June 16, 2007 by Dan White.

What attitude should a tax preparer display? 

For instance regarding; non prescription Medical Expanses. 

There is an argument that all real medical expenses can be deducted, regardless of from a pharmacy, under prescription or not. 

In the past when it was me doing the tax returns, for clients that has health issues, I prepared documentation that I sent in much the same as if it was for a notice of objection. I can only recall one being challenged by CRA and I sent in a lot of them. 

One of the things we have to watch in how we approach tax returns and our position is the language and attitude we display to our customers. 

The natural accountant instinct is to reduce the chances of an audit, this is wise only to a point of the line in the sand. There has to be a line in the sand where it is not wise to take deductions. We understand that. CRA pushes the line one way and we push it the other. The realality is that CRA pushes beyond reason. WNBC does not push beyond credible reason. 

The official WNBC market position is that we encourage every reasonable expense be taken. We only recommend timidity when the person may have something to hide or needs a “clean year.” (A year where everything is 100% perfect. Auditors usually only audit back to a clean year and stop.) 

This position is what built our tax business. Yes, we did have problems in the past with quality control. That did not mean our position was wrong, what it meant is that we did some shitty work. Fortunately a lot of that work is what caused the problems that we solved that has built our knowledge base and made us the best kick ass CRA issue company in the country. 

WNBC’s official stance is that we will fight for every reasonable deduction that there is a legitimate piece of paper to back up the expense. 

It is important to WNBC that we need to maintain our market approach in terms of aggressiveness. Does this mean more work for us? Yes it does. But it also means we will attract more new business and keep the business growing and profitable. The extra work incurred by pushing the line in the sand is part of our business model. We can not and must not default to the line in the sand where all is cosy and we don’t incur resistance from CRA. The more resistance we get, the more we win and the happier our clients are because our clients simply pay less taxes. WNBC takes pride in the fact that we are fearless defenders of the faith in less tax is better for all. 

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June 16, 2007 by Dan White.

Old Tax Debts – Debts beyond six years are now statute barred by recent court decisions (Mar, 03). Not quite certain if CRA will honour that decision but in the meantime, tax debts never die – they just gather interest. If you had an old tax debt, didn’t have to go bankrupt, and are now making good money – look out for those # 8 brown envelopes with your name in the window.
CRA has up to three years from the mailing date of your notice of assessment to conduct an audit For a Canadian controlled private corporation, the MOF has 4 years. After this time, the particular year is statute barred unless there is a case of fraud, in which case there is no time limit to the period for audit.
 

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