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Asking for a clearance certificate A clearance certificate certifies that all amounts for which a deceased taxpayer is liable to Canada Revenue Agency for have been paid.  If a clearance certificate is not obtained upon a taxpayer’s death, as the legal representative, you can be liable for any amount the deceased owes.  A clearance certificate […]

If you are considering a direct beneficiary designation for either a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) or a Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF), you should be aware of some negative consequences that can occur. A direct beneficiary designation can result in unintended tax consequences to the estate, the inequitable treatment of heirs or the distribution […]

If you would like to spend less time on data entry and more time growing your business, you should automate your bookkeeping with Receipt Bank. Receipt Bank is a website application that extracts key information from your invoices and receipts and publishes it directly into Quickbooks Online (QBO). Integrates with QBO You can submit invoices […]

Form T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement must be filed if you, your corporation, trust or partnership, owned or held foreign property with a cost amount of more than $100,000 at any time in the year even if some or all of the property was sold before the year of the year. The form is used […]

Advance Income Tax Rulings are written statements providing assurance on the income tax treatment of a specific proposed transaction or transactions that you might be contemplating. Subject to any disclaimer or qualification stated in the ruling, the ruling is considered binding with respect to the specific taxpayer making the request and the specific proposed transaction. […]

Employment and Social Development Canada (“ESDC”) is responsible for EI, OAS and CPP rulings, not Canada Revenue Agency. On April 1, 2013, the Social Security Tribunal (“SST”), an independent administrative tribunal operating at arm’s length from ESDC, was introduced to review appeals on EI, OAS and CPP rulings made by the ESDC. The process to […]

Canada Revenue Agency and police again warned taxpayers of randomly targeted fraudulent telephone calls and e-mails that are being sent out as CRA fraud.  These phone calls and e-mails are not from the CRA. Annually the number of CRA fraud scams rise near the April 30th tax deadline. The phone call scams are imposters trying […]

Here are our top 4 financial tips for the new parent: Apply for a Social Insurance Number (SIN) for your child: It’s a good idea for you to apply for a Social Insurance Number for your child as soon as they are born. This way, you will not be left scrambling to obtain one when your […]

Starting for 2016 taxation years, inter vivos trusts, trusts created by will and certain estates will be subject to the top taxation rate. There are two exceptions to this change: graduated rate estates and qualified disability trusts. Graduated tax rates will still apply to these types of estates and trusts. Income earned and retained in […]

An estate planning gifting strategy is basically when you start to give away some of your assets prior to death in order to optimize taxes within the family. Usually, an estate planning gifting strategy refers to how we will distribute our assets when we die.  But you might be overlooking significant tax savings by not considering […]