With updates published about the new Bare Trust rules for 2024/2025, there are a lot of challenges coming the way of both the tax payer and accountant alike. Make sure you understand what's going on and how it changes so you can be prepared.
Budget 2024 has been a contentious one for lots of reasons, and the new Canadian Entrepreneurs Initiative (CEI) is not exception. While it is problematic for lots of reasons, it actually does benefit small businesses.
If you have investments (stocks, options, real estate -- anything), it's very important to keep track of it. Especially if you have kids! These affairs all need to be tracked anyway for tax purposes, but if these things ever get passed on to your kids they will definitely be looking for the info.
Have you created your MyCRA account yet? What about for your business? These are absolutely essential these days, especially for businesses. In fact, we cannot do our jobs without access to your MyBusiness account, so you need to create one! Read here for instructions.
What are you "writing off" with your small business? Are you looking at every possible expense you could and saying it's for your business? Well, be careful. The CRA does pay attention to these things, and they do not take kindly to it when they catch people deducting things they shouldn't. If you get caught, it can be very expensive!
High interest rates are really starting to catch up with the Canadian housing market. By now, even those who were lucky enough to renew right before all the rate hikes have gotten caught up in it. So, what can you do?
How well do you know your tax rules? Are you up-to-date on all of them? The CRA changes their rules often, and that thing your uncle told you about to save some cash might not work anymore, or may have been wrong from the very beginning.
Running a business is a complicated thing most of the time. Why make it more complicated by having a separate bank account for it? Well, it will make things much simpler when you are dealing with the CRA, and it keeps everything more neat and tidy. It will save you money in the long run!
Do you have a TFSA with more than one financial institution? Are you looking to move funds from one to the other? That's great, and might be a smart move. But be careful! The CRA has specific rules about how you can do this and they will penalize you heavily if you do not follow them.
Incorporation isn't always the right choice, but it can be difficult to know for sure what the best solution is for your small business. While they offer many benefits over a Sole Proprietorship, they are often also more expensive.
