Every business has to navigate and comply with the complete labyrinth of tax laws. I often have people asking me tax advice, so here is the absolute best corporate tax advice me or anyone else will ever give you. If you ignore everything else I ever tell you, make sure to firmly burn this advice into your memory forever – tattoo it on your forehead if necessary. Here’s the advice, “DO NOT EVER pursue a business tax strategy based on advice from anyone other than a registered CMA, CGA or CA that specializes in corporate tax.” If you have a bookkeeper preparing your books that’s fine, but fiscal year end taxes should only be prepared by a tax accountant. Many organizations and individuals will offer to take care of your tax issues; I’ve seen this a million times. But if anyone other than a tax accountant offers to handle your tax issues – literally run screaming like your hair is on fire (in my case it would be like my shirt is on fire since I’m bald).
All kidding aside, take this very seriously. The reason I’m so intense on this issue is that my naiveté and inexperience got me into trouble with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in the past. It can happen to anyone. Bad tax advice can quickly amass a large debt to CRA. This is especially true if the business grows large enough to have considerable revenue and has been implementing a bad tax strategy for many years. The debt can become a mountain and when CRA figures out that you owe them a mountain, the situation quickly turns into a nightmare. It may sound like I’m being melodramatic, but I’m not. After my horror story with CRA, I don’t want anyone else to go through what I went through.
Having anyone but a tax accountant handling your company taxes is like having a grade 9 Biology student handle your brain surgery. I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but I figured it necessary since very few will probably tattoo this on their forehead.
~ William Deveau, Business Coach
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