Services

Thanks for getting Canada Revenue Agency off my back and helping me reduce my penalties and interest. Your efforts helped me avoid bankruptcy and get back on track with my personal finances !! I have referred everyone to Tax Team.

Craig H.

Vancouver accountants provide financial planning services

T1 - Personal Tax Return Preparation

Every person is required to file their taxes every year. Depending on your tax situation tax filing process can be a very simple or very complicated. No matter what the complexity level we can help you make the process of filing your taxes simple and easy. We have developed tools and resources to help you get organized for appointment at our office quickly and efficiently.

Which of these situations applies to you?

  1. +Employed Individuals
    • Your filing deadline is April 30th every year.
    • If you owe taxes balance owing is due by April 30th.
    • Employed individuals receive from their employers T4 information slip(s) stating their gross earnings and deductions for the year. You should receive these slips at latest by mid March. If you do not receive these slips by then contact your employer(s) immediately.
    • If you make RRSP contributions your RRSP receipts should arrive in March. If you do not receive your RRSP slips by end of March please call the financial institution(s) with which you have RRSP account.
    • If you use public transit to commute to work you are eligible for Public Transit Tax Credit please provide all your transit passes.
    • You might be eligible for a range of tax credits based on your general tax situation, health status, marital status, number of dependants. It is important that you provide as much detail about your circumstances so that we can determine full range of tax credits that might be available to you.

    For more information please feel free to contact our office.


  2. +Employee Earning Comission Income/Employee Paying Employment Expense

    This section deals with employment expenses only. For more general information about filing taxes as EMPLOYED INDIVIDUAL please click the above link.

    • Your filing deadline is April 30th every year.
    • If you owe taxes balance owing is due by April 30th.
    • If you earn commission income or if you incur expenses in the course of your employment that are not refunded to you in part of in whole by your employer you can claim those expenses as a deduction on your tax return.
    • Some examples of employment expenses (Please keep all receipts):
      • Out of town travel for purposes of your employment.
      • Your employer requires from you to purchase your own tools (musical instruments in a case of musician).
      • Employer requires from you to use your own vehicle (i.e. to visit clients).
      • Employer requires you to work from your own home, use your own phone, cell phone etc.
    • To claim employment expenses you MUST have your employer fill out and sign form T2200 Declaration of Employment. If you had more than one employer throughout the year each employer must fill out sign form T2200. You cannot claim employment expenses unless you have form T2200 signed by your employer.
    • If your employer pays GST you might be able to refund GST you paid on your employment expenses. If you qualify we will file form GTS 370 Employee and Partner GST/HST Rebate Application.

    For more information please contact our office.


  3. +Self-Employed Individuals

    This section deals with information for self employed individuals, for more general information about RRSP and various tax credits that might be available to you please see EMPLOYED INDIVIDUAL section.

    • Your filing deadline is June 15th every year.
    • If you owe taxes balance owing is due by April 30th.
    • If you own your own unincorporated business such as proprietorship or partnership all the income that you earn from your business will be reported on your personal tax return.
      • You can deduct any and all expenses that you have incurred to earn income from your business.
      • As an example you can deduct advertising expenses, auto expenses, office expenses, supplies, telephone and internet, business use of home, shipping, licenses, travel etc. You can also claim amortization on equipment and other assets that you use in your business. You cannot claim personal expenses such as clothing, groceries or any other personal care products as your business expense.
    • To claim business expenses you MUST have all of your receipts to back up your claim for business expenses. You should keep all of your receipts in a safe place in a case CRA requests to see your receipts.
    • At the time you file your personal tax return you might have to file GST return as well. Based on the nature of your business you might be required to collect and remit GST.
    • If you are in a partnership both you and your partner(s) must report total income and expenses from partnership on their personal tax returns. You must also indicate percentage size of your share in partnership. Your percentage share will be used in calculation of your portion of partnership income.
    • Also you can claim any expenses that you incurred on behalf of partnership if those expenses were not reimbursed to you by partnership.

    For more information please contact our office.


  4. +Rental Income

    This section deals with information income from rental property for more general information about RRSP and various tax credits that might be available to you please see EMPLOYED INDIVIDUAL section.

    • Your filing deadline is June 15th every year.
    • If you owe taxes balance owing is due by April 30th.

    If you have rental property from which you derive rental income, you must report this income on your tax return. You will have to report gross rents of every property you own as well as all the allowable expenses.

    • Some of the deductions allowed are:
      • Advertising
      • Maintenance
      • Renovations
      • Property Tax & Utilities
      • Mortgage Interest
      • Travel to out of town property (some restrictions apply)
      • Amortization on building, appliances etc.

