February 27, 2007 by Dan White.

 

In the dead of summer a fly was resting among leaves beside a stream.
 
The hot, dry fly said to no one in particular, 

“Gosh…if I go down three inches I will feel the mist
from the water and I will be refreshed.”
 
There was a fish in the water thinking,

“Gosh…if that fly goes down three inches, I can eat him.”
 
There was a bear on the shore thinking,

“Gosh…if that fly goes down three inches
that fish will jump for the fly…
and I will grab the fish!!”
 
It also happened that a hunter was farther up the bank
of the lake preparing to eat a cheese sandwich….
 
“Gosh,” he thought, “if that fly goes down three inches…
and that fish leaps for it…
that bear will expose himself and grab for the fish.
I’ll shoot the bear and have a proper lunch.”
 
 

 
 
A wee mouse by the hunter’s foot was thinking,
 
 
“Gosh, if that fly goes down three inches…
and that fish jumps for that fly..
and that bear grabs for that fish..
the dumb hunter will shoot the bear
and drop his cheese sandwich.”
 
A cat lurking in the bushes took in this scene and thought,
(as was fashionable to do on the banks of
this particular river around lunch time)

“Gosh…if that fly goes down three inches..
and that fish jumps for that fly ..
and that bear grabs for that fish
and that hunter shoots that bear..
and that mouse makes off with the cheese sandwich .
Then I can have mouse for lunch.”
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

The poor fly is finally so hot and so dry that he
heads down for the cooling mist of the water.

 
The fish swallows the fly…
 

The bear grabs the fish.. 
 

The hunter shoots the bear..
 

The mouse grabs the cheese sandwich…
 
 
The cat jumps for the mouse..
The mouse ducks…

The cat falls into the water and drowns.

 
 
 

 some pussy is gonna be in serious danger.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 

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February 24, 2007 by Dan White.

Dear Editor,
I have an autistic child. I am in the business of mental health, and education. I have an opportunity to use my son as a study subject. I think I should pay him for two reasons. One being I want to pay him for his time as a motivation to work with me. The second reason is I intend to use the results for commercial gain. I have a business  plan written around this activity. Can I write off what I pay him?
Jane Doe.
Dear Jane,
Me Tarzan, You Jane, CRA are the apes. 
Seriously, any reasonable business expense can be written off. If you are going to pay someone wages, or benefits in lieu of wages it has to be real. In other words there has to be a way to prove that the child actually provides commercial value. For instance a professional model gets paid for posing for pictures. There is not an official age when you can pay someone. Baby models get paid for their work. No one questions that because it fits within the mental space one sees as “Normal.” So in your case if you actually do the study, actually document the results of the study, and have a plan on how you are going to use this information to make money, either directly or indirectly, you can write it off. It has to be part of the business you are engaged in for the purpose of commercial gain. Here is another thought, if another professional asked to study your child, would you do it for free? Would you have to claim the income? Would the other person be able to claim the expense? The answer to all three is “yes.”
Your Editor.

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February 14, 2007 by Dan White.

Dear Members,

We at WNBC are continuously striving to serve you better and to live up to our commitment of helping you; our members to keep more money in their pockets and give less to CRA.

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of important changes to our procedures and to move another step closer to rock solid audit-proof accounting for you our valued members. We are notifying you about what is REQUIRED on your part to ensure our mutual goal of minimized taxes for all our members.

As we grow and become more and more expert in protecting the tax deductions for our members, we identify where we need to improve. We need to get better at having the stories (explanation of how the expense relates to business) entered into the BKS. To get the expenses entered, they need to be written on the actual receipts then copied accordingly into the BKS.

After years of tangling successfully with CRA we have learned a lot. One of the key things we have learned is that it takes a lot less time for a short fight than a long one.  Further we have found it problematic dealing with member expenses when they did not write their stories. If the reason a business expense was incurred was lost or forgotten, we often lose the deduction.

As a result we have made some changes to how we approach the art of member bookkeeping. Our official policy is that in order for us to defend a tax return and its bookkeeping with CRA all the way to tax court all the receipts must have been itemized, the story written and entered into the BKS.

We provide audit insurance, which is included at no extra charge in the Gold package, but you must do your part to ensure you are covered. Just as in a car warrantee, you must do the service requirements, in WNBC you must do your BKS correctly or have it done by one of our licensed BKS bookkeepers. In any case the responsibility of the story lies in the hands of the member.

While the exercise of going to tax court is a separate service in WNBC, we know that the probability of an audit proof tax return going to court is next to zero. Therefore to protect you our members from unnecessary expenses, the bookkeeping must be done properly.

We cannot do our magic and have you keep your refunds unless you do your part in the deal by organizing yourself the WNBC way.

We want to make sure that even if you are audited you get to keep all your deductions and come out with no money owing to CRA. 

Following are some pointers that we need to reinforce for the upcoming tax season:
 
Things to do for BKS preparation:

• Make sure that you have all your receipts for the expenses that you want to claim as deductions, have your bank and credit card statements as well these will not be admissible by a lot of CRA auditors in an audit but could be allowed in court

• Write your stories on the receipts while they are fresh in your mind (within 48 hrs) and also enter the same description in the BKS

• The category of meeting expense should have names of clients, description of meeting and place of meeting to be deductible

• The category of meals should include meals related to business only – all other meal expenses can go under personal central

• Travel category should include all business related travel – here you should mention the destination, and reason for travel

• Fill out your tax organizer even if you are an existing member

• Mention if you need a GST return to be completed and send us your blank return form. Scan and email is fine.

• Scan all your T-Slips and other documents needed by your tax preparer.

Only legitimate business expenses that we feel can be argued reasonably will be considered as a deduction while preparing your taxes. This is very important in the light of the fact that we will also be representing you in an audit and if we feel that a certain item will not stand up to an audit then we will not consider it.

We require that every member sign this letter to make sure that you have read and understood its contents and implications and agree to abide by the agreement

You are the boss. We work for you, so if you want us to include certain expenses in the tax return that we advise against, we will do so, but you will have sign off in writing that you understand that you are taking full responsibility for the claimed expenses.

Further it is important to understand that if WNBC has to defend the claimed expense, this will not be covered under your membership services. There will be a cost to you for defending an expense that we advised against taking. 

CRA holds the tax payer responsible for information submitted in the tax return and also for any errors and omissions in the tax return. So we strongly recommend that you review your tax return carefully, line by line. It is your responsibility to ensure the tax return represents the information that you supplied to us. If anything is incorrect or that you do not agree, or if you need clarification on anything please let us know.

So in order for you to sleep well at night and keep all your deductions, it is necessary for you to do your part. Please follow the above instruction and help us to make your and our lives easier and show you how to save your money.  If you have questions about deductions please email consult@wnbc.net.

Sincerely,

Sheila Willis
Manager of Support Services
WNBC World Network Business Club
moss@wnbc.net

I have read the contents of the above letter and am in agreement of the same.

Dated this _________ day of ____________ 200___
________________________
Name of Member

________________________
Signature of Member

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February 7, 2007 by Dan White.

• The ceiling on the capital cost of passenger vehicles for capital cost allowance purposes is $30,000 (plus sales taxes) for purchases after 2006. 

• The limit on deductible leasing costs is $800 per months (plus sales taxes) for leases entered into after 2006. 

• The maximum allowable interest deduction for amounts borrowed to purchase an automobile is $300 per month for loans related to vehicles acquired after 2006. 

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