Business decisions, answered before they cost you.

What happens to the company, the shares and the family — planned while there is still time to plan.

• A Business Owner Has Died. Which Tax Returns Does the Family Have to File?
• A business owner has died. How does the estate avoid paying the tax twice?
• After a Business Owner Dies, Which Plan Stops the Estate Paying Tax Twice?
• Can I Put My Spouse in the Family Trust, and What Can It Actually Pay Them?
• Can I pay out the beneficiaries before CRA signs off on the estate?
• Can More Than One Family Member Use the Capital Gains Exemption When We Sell?
• Can My Family Trust Still Pay Income to Family Without CRA Taxing It at the Top Rate?
• Can a Trust Own Shares of a Professional Corporation?
• Can my family take money out of the corporation tax-free after I die?
• Can the Corporation Pay the Funeral and the Legal Bills After I Die?
• Does an Estate Pay Lower Tax Rates Than the Person Did?
• Family Trust or Holding Company: Which Structure Does What?
• How Are Family Trusts Taxed in Canada, and Who Actually Pays?
• How Do I Know CRA Will Not Come Back at Me for More Tax?
• How Do I Pass My Business to My Kids Without a Huge Tax Bill or a Family Fight?
• How Do You Fund a Family Business Buyout?
• How Do You Bring Children Into Ownership of a Family Business Without Losing Control?
• How Do You Choose Which Child Will Take Over the Business?
• How Do You Coordinate the Estate, Corporation and Legal Advisors After a Death?
• How Do You Prepare Financial Statements for Succession Planning?
• How Do You Separate Retirement Income From Business Ownership?
• How Do You Transfer Future Business Growth to the Next Generation?
• How Should Siblings Own a Family Business Together?
• How are corporate-owned life insurance proceeds paid out after death?
• How do capital dividends work after a shareholder dies?
• How do you value private company shares at death?
• How do you wind up a family trust without a surprise tax bill?
• How does corporate-owned life insurance affect your estate?
• How is a holding company handled after death?
• If I Die Owning Shares of My Company, What Tax Will My Family Face?
• My Kids Are Adults Now. Can They Still Be Beneficiaries of the Family Trust?
• My family trust is turning 21. What do the trustees need to do now?
• Should Key Employees Receive Shares in the Business?
• Should My Spouse and I Set Up a Joint Trust or a Family Trust?
• Should a Family Trust Distribute Income Every Year, or Can It Just Sit There?
• Should a family trust own my company shares instead of me?
• Should the Founder Keep Voting Control After Succession?
• Should the Trust Be for Me or for My Family? Alter Ego vs Family Trust
• The Owner Died. Can the Estate Use a Loss to Reduce the Tax From Death?
• The company records are a mess. What does the executor actually need?
• The owner died. How does the estate get money out without paying tax twice?
• What Actually Happens to My Business and Corporation If I Die?
• What Happens to the Family Trust If a Beneficiary Moves Outside Canada?
• What Is the 21-Year Rule for Family Trusts, and When Does the Clock Run Out?
• What Records Do Family Trust Trustees Actually Have to Keep?
• What Tax Issues Arise When a Child Takes Over the Business?
• What does an estate that owns a business have to file?
• What happens to a holding company when the shareholder dies?
• What happens to a real estate corporation when a shareholder dies?
• What should an estate plan for a business owner actually cover?
• When Does an Estate Have to File a T3 Trust Return?
• When Should You Begin Succession Planning for a Family Business?
• When Should a Business Owner Start Estate Planning?
• Why Can the Same Company Value Be Taxed Twice When an Owner Dies?
• Would a Family Trust Actually Do Anything for My Business and Family?

Salary, dividends, and what the corporation pays — decided on numbers, not habit.

• CRA keeps saying active business income. What actually counts?
• Can I mix salary and dividends, or do I have to pick one?
• Can I run personal expenses through my corporation?
• Can I still pay my spouse and kids from the business, or did the rules change?
• Can I take some money out of my corporation tax-free?
• Can my corporation pay my life insurance premiums?
• Corporate tax planning for owner-managed businesses, run as a system
• Could CRA treat my corporation like I am really an employee?
• Do my two corporations have to share the small business rate?
• Does having more than one client protect you from the PSB rules?
• How are dividends taxed when they move between my companies?
• How can a capital dividend clear the money I owe my company?
• How do salary and dividends affect mortgage qualification?
• How do you actually pay a capital dividend?
• How do you build a multi-year corporate distribution strategy?
• How do you plan for a large corporate tax balance?
• How do you use losses across related corporations?
• How much cash should I leave sitting in the company?
• How should a business owner plan year-end compensation?
• How should the owner of a personal services business pay themselves?
• I borrowed from my company. When does it become taxable?
• I own more than one company. Does the CRA treat them as one?
• If I only take dividends, do I lose my RRSP room?
• If I pay myself dividends, will I still get CPP when I retire?
• Is passive income pushing up the tax on my business income?
• My corporation paid extra tax on investment income. Does it come back?
• One main client pays my corporation. How do I reduce the CRA risk?
• Salary vs dividends for Canadian business owners: the whole decision
• Should I pay myself salary or dividends?
• Should an IT contractor placed through an agency incorporate?
• Should investments stay inside my operating company, or move somewhere safer?
• There are two of us. How should we each take money out?
• We lost money last year. How do we use that loss?
• What does it actually mean that my two companies are connected?
• What expenses can a personal services business still deduct?
• What happens if CRA decides my corporation is a personal services business?
• What should you review before paying a large dividend?
• When does my corporation have to start paying tax in instalments?
• Why does my company pay a lower rate on the first chunk of profit?