    If you own a home and renting a portion of it you can claim only the portion of the above expenses that relates directly to your rental unit. You also should not claim amortization since it will affect your principal residence exemption in a case you should decide to sell your home.

    For more information please contact our office.


  5. +Investments - Dividends, Interest, GIC, Stocks…

    This section deals with investment income for more general information about RRSP and various tax credits that might be available to you please see EMPLOYED INDIVIDUAL section.

    • If you have interest income GIC, bond interest, dividends and or foreign investment income you will receive T5 information slip from your financial institution or if you are trust beneficiary you will receive ---T3 slip from your financial institution.
    • If you do not receive your T5 slip(s) by end of March please call your financial institution. If you do not receive your T3 slip(s) by mid April please call your financial institution.
    • If you sell stocks, bonds, mutual funds or any other type of security you will trigger capital gain or loss. You will receive either slip(s) T5008 or transaction confirmation slip(s) from your broker/financial institution. Sometime in March or April you should also receive Gain/Loss summary report showing amount of gain/loss on sales of your securities for the past year. In a case you do not receive Gain/Loss summary information please call your financial institution/broker immediately. You will need the following information from your broker:
      • Name type and quantity of every security that was sold in past year.
      • Sale price on the date of sale (also know as proceeds of disposition).
      • Purchase price on the date security was purchased (also known as Book Value or Adjusted Cost Base).

      This information is needed to calculate amount of capital gain on sale of securities.

      • If you incur expenses such as safety deposit box fees, broker fees, accounting fees you can claim a deduction against your investment income.

    For more information please contact our office.


  6. +Retired Individuals
    • If you have turned 60 during tax year you can apply for Canada Pension Plan (CPP) –apply here: http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/isp/common/rtrinfo.shtml.
    • Depending on your situation you might also be eligible for survivor benefits, death benefit.
    • If you have turned 65 you and if you have low income you can qualify for Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS). To apply click here: http://www.rhdcc-hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/isp/pub/oas/oas.shtml#two. You will have to apply for OAS and GIS every year because the amount of benefit you will receive is calculated from your total income reported on your tax return.
    • If you have RRSP you can continue to contribute to it till the age of 71. At that point you will have to close your RRSP account and pay tax on your RRSP income. To minimize massive tax bill at the time you close your RRSP account RRSP can be transferred to a fund that pays annuity. To help you plan your RRSP transfer please contact our office.
    • If you have company pension you will receive T4A slip(s) from your past employer’s pension fund.
    • If you receive foreign pension from a country that Canada has a tax treaty with you still have to report your foreign pension income however you may or may not pay tax in Canada depending on tax treaty. At the time of filing your tax return please provide all documents relating to your foreign pension. If you have paid foreign tax on your foreign pension you will qualify for Foreign Tax Credit. If you are nonresident please see information below on Section 217 tax returns. If you have questions please feel free to contact our office.

  7. +Sale of Property
    • If you sell any property you might have to pay capital gain tax. You only pay tax ½ of your capital gain. If you have capital losses (you sold a property at loss) in current or prior years, you can deduct those losses from capital gains realized in current or future years. As a rule you can carry back a capital loss back 3 years and carry forward indefinitely. Some special rules might apply based on when a year loss was realized.
    • If you sell shares in a business which is also qualified small business, or qualified fishery or farm business you can do so on a tax free basis due to lifetime capital gains exemption limit of $750,000. To see if you qualify for this exemption please contact our office. There are special rules that must be considered to determine if you qualify for exemption.
    • If you sell your personal home you may do so on tax free basis due to principal residence exemption. If you have more than one home and you sell one or all of them in the tax year you will have to decide which home will qualify for principal residence exemption. You will have to file an election with CRA. If you need more information or help filing your tax return please contact our office
    • If you sell your rental property or land you will have to pay capital gain tax. You will be able to deduct most costs of sale (i.e. realtor costs, legal costs etc) from your capital gain on the sale of a rental property. You cannot claim principal residence exemption on a sale of rental property and you will have to pay tax on capital gains.

    If you have any questions please contact our office.


Back Filing (1999-2009)

If you have not filed taxes for several years it can be very intimidating to get organized and file your tax returns. The purpose of this guide is to make the process as painless as possible by following these simple steps. Click on each step to view details.

  1. +Step 1: Call Canada Revenue Agency to get information about your tax file.

