediation and Appeals in North York Ontario.

The appeal and its scope – During this appeal, you will be able to inform the concerned authority about your doubts and questions and they will listen to them and take the relevant steps. If the auditor has been wrong or the authority thinks that, your complaint is valid, then you will receive compensation. On the other hand, if your appeal turns out to be incorrect, you have to pay the excess tax amount as well. In short, you have the chance to point out the mistake and make things right. To be able to do this, you need to have some basic idea and information on the subject, along with your right and responsibilities in this context.

Your rights – If you know what rights you have as a taxpayer, then no one can dupe you in any way. On the other hand, if you are aware of your responsibilities, then messing things up won’t be an issue which will make the whole process a lot easier than ever before. It is your right to be served by the CRA with utmost professionalism, courtesy, accuracy and fairness. To that end, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights includes Commitment to Small Business along with 16 separate rights for you.

Your responsibilities – As the taxpayer, it is your responsibility to keep all the required books and records. This way, you will be able to understand and deal with your tax-related obligations and entitlements. These records should be kept for at least 6 years after they have been created. If you use a computer for this record keeping purpose, then all records should be kept in a medium or format that is electronically readable, along with the records kept in paper. Additionally, you must provide all the relevant details, books and records to the auditor, along with giving correct and timely explanations to all the questions by the auditor.

By following your responsibilities and knowing your rights, it will be possible to handle CRA tax audit, CRA Tax Remediation and Appeals in North York Ontario with ease.

What Qualities Should You Look For In A Business Advisor To Hire?

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Small and medium-sized business owners require professional help to manage their organizations, when they are starting or are growing. This help is required because, handling these different aspects of a trade without knowledge and experience is not easy. Moreover, chances of making mistakes and rectifying them are almost not existent in smaller businesses. So, to ensure success and prevent financial loss, you need professional help and Business Advisors in North York Ontario will be able to provide that.

Qualities You Should Know About – If you want what is best for your business and dream of making it successful, then proper help will be able to help. The only problem will be choosing the most suitable one of the available options, and to make things easier, you will need some pointers. When you are choosing one of the Business Advisors, the ensuring that they have the following qualities will provide a nice chance to finding a capable and competent professional. So, the qualities you need to look for are:

  • One of the biggest qualities of the business advisor will be his/her coaching mentality. Just because, he/she is getting hired to help a business and getting paid doesn’t mean the business will continue to remain dependant on him/her. A really good advisor will not only manage the process, introduce factors required for development, along with training the business owner to achieve the skills that will help to handle the business long after the hired professional help is gone.
  • As most of the advisors, tend to work with larger business, they may lack understanding of the unique hurdles faced by a smaller-sized business. If that is the case, then choosing him/her won’t be a smart decision. So, the professional you are hiring must have an in-depth understanding of small and medium-sized business structure.
  • For success, a business needs to plans for years to come. If long-term planning is not done, then the business will lack goals, which will mean lacking the tools to reach that goal. So, the business advisor must have long-term thinking capacity, the skills to achieve the set goals.
  • Finding someone who shares similar values will help your business to grow effectively, because there won’t be any conflict between the goals and the ways of achieving them and between the business owner and the advisor.

These are the qualities you need to look for while choosing one of the Business Advisors in North York Ontario and doing so will help both you and the business.

Dealing With The Fear of CRA Tax Audits in a Mature Way

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When you are running a business, there are loads of areas which require special attention and finances is one of the most important in that list. Along with earning money and spending it in various areas including development of the business, you need to pay a certain amount to the authorities as the tax. It may seem like wastage of your hard-earned money, but if you do not pay taxes, things can turn really complicated for the business. Therefore, preparing for tax audits and gathering information on CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario will prove to be beneficial.

Learning The Realities of CRA – It may feel a little silly, but in reality, the process of the tax audit is quite a frightening one. If anything is amiss in your finances, or you have been evading tax, then the result can cost you huge fine and other complications. The auditor will ask for the accounting books of your business and receipts for every expense. If anything seems to be untoward or the auditor cannot find a receipt or the calculation doesn’t make sense, then you and your business will face problems from the authorities and the outcome won’t be nice. Hence, if you have a clear idea about the CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario and how to deal with that, then things can be managed perfectly.