Lender packages, purchases and buildings — with the accounting done before the bank asks.

• Asset Purchase vs Share Purchase: Which Way Should Your Deal Go?
• Buying Commercial Property: What Your Accountant Needs From You
• Buying a Business: What Should You Be Checking in Their Numbers?
• Buying a business in Canada: the financial and tax homework before you sign
• How Do You Finance a Business Acquisition?
• How Do You Assess Whether a Business Purchase Price Is Actually Affordable?
• How Do You Build a Cash Flow Forecast for a Business Acquisition?
• How Do You Build a Working Capital Forecast a Lender Will Believe?
• How Do You Prepare for a BDC Financing Application?
• How Do You Prepare for a Commercial Mortgage Application?
• How Do You Prepare for a Loan Renewal or Refinancing a Year Out?
• How Should a Business Prepare for a Major Equipment Financing Decision?
• How do you evaluate whether the business can actually afford commercial property?
• How do you improve a weak business loan application?
• How do you prepare financial projections a lender will believe?
• How does financing affect which company should own the property?
• How does the Canada Small Business Financing Program actually work?
• Lease or finance: what is better for a contractor's equipment?
• Lease vs Buy Commercial Property: what should you do next?
• My Company Rents From a Building I Own. What Should the Rent Be?
• Should My Corporation Buy the Building Instead of Renting It?
• Should You Own Commercial Property Personally, in Your Opco or in a Holdco?
• The Purchase Agreement Mentions Working Capital. What Does That Mean for You?
• The Seller Adjusted the Earnings. Is Normalized EBITDA Legitimate?
• We're Selling the Corporation's Building. What Tax Comes Out of It?
• What Financial Covenants Should a Business Owner Actually Watch?
• What Financial Information Should a Seller Actually Hand Over to a Buyer?
• What Happens to the Accounting After a Business Acquisition?
• What do bonding companies want to see in a contractor's financial statements?
• What do lenders actually need before they approve business financing?
• What does the bank mean by debt service coverage?
• What is a lender-ready financial package, and what makes it ready?
• What is the bank actually looking at in my financial statements?
• What should business financing support actually do for an owner-managed business?
• When Should Your CPA Get Involved in Buying a Business?
• When should your CPA speak directly with the lender?
• Why do CSBFL applications get delayed or declined?

Professional corporations, retained earnings and practice transactions.

• Accounting and tax planning for a dental practice built to be worth something
• Can a medical professional corporation own investments?
• Financial Reporting for Multi-Provider Clinics: What to Build Next
• How Do You Forecast Cash Flow for a Healthcare Clinic?
• How do you finance the purchase of a dental practice?
• How do you prepare a healthcare clinic for financing?
• How does an estate freeze work for an incorporated physician?
• How should a healthcare clinic prepare to open a second location?
• How should a healthcare group report across multiple corporations?
• How should a physician plan for retirement from a medical corporation?
• How should an incorporated professional invest retained earnings?
• How should an incorporated professional plan for succession or sale?
• I am a dentist in Ontario. Should I incorporate?
• I am a psychologist in Ontario. Should I incorporate?
• My healthcare business works in another province. Do we pay tax there too?
• Salary vs Dividends for Incorporated Physicians: getting the blend right
• Salary vs dividends for an incorporated dentist: what mix is right?
• Should a Physician Incorporate in Ontario?
• Should a consultant incorporate in Ontario, or stay a sole proprietor?
• Should a physiotherapist incorporate, and does a clinic change the answer?
• Should a psychotherapist incorporate, or is it too soon?
• Should an Incorporated Physician Add a Holding Company?
• Should your dental practice buy the building it operates from?
• What Financial KPIs Should a Healthcare Clinic Actually Track?
• What makes a professional corporation different from an ordinary corporation?
• What should you check in the numbers before buying a dental practice?
• What should your accountant be managing as your healthcare practice grows?
• What tax issues arise when a healthcare business works in more than one province?
• You incorporated your medical practice. Now what?

Letters, audits, errors and switching firms — handled calmly and on the record.

• CRA Is Auditing Your Business. What Happens Now?
• CRA has a tax slip you did not report. What happens now?
• Can CRA hold a director personally liable for unpaid HST and payroll?
• Do you have to register for PST or QST when you sell into another province?
• Does a remote employee in another province create a permanent establishment?
• How do you change accountants without disrupting your business?
• How do you correct unreported investment income?
• How do you dispute a CRA reassessment? The notice of objection, explained.
• How do you prevent payroll remittance surprises?
• How does my corporation’s income get split between provinces for tax?
• My business does work in another province. Do I owe corporate tax there?
• Switching accountants: what should you ask your old accountant for?
• The Signs You Have Outgrown Your Current Accountant, and What to Do Next
• We operate in a few provinces. What do we need to be filing?
• What Should You Do After Receiving a CRA Review Letter?
• What Should a New CPA Actually Review When Taking Over Your Business?
• What are your options when the business cannot pay its CRA balance?
• What changes for payroll when you hire someone in another province?
• What does expanding into Quebec add to your corporate tax and filings?
• What triggers an HST audit, and how do you prepare for one?
• When are tax and HST due on construction holdbacks?
• When should you consider the Voluntary Disclosures Program?
• When will CRA cancel penalties and interest? Taxpayer relief, explained.
• Who has to file T5018 subcontractor reports, and what happens if you miss it?
• Why is CRA making my business remit payroll more often?
• Your previous accountant made a tax error: what happens next?