Running a Successful Business

You may not always understand what your banker is seeing or what they are asking for, but the good news is that both your banker and you want to see the business succeed. Here is more info on the 9 simple things that will help you become a more successful borrower.

Would you like to have a KWB staff person work directly on your accounting system at a time that is convenient for you? Or to help you figure out why your accounts aren’t balancing or why your accounting software has crashed? KWB is here to help! Learn more about our remote accounting support.

Fees and expenses are the single biggest reason professional money managers fail to outperform the market return. Learn a little more about what are reasonable fees and what makes up most investment fees.

Do you own a business - either incorporated or unincorporated - and have a spouse or one or more adult children with an income lower than your own? If so, you may be able to shift your income to these other family members, effectively moving the income from a high tax rate to a low tax rate and decreasing the overall tax burden on your family. This is called income splitting.

One thing frustrated investors often lament are their returns. So here's a question. Do you know what your returns really are? Find out more about how to measure your returns including some great but simple investment benchmarks over the last 5 years.

Terrible devastation caused by flooding or fires is a potent reminder that one should not delay planning for disasters in advance. Learn how to approach designing your own Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP).

What is your tax filing deadline? How much time do you have to file and what are the costs of not filing or of filing late? Personal Tax Filing Deadline Personal taxes are due on April 30 unless that date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday in which case the return is due on

Depending on the amount of your payroll remittance you may have some options as to when you are required to remit it to CRA. Regular Payroll Remittance You are a regular remitter if you are a new employer or your average monthly withholding amount (AMWA) two years ago was less than $25,000.  In

How long do you have to file a T1 adjustment? If you find yourself in a situation where you have filed your personal tax return and then realize that you need to make a change, there are some steps you need to follow. First, you need to wait until the notice of assessment on your

Employers are required by law to deduct Employment Insurance (EI) premiums from all insurable earnings paid to their employees who are engaged in insurable employment. If an employer is unsure whether or not an employee is engaged in insurable employment, the employer can request a ruling from the CRA.  A letter or completed form

What if you knew the impact of an important decision before you made it? Could you and your business benefit from this “what if” strategic planning? You would be able to look at the potential outcome and financial impact of business decisions before they are made. At KWB we use software called Profit Driver to

Are you paying too much in taxes? Are you getting all the tax deductions available for your business? An effective way to minimize your company’s tax expense, in addition to good planning, is to ensure the company is claiming all of the expenses legitimately allowed under the tax act. Take a look and see if any

Do you know someone who has lost critical and precious information that was stored on their computer? Are there things on your computer that you don’t want to lose such as financial or business records or personal information like family photos? We live in a digital world and we don’t have hard copies of anything

If you have apprentices working for you, then you should be taking advantage of the apprenticeship job creation tax credit. (Apprentice Tax Credit) An investment tax credit can be claimed on eligible salaries paid to eligible apprentices. The credit is equivalent to 10% of salaries and wages paid to that individual, to a maximum of

Considering making the switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online (QBO)? If you are currently using the Desktop version of QuickBooks, you need to be aware that QBO is not the same program and doesn’t really look anything like the Desktop product.  Don’t let that scare you off though!  The QBO program is

Having good bookkeeping will enable you to make good decisions based on accurate financial information provided to you on a timely basis. KWB Chartered Accountants offers bookkeeping and similar services. With timely and accurate information we can help you address your issues and make better decisions as a result. These are definitely tough times, and

Do you think you may need Controller or CFO services? Are you looking for information to help you make good decisions?  Are you unsure of what's happening financially in your business? You need timely, accurate and complete financial information and the people who can figure out what it all means in order to survive in today's economy

Tired of waiting for snail mail? The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) now allows you to receive some of their correspondence electronically through their My Account service. What correspondence does this apply to? Notices of Assessment (issued after February 9, 2015) Notices of Reassessment (issued after February 9, 2015) Tax Free Savings Account letters (issued after

On October, 19, 2015, Canadians voted in new Liberal party Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. During the course of the election campaign, the party announced they would make certain changes related to income tax rate calculations. Although it is unclear when these changes will be enacted, they could be introduced soon after the new government takes

Part 2 of an article on Healthy Lifestyles. See Part 1 posted on October 16th. Strategic Step #2: Automate & Re-Engineer Your Environment We are creatures of habit. Did you know that on a typical day you make about 300 decisions about nutrition? Most of them are done unconsciously and can often lead to poor

Entrepreneurs, business owners, and professionals often lead very busy lives. Being one myself I can relate to wearing many different hats, starting early, ending late, and seeing the impact on my healthy lifestyle. So many of us get into an unconscious pattern that just becomes our normal way of being. Unfortunately, over time, our health

A corporate aircraft that is owned or leased primarily for business purposes, but is used for personal purposes (i.e. flight to transport employees or shareholders to a vacation destination) will be considered a taxable benefit to that employee or shareholder. The value of the benefit is the cost of a regular first class airfare

In addition to personal income tax increases, the Alberta NDP government has also increased general corporate tax rates. However, businesses that earn $500,000 or less of active business income will not be affected by the tax increases due to an offsetting increase to the Alberta small business deduction rate. Businesses that have more than

Here are some great tools on the CRA website to help in day to day activities that I personally use. 1)       Payroll Deduction Online Calculator Use the Payroll Deductions Online Calculator (PDOC) to calculate federal, provincial (except for Quebec), and territorial payroll deductions. It will confirm or allow you to calculate the deductions you include

