How Can We Help You?
Personal Tax Returns
Your personal tax return is an important document that summarizes your income, deductions, and tax credits for the year. The Supreme Court of Canada has supported your right to minimize your tax obligations within the rules of the Income Tax Act. We believe in identifying all legal ways of minimizing your tax bill. We also believe that you should have an income and tax strategy that meshes with your short and long-range goals.
Our personal tax clients consist of business people and individuals who have challenging personal tax issues for many reasons. Many of our older clients depend on us to assist them in the income tax decisions related to their investments, capital gains, pension income, and tax credits.
We stay on top of the tax rules so you don't have to.
Kevin Dunn has developed an expertise in the area of Pension Income Splitting, which has provided thousands of seniors in Canada with thousands of dollars of annual savings. Kevin developed a program that maximizes the pension splitting rules each year for personal tax clients. This program is used annually by tax accountants across the country.
After we prepare your tax return, we won't just call you up and tell you to pick up your tax return. We will go over the return in detail with you before filing it to ensure you understand the results. It also provides us with the opportunity to present you with tax-savings opportunities that you can use in future years.
Let our expertise work for you. Click here for more information on our Personal Tax services.
Top of Page ;Corporate Tax Planning
Corporate tax planning is one area where it pays to deal with an expert. The tax advantages of corporations can only be enjoyed if your professional advisors are providing you with the key information to make your decisions. Kevin Dunn is a member of the Canadian Tax Foundation and has completed the CICA In-Depth Tax Program. He focuses on income tax, estate planning, business succession, and business reorganizations.
We have been able to assist a wide range of small business owners and professionals meet their financial goals because they are maximizing the benefits that incorporation offers.
Are you enjoying the benefits of income splitting with your family that can lower your overall tax burden? Do you have a tax-effective retirement strategy for passing your business on to your family or others? Have you reviewed the advantages of a "family trust"?
We assist our clients in managing their tax and business affairs so they can concentrate on what they do best. Click here for more information on the services we provide to Businesses.
Top of Page ;Estate Planning
Estate planning is one important issue that is often left to chance. Most people are so busy dealing with the demands of today that they never take the time to deal with tomorrow's needs.
A common misconception is that estate planning is for rich people. If you want your assets to go to your family with the least amount of tax applied then you need to engage in estate planning.
Our focus is to assist you in identifying the uncertainties you will face in the future and ways to mitigate those uncertainties. We also identify prudent tax strategies to help you maximize your wealth while minimizing your tax.
Estate planning is a cooperative process that usually involves your lawyer, accountant, insurance advisor, and investment advisor. These other professionals usually look to the accountant to provide recommendations that take all areas into account.
Top of Page ;Financial Statements
The financial statements of a business or a non-profit organization provide a recap of the organization's operations over the previous year as well as a statement of affairs as of the year-end date. The financial statements are more than balances from your accounting records. They may be used to prepare tax returns, apply for financing, report to your members or other shareholders, or to aid in the sale of your business.
We work with you to streamline the process of collecting information and to determine the use for which your financial statements will be used and how your business can be made to look its best.
Top of Page ;Tax Representation With Canada Revenue Agency
We believe in our clients and will put your best case forward to CRA. We look for all tax relief that may apply to you and represent you in your dealings with the tax authorities. This could be for simple queries from CRA, dealing with a CRA auditor, preparing and filing a Notice of Objection to appeal a decision by CRA, or appealing on your behalf and appearing in the Tax Court of Canada.
Kevin Dunn appeared in the Tax Court of Canada as agent for clients who claimed amounts paid to a retirement home as medical expenses. CRA and the Department of Justice both disallowed the claim because the institution was not a long-term care facility. Similar tax cases had been dismissed by the Tax Court of Canada. Kevin convinced the Tax Court of Canada that these payments met the definition of medical expenses under the Income Tax Act. This decision has been reported across the country. In addition to over $26,000 of medical expenses his client was able to claim for that year and subsequent years, this decision opened the door for annual tax savings to seniors in all parts of Canada.
In another case, Kevin argued for the deduction, by one of his clients, of significant accounting fees paid to another accountant. The client had paid legal and accounting fees in the determination of spousal support to be received. CRA allowed the legal fees but would not allow the deduction of accounting fees. CRA has had an administrative policy of allowing the deduction of legal expenses in these situations since 2004. This policy had never been extended to the deduction of related accounting expenses.
Kevin was able to convince the CRA appeals officer that CRA's administrative policy of allowing the deduction of legal fees should also be applied to the deduction of accounting fees. The CRA appeals officer had sent my written argument to Ottawa for their review and was surprised when the CRA head office agreed with my logic.
Another win for our clients!
Haven't filed your tax returns for prior years? We assist taxpayers in getting caught up with their tax filings. We can often avoid costly penalties in filing these returns by applying to CRA under the Voluntary Disclosure Program.
Top of Page ;Non-Residents
Canada taxes taxpayers (corporate and individual) based on "residency" as opposed to citizenship. There are no clear-cut rules to determine when someone is a resident or non-resident of Canada for tax purposes. However, the tax implications of each can be far-reaching.
We can assist you in the determination of your residency status and the tax rules you must follow based on that determination. Planning to become a Canadian resident or a non-resident of Canada should also be done well before any moves.
Many Canadians have income tax issues with the United States. It is important that you know and deal with the tax reporting obligations imposed by the US Internal Revenue Service. The IRS is becoming more aggressive in identifying and penalizing those who have failed to file US tax returns where necessary. We assist our clients in identifying and complying with these obligations.
Are you an American citizen? If so, you are subject to the same filing requirements as if you lived in the United States. This means that you must report your world-wide income on both a Canadian and US tax return. However, we use the Canada-US tax treaty to ensure you are not taxed twice on the same income.
Canada has tax treaties with most countries with which our clients have dealings. One of the main purposes of these tax treaties is to ensure you are not taxed twice on the same income. We use these treaties to ensure you pay the least overall tax possible.
Top of Page ;Bookkeeping Services
Some of our clients use us for the most basic part of the accounting process ... bookkeeping. We can assist you in the setup of your accounting system, whether you use Quickbooks, Simply Accounting, or another program.
We have a professional bookkeeper on staff who can assist you in the conversion of your data or can be engaged to prepare your books.
We can set your business records up on something as simple as an Excel spreadsheet. We can provide you with a chart of accounts that will let you track the information that will help you make your business decisions.
We can also do your bookkeeping and provide you with month financial statements or prepare your HST returns. We can also prepare your T4's, EHT, and WSIB returns.
Kevin Dunn is a QuickBooks ProAdvisor Top of Page ;