    Call 1-800-959-8281 press * to talk directly with a Canada Revenue(CRA) agent. The agent will ask you some questions to verify your identity (social insurance number, address, date of birth, etc). Once your identity is verified please ask the following questions:

    1. When was the last time you filed taxes?
    2. How many years do you have to file?
    3. Do you owe any money to Canada Revenue Agency?
    4. The request that the CRA mails to your address copies of the last return you filed and Notice of Assessment. Also, you should request copies of all information slips (i.e. T4, T5 slips) for all years that you have not filed.

    If you cannot obtain the above information on the phone then please go to the closest Canada Revenue Agency Office and request the information in person.

    Vancouver Office Downtown: 1166 Pender Street (Working Hours 8:15AM-4:30PM) Located a couple of blocks away from the Burrard SkyTrain Station

    Burnaby Fraser Office Surrey: 9737 King George Highway (Working Hours 8:15AM-4:30PM) Located close to the King George SkyTrain Station


  2. +Step 2: Gather all your receipts and documents.

    While waiting for your information from Canada Revenue Agency to arrive you can start gathering all the tax documents you have on hand. If you have any old tax returns or notices of assessment please sort them by year. Please gather up any T4, RRSP or other information slips that you might have and sort them by year.

    If you were self employed or had to pay expenses to earn employment income you will need to gather up all your receipts and sort them out by year and category.

    Please organize and gather up all your receipts for every year.

    If you are self employed or have employment expenses, as a general rule CRA prefers that you keep original receipts should they ever ask for them. If you do not have receipts then you cannot claim expenses. If you lost all of your receipts it might be still possible to recover some or all of them.

    Please contact your bank for copies of your bank and credit card statements, mortgage statements, car loan statements, etc. Please note: banks keep records for 7 years so it will not be possible to obtain records older than 7 years. For your convenience here are website links and phone numbers for all major banks:

    If you need your rent, electricity, gas, phone, cell and internet bills for the past several years you can obtain that information from your service provider. For your convenience here are links and phone numbers for major phone and utilities companies:

    Telephone/Wireless/Cable

    Utilites

    For your auto insurance please contact ICBC - 1-604-661-2800. If you paid for auto repairs you might be able to obtain copies of your receipts from your mechanic.

    If you need information regarding your property taxes please contact your municipality. If you lost your medical receipts you can obtain a summary of your medical expenses from your doctor, physiotherapist, dentist, etc. If you had prescriptions your pharmacy will keep records of all the medication that was prescribed to you.

    If you have student loans you can request information regarding student loan interest payments by calling 1-888-815-4514 (Federal) and 1-877-535-7680 (BC)

    These are just some of examples of how you can obtain missing receipts and information. If you need more help organizing please contact us at any time.


  3. +Step 3 Setup an appointment at our office.

    Once you have gathered up all of your receipts and obtained information from CRA it is time to schedule your appointment and meet with us. You can request an appointment by phone or email through our contact page.

    Please complete a T1 Checklist . Completing this checklist helps us determine various aspects of your tax situation. Please read all questions and answer all that apply to you.

    Please bring in all of your receipts and completed checklist. We will review your documentation and ask various questions to help better understand your tax situation. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to ask. We will happily answer any questions you might have. At that time we will ask you to sign Form T1013 and the Generic Consent Form. These forms authorize us to obtain information from Canada Revenue Agency and other third parties on your behalf. We will also ask you to sign a Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) Application.

    If your VDP application is accepted by Canada Revenue Agency, CRA may waive any late filing penalties and interest on any balance that you might owe. Usually if you have a balance owing and you have not filed your taxes for several years interest and penalties might increase your tax bill considerably. You can avoid paying penalties or interest by enrolling into the VDP program.


  4. +Step 4 Preparing your tax returns

    Once we have met and obtained all documents from you we will start to work on your tax returns. We will have a thorough look at all documents you have provided, verify information and prepare your tax returns. During this step we will probably contact you either by phone, email or even schedule additional appointments if we need additional information or clarification. To ensure fast processing of your returns please reply quickly to our calls and emails.


  5. +Step 5 Pick up your return

    Once our work is completed we will call you in to discuss the results of your returns. After discussing your returns, you can pay your fee and we will release your tax returns so you can submit them to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Once CRA receives all of your returns they will process them and send you a Notice of Assessment and any refund in 6-8 weeks.