Knowing Will Help You Take The Right Decision – Tax evasion may seem beneficial and the best decision for making more money initially, but when you will have to pay 50 – 200% of the evaded sum as fine, things won’t seem so nice anymore. If you ignore the CRA audit notice and other communications, things can turn rather unpleasant. Another important thing you need to remember in this context is the fact that, for the CRA process, you need to fill a questionnaire and if any information given there turns out to be false, even by omission or due to some error, you will be the one to suffer the consequence. So, as soon as you are contacted by the CRA, it will be wise to hire a competent and reputed professional who can help you with this. Having required information and in-depth understanding of the CRA Tax Audits, Problems & Representation in North York Ontario will help you to make the right decision and help you and your business.

How Do You Recognize a Bad Accounting Service Provider?

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Normally, when you hire a service provider for your business, advises and tips providing pieces will tell you about the qualities to look for in an individual or firm, seldom they will tell about the red flags to notice. These red flags are features that should tell you why the potential option is not going to be a good fit for your requirements. It is possible that these negative features are clearly visible, making your decision easier, but it is also possible that, they are well hidden, making your task of hiring Accounting Services in North York Ontario more difficult.

The Red Flags to Look For – So, if you have a clear idea about the possible red flags to notice in a potential service provider, then creating a short list of most suitable options will become easier and the final decision will be a right and effective one. The signs that will help you to recognize a bad Accounting Services provider are:

  • Small and medium-sized businesses get quite a few legitimate opportunities regarding tax relaxation and a good accountant will help you to exploit those chances perfectly. A bad accountant, on the other hand, will offers schemes for tax evading which may sound promising at the outset, but will only create problems and can even shut down your business.
  • When a deadline is created it is applicable to both the parties and a professional will always follow these pre-decided times and other details. Only someone unprofessional and unsuitable enough will miss such deadlines.
  • If the Accounting Services provider you are hiring insists on charging hourly, it is a clear sign that something is amiss. Such a service provider can never be trusted completely.
  • When you are paying a professional, it is for a job well-done and not some half-hearted efforts. If the Accounting Services provider seems to make careless mistakes, then you should not hire them and if they are already hired, then it is time to replace them.
  • Every area, especially the professional service providing ones are growing and changing every day. New systems, software and other details are being added. If the Accounting Services provider you are thinking about hiring is not up to date with the present practice, then it is time to look elsewhere.
  • An accounting service providing individual or firm needs to follow certain ethics and rules and one of them is not disclosing their other clients to any third-party. If your potential choice does not follow these rules, then you should not select them.

This way, you can be sure that the provider of Accounting Services in North York Ontario you are choosing is not only the perfect option, but they are capable and competent enough as well.

How to Find The Perfect Advisor for Your Business?

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It is the job of a business advisor to find the drawbacks in a system and provide effective solutions for them. This way, a business, mends from within, and start their confident journey towards better and bigger success. Keeping this requirement of businesses, there are loads of Business Advisors working in the market and choosing the best of them can turn out to be a tough decision. To deal with this confusion, you need to do some research and make an informed decision and a few tips can help with that endeavor.

A Few Helpful Pointers – The points you should know, remember and apply are:

  • You should always find an advisor who will be able to fill a gap. Hiring professional help doesn’t mean paying someone to do the job you can do yourself. Seeking a professional should always fill a gap in a business. While going through the list of Business Advisors in North York Ontario, you need to remember this point.
  • Hiring a friend for doing this job is normally not a good decision, unless you are sure that said individual will be brutally honest and will do anything and everything in their power to help the business, instead of taking a weaker stance.
  • As soon as the professional is hired, you should set up goals for the business and decide on a time limit and reasonable expectations within said time. This way, you will be able to gain a clear idea about the competency and effectiveness of the professional and the decisions he/she is making.
  • Like any other area of life, clear communication is crucial here too. To help your business grow bigger and better, you need to clearly state the expectations and desires. The hired professional should also freely talk about what is wrong with the present system. Any disagreement should be mentioned clearly and both the parties should work to solve the problem.
  • The one you are hiring from available Business Advisors in North York Ontario, should have long-term thinking capacity and should understand small businesses properly. It will be for the best if the professional you are hiring is from a small-business background as well.
  • For any business-relation to work successfully, reaching a middle ground is crucial for both the parties. To that end, hiring someone with similar mentality or at least a clear understanding of your thinking will prove to be most helpful.