On June 30, 2015, the Alberta government passed Bill 2, An Act to Restore Fairness to Public Revenues. The bill has created a progressive personal income tax rate structure for higher income earners. Effective for 2015 and subsequent tax years, four new tax brackets and rates will be introduced: Taxable income of $125,000 to

Often deductible business expenses are overlooked or missed as business owners are unsure whether they are deductible. A business expense is any cost incurred by the company to generate income. These expenses must be supported by physical documents such as invoices, purchase contracts, sales receipt, etc. If cash is used to purchase items, it is

We are often asked, “Should I own my vehicle in my company or personally?” The following facts can help us determine the answer to the question of vehicle ownership: 1)      How many kms will you drive it for business purposes? 2)      How many kms will you drive it for personal purposes? 3)      What is

Review our year end tax tips to discover a number of perfectly valid actions you may still be able to take before the end of the year to cut your taxes and to optimize your wealth management planning. As tax planning specialists, we at KWB can help you decide exactly what to do, when to

In certain situations, a company can pay and deduct a living out allowance and the employee does not have to report the allowance in their income. In order for this to apply, the allowance needs to be reasonable.  Additional criteria must be met as stated below for employees at a special work site and

Do you want a portfolio that’s vulnerable to wild swings in value? Likely not. In fact less volatile portfolios are both easier on the stomach and they help you achieve better long-term returns. For example, a portfolio that declines 10% this year requires an increase of 12% next year to recover its losses. If your

Each year various tax rates, contribution limits, benefit amounts and deduction rates change.  The following is a quick reference guide for 2018. Personal income tax rates and brackets: Federal Taxable income                                  Rate $0 to $46,605                                      15% $46,606 to $93,208                             20.5% $93,209 to $144,489                           26% $144,490 to $205

Increase Alberta’s corporate taxes to 12% from 10%. Job creation tax credit that subsidizes 10% of any new employee salary (max $5,000). Support economic diversification in sectors like alternative energy, high tech, advanced research and knowledge industries. Income tax increases for top earners: 12% on incomes $125,000 to $150,000; 13% on $150,000

CPP death benefit The CPP death benefit is a one-time, lump-sum payment to the estate of the deceased contributor.  It must be applied for within 60 days of the decedent’s date of death. The CPP death benefit can be paid to: The estate of the decedent(if there is an estate) The person who paid the

When it comes to interest rates here in Canada and around the world, the only thing we know is that we don’t know. For the past 4 years economists around the world have expected interest rates to increase and not go lower. What we do know is that Stephen Poloz, the Governor of the Bank

The current Small Business Deduction in Canada allows corporations to pay a lower rate of tax on their first $500,000 of active business income. Active business income includes income earned from a company’s regular operations, but excludes other income such as rental or investment income. Budget 2016 released by the federal government has introduced

Triplog is a great tool if you are tired of tracking your mileage every time you get in the car. Especially if you aren’t claiming mileage as an expense because you forgot to check the odometer or write down your trips in a log book. This app easily integrates with Quickbooks Online Triplog is an

Jobber is a cloud based software solution designed for small and medium sized field service businesses that works with Quickbooks Online (QBO). It has a number of features that are designed to help you run a better business by helping you manage finances, client requests and a busy team. Jobber integrates scheduling, quotes, invoices and

There are many apps that can be integrated into your Quickbooks Online software in order to provide extra value and Dryrun is one of them. Forecast cash flow and sales Dryrun was created right here in Edmonton and is a forecasting tool that will assist you in making better decisions about your business.  You

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

It has been 29 years since Alberta Labour Standards were last reviewed and changed. The changes effective in 2018 are as follows: Minimum Wage The minimum wage has already been increased in recent years and is going to have one more increase to $15.00 per hour.  This increase comes into effect on October 1

Proposals from the Department of Finance on July 18, 2017 included changes to the taxation of split income. The most common form of split income is income from a dividend from a related entity that is not excluded from being categorized as such. Prior to 2018, shareholders of privately held companies over the age of

TSheets is a website application that is used to track time and help with scheduling. If you’re tired of tracking your time sheets manually, this may be the solution for you! Regardless of whether you are an employee, management, moving from one job site to another, or work in the same office each day, there

Plooto is the simplest and most effective way to streamline AP and AR transactions and it works within QuickBooks Online. (QBO) the only fee is a $1/transaction fee Benefits: No banking or other personal information needed. Records the transaction automatically in QBO. Easily send and receive payment (an email is all that is required). Completely

Hubdoc is an automated, central hub for all your financial documents. It syncs all your documents and their data with QuickBooks Online (QBO). It turns your receipts, bills, and invoices into accurately coded QBO online transactions with key data entered and source documents attached. The transactions are then auto-matched to the bank feeds for one-click

Wagepoint is an online payroll software that will meet all of your payroll needs. Wagepoint Features: Direct deposit CRA/WCB remittances T4 and T4A preparation Statutory Holiday calculations Record of employment (ROE) preparation Additional deductions Contractor payments Additional incomes Online pay stubs Integrates with QBO and TSheets Wagepoint also integrates with Quickbooks Online (QBO) accounting software

It is very common for owner-managers to draw funds from their company during the year and find themselves with an outstanding shareholder loan at year end. These balances are often cleared up by recording dividends or bonuses to the shareholders and the problem is solved.  If the loan is not repaid during the fiscal

Beginning in 2019, the CPP rate will be gradually enhanced. This means you will receive higher benefits in exchange for making higher contributions. The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) enhancement will be rolled out in two phases. The 2018 CPP rate was 4.95% of your salary to a maximum yearly CPP contribution of $2,564