Non Resident & Part Year Resident T1 Personal Tax Return

  1. +Section 216 (s216) Tax Return Preparation

    You should file this return if you are a nonresident (you do not live in Canada) and you:

    1. Earned rental income from a rental property in Canada.
    2. Earned income from timber royalties or timber resource property.
    3. Sold a rental property or timber resource property.
    4. Received NR4 Information Slip.
    If you are nonresident 25% tax will automatically be deducted from your rental income, timber resource income or from the proceeds of the sale of your property. To recover some or all of the 25% tax paid you will need to file s216 return and obtain clearance certificate (if you sold your property). We can help with filing your S216 tax return and obtaining your clearance certificate.

    For more information please contact our office.


  2. +Section 217 (s217) Tax Return Preparation

    If you are a nonresident of Canada and you have received any income from Canada (i.e. CPP, pension, RRSP, employment insurance etc) 25% tax will be automatically deducted from income you earned in Canada. To recover some or all of 25% tax you can choose to file s217 return but only if it is beneficial for you to do so.

    When filing s217 return you will have to report your worldwide income which means that in addition to your Canadian income you will also have to report income that you have earned in any other country. After considering your worldwide income if the tax owing on your s217 return is more that tax withheld on your Canadian income you do not have to file s217 return. If opposite is true then it is beneficial for you to file s217 return.

    To determine if it would be beneficial for you to file s217 return or for more information please contact our office.


  3. +Part Year Resident Return

    If you lived in Canada for more that 183 days in the year and you are not considered resident of another country under tax treaty you might be deemed a resident under tax act and you will have to file a Canadian tax return.

    If you emigrated or immigrated to or from Canada you will have to file Canadian tax return for the part of the year you were living in Canada. If you require more information regarding filing requirements for part year residents or need help filing your tax return please contact our office.


T3- Trust Return Preparation

    +Coming Soon...

    Information on this topic is coming soon...


CRA Audit And Review Support Services

  1. +Income Tax Dispute Resolution

    These are most common services we provide for dispute resolution:

    • Objection to Notice of Assessment - If you do not agree with CRA’s assessment of your taxes you might want to file objection within 90 days after the mailing date on Notice of Assessment.
    • CRA Review Section “Request for Information” - If CRA wants to verify accuracy of claims made on your tax return CRA will issue a request that you submit documents to support your claim. You will have 30 days from the mailing date of Request for Review to reply to CRA’s request.
    • CRA Audit - If you randomly get selected for CRA audit you will have to get organized and provide all supporting documents to back up claims made on your tax returns. CRA will usually audit several years’ worth of tax returns. CRA audit can be a very long and complicated process.

    If you are currently involved in a dispute with CRA please contact our office we can help you organize and fight CRA. There are numerous types of disputes with CRA. We consider each case carefully and provide best advice on how to deal with CRA.


  2. +Voluntary Disclosure Program

    Information on this topic is coming soon...


  3. +T1-ADJ Amending Tax Return

    If you have already filed your tax return and you need to make retroactive changes or corrections to your return.

    For example:

    • If you did not report all the income or claimed all deductions available to you the T1 Adjustment can be filed to amend your T1 return. You can file T1-Adjustmnet for any past tax year dating back 10 years

Tax and Financial Planning

  1. +Tax Planning

    It will take 4 years to repay a car loan, 25 years to repay a mortgage and your whole life to pay your taxes. Your tax is the single largest bill you will ever pay and while you cannot avoid taxes you can minimize them through careful planning and consideration. We take a careful look at your current tax situation while taking into account any future events that might impact your future tax situation and develop a long term tax saving strategy that is uniquely suited to you. Our goal is to minimize your tax bill in the long term.

    To find out how we can help you minimize your tax bill please contact our office


  2. +Estate Planning

    The point of estate panning is to help generate and preserve wealth for you and your beneficiaries. We offer a range of tax efficient estate planning services.

    • Retirement Planning - We help you plan for your retirement by carefully assessing your present situation and incorporating your future goals to deliver tax efficient retirement plans uniquely suited to your needs and goals.
    • Family or Personal Trust Planning - There are numerous uses for trusts but the basic goal of trusts is to provide a tax efficient vehicle to transfer your wealth to your beneficiaries (spouse, children etc) or preserve wealth for your beneficiaries. We provide a range of service in this area. We will help you with set up, administration and compliance of your family trust. In other words we will help you with tax planning of your trust, registering a trust and filing your trust tax return.

  3. +Retirement Planning

    Information on this topic is coming soon...


Personal Financial Planning

Debt Management
  1. +Credit Card

    Information on this topic is coming soon...


  2. +Mortgage

    Information on this topic is coming soon...


  3. +CRA Debt

    Information on this topic is coming soon...

 


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