By following these points, you will be able to create a short list of potential Business Advisors in North York Ontario and then choose the best possible option. It will take some time, but the result will clearly speak for itself.

Tips for Choosing The Right Accountant for Your Business

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Running a small or medium-sized business is not an easy task. You need proper help, especially with the finances. It is not easy to handle and keep a tab on every financial aspect of a business. Moreover, it requires time, patience and knowledge on the subject which may not be your forte. Therefore, it is important to seek professional help and not let the business get affected. To that end, hiring capable, reputed and affordable Accounting Services will be the wise thing to do.

A few pointers to help you choose – There are loads of individual accountants and firms to choose from who can help you with the required services, but the abundance of options can turn out to be a little confusing and detrimental to the process of hiring. Hence, you need a few tips which will help to choose the best amongst the Accounting Services in North York Ontario providers. By following these tips, you will be able to choose the right account for your business. The points you need to remember are:

  • The first thing you need to consider is the location of the service provider and whether it is okay to hire a local or a national firm. This way, you will become aware of certain options like virtual or cloud accounting and how they can be of help.
  • Hiring someone certified is always better, because this way, you can be sure about the quality and effectiveness of the service being offered. Moreover, a knowledgeable accountant will also be able to solve your financial problems with ease.
  • Accounting is a vast area and people normally acquire expertise on one or the other. So, choosing someone who is experienced in the area your business needs help with, will be a wise decision.
  • It is always better to choose Accounting Services and accountant that are proactive and will work to save money. Ensuring this will go a long way for the growth of the business.
  • Comparing the available individual accountants and firms based on points like, reputation, competence, cost, experience and such will help you to create a short-list of potential options and finally making the right choice.
  • Before hiring the professional Accounting Services provider, it may be the case that, you use some accounting software for the business. For the ease of data sharing and a smoother transition of the process, choosing an accountant who uses the same software will be wise.

By following these tips, you will be able to choose the best Accounting Services in North York Ontario and help your business with the financial assistance it requires.

The Importance of CRA Tax Remediation and Appeal for Your Business

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Being the owner of a business does not only mean earning money and getting richer every day. The process consists of a lot of stages, strategies, struggles and involvement and not just dealing with the finances. Moreover, handling the finance of a business requires both knowledge and experience in professional accounting which can turn out to be pretty tough without having the proper degree and practice. The CRA or Canada Revenue Agency check the financial and transactional records of small and medium-sized business to ensure that not tax fraud or financial deception has happened. Once the audit is done by the authority, if application, you can go for CRA Tax Remediation and Appeals.

Preparation is Always Rewarded – This remediation and appeal process is about questioning the assessment done by the CRA. It may seem that going the remediation and appeal way is pointless, because it will yield no results, but the reality is quite different. If you are transparent and have documents proving all your financial trysts, then the audit will be fair, but mistakes can happen and in certain cases, they mean you have a chance to appeal the decision resulting in financial benefits. So, if you are seeking professional help for CRA Tax Remediation and Appeals in North York Ontario, it can prove to be a wise decision.

Professional Help and Its Premise – Running a business requires fund and its ample expense. In such a situation, the requirement for additional expense in the form of an accountant or financial consultant helping with CRA may seem unnecessary from the outset, but the reality is quite different. The benefits of hiring a consultant will outweigh the expense by a huge margin which means seeking professional help in this context will mean a smart investment. Despite this rosy picture, you need to remember that, appeal should only be done when you are sure about winning and befitting from the decision. Appealing for just the sake of it won’t be a smart decision. This is why, hiring a competent and experienced professional is so crucial, because that person can provide the advice and suggestion regarding CRA Tax Remediation and Appeals in North York Ontario which may prove to be invaluable.

Selecting The Right Candidate – There are a large number of financial consultants available to help with the CRA tax audit and that can be quite confusing. For best results, you need to select the most suitable candidate. Making this selection can prove to be a time-consuming and long process, but the outcome will be worthwhile.