The authority to impose and collect Income tax and other taxes is shared in Canada at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.

Tax Professionals in Canada

Taxation is a legal area of great complexity. Many professionals restrict their practice to only tax matters. Tax professionals can be accountants or lawyers.

Business Tax

Many business decisions have a tax implication. Prudent business people must be aware of critical aspects of their business and make sure they have the best tax advice possible in order to minimize the tax payable.

Business tax planning should start with the formation of the business and continue on during the life of the business. Some of the issues of concern are:

• Structure of the business;
  • Sole proprietorship;
  • Partnership;
  • Limited liability company.
• Share structure of the business;
• Who the shareholders should be;
• Obligations and liability of the business operators for paying tax and for statutory obligations;
• How family members are involved and remunerated;
• How the principals are involved and remunerated;
• Allowable business deductions;
• Expansion of the business;
• Mergers;
• Acquisitions;
• Divestitures;
• Insurance covering death of business partners and principals;
• Ownership disputes;
• Buying out a business partner or shareholder;
• Planning for passing the business on to family members on retirement of the principal;
• Sale of the business.

Personal Tax

Personal taxation can range from the relatively straight forward in the case of a person with only employment income and few investments to the very complicated for those people who may be self employed and have extensive investments. Some of the ways of dealing with taxation are:

• Handling tax on your own and preparing tax returns by hand each year;
• Handling tax on your own and preparing tax returns by using a computer programme each year;
• Handling tax on your own and preparing tax returns by hiring a tax preparation business each year;
• Retaining the services of a professional accountant to give tax advice and to prepare annual tax returns.

References

Canada Revenue Agency
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) administers:

• tax laws for the Government of Canada and for most provinces and territories;
• customs services;
• international trade legislation; and
• various social and economic benefit and incentive programs delivered through the tax system.
  

Department of Finance
Finance Canada plans and prepares the federal government’s budget. The department analyzes and designs tax policies, and develops rules and regulations for Canada’s banks and other financial institutions.

The department administers the transfer of federal funds to the provinces and territories; develops policies on international finance; helps design the country’s tariff policies; monitors economic and financial developments in Canada and provides policy advice on a wide range of economic issues.