The December steel buy does nothing
Plate bought in December sits on the racks as inventory, and inventory is not a deduction; the cost reaches the tax return only as jobs consume the steel. Pre-buying ahead of a supplier increase can be a sound purchasing move, but it is cash out with zero tax effect this year, and shops that lean on it find that out at filing time. Stock that has genuinely lost value can be written down with evidence behind it, but a full rack of usable plate is an asset, whatever it cost. The moves that actually shift a fab shop's year all carry dates, and most of them close at year-end.
| Year-end move | What it actually does |
|---|---|
| Pre-buy plate and HSS before year-end | Builds inventory; deducted only as jobs consume the steel |
| Take delivery of the press brake or crane in December | Starts CCA, because the claim follows the year the asset is available for use, with an enhanced first-year rate |
| Order the machine in December for February delivery | Nothing this year; the deposit does not start the clock |
| Declare a bonus at year-end | Deductible now, provided it is paid within 180 days of year-end |
| Skip the CCA claim in a lean year | Loses nothing; the undepreciated balance waits for a year taxed at 26.5% instead of roughly 12.2% |
The rig truck is probably not an automobile
The Income Tax Act's automobile definition has exclusions a working rig truck can fit, including a pickup seating no more than the driver and two, used 90% or more in the year it is acquired to haul goods and equipment for the business. A truck fitted as a welding deck, carrying the machine, the gas and the steel to every call, is a strong candidate. Landing outside the definition matters three ways: the passenger-vehicle cost cap on CCA stops applying, the standby-charge formulas built for company sedans stop applying, and the truck depreciates as what it is.
In class terms that is the chassis in Class 10 at 30% and the deck-mounted welder and compressor claiming as Class 8 equipment on their own line. The exclusion is decided by how the truck is actually used, so the log matters more than the intention, and personal use that genuinely exists still needs a reasonable benefit on the T4, measured on real numbers rather than formulas built for a commuter car.
Big iron picks its year
A crane, a positioner or a plasma table claims capital cost allowance in the year it is available for use, not the year it is quoted, ordered or deposited, so delivery dates near year-end are worth managing on purpose. Financing changes the cash, not the claim: the full cost starts depreciating while the payments spread over the term, and the interest deducts as it accrues. Runway beams and the electrical feed built into a leased building write off straight-line over the remaining lease, which quietly turns the renewal option into a tax term as well as a rent one.
When the purchase needs a lender, Business Financing Advisory builds the application from the same projections the tax plan already runs on, so the bank and CRA are reading one story.
Pay set to the shipping schedule
Contract fabrication pays at milestones and holdback releases, which makes the bank balance a poor guide to owner pay. We set a salary sized to the household and run it all year, then declare dividends after the big jobs ship and the cash is real. Salary builds RRSP room and CPP and proves income cleanly when an equipment lender or a mortgage file wants it; dividends flex with the year the shop actually had.
Profit that stays behind is taxed at roughly 12.2% on the first $500,000 and becomes the down payment on the next machine. Two cautions before it piles up: investment income past $50,000 a year starts shrinking access to the small business limit, and dividends to family run into TOSI unless the share structure was designed for an exclusion, which is day-one work covered on our welding shop incorporation page.
A plan that runs before year-end
Our Tax Planning & Advisory engagement works to the shop's calendar: a session before the fiscal year closes to time deliveries, set the CCA position and fix the salary-dividend mix, plus a check whenever a big contract or an equipment quote changes the year mid-stream. Decisions leave the meeting with dollar figures and owners attached, then get executed in the filings instead of surviving as a memo. Fees are quoted in writing after a free 15-minute discovery call, for fabrication shops across the GTA.
