You are preparing your corporate tax return when your accountant asks for the receipt for a $4,800 business purchase. You know the expense was real. You can see the payment on the company credit card. The equipment is sitting in your office. But the receipt is gone. Then you find another missing receipt. And another....

Your business has become valuable. Maybe you started as a sole proprietor and now want to incorporate. Maybe your operating company has grown and you want to put a holding company above it. Maybe you are preparing for succession, an estate freeze, a future sale, or a corporate reorganization. Then your accountant raises an uncomfortable...

You completed the work. You sent the invoice. The customer promised to pay within 30 days. Thirty days became 60. Then 90. Then six months. Your staff called. You sent emails. Statements went out. The customer stopped responding. Your accounting system still shows a $25,000 receivable, but the money may never arrive. Now the business...

Your corporation had another profitable year. The operating account now holds $800,000. You do not need all of that money to pay employees, suppliers or upcoming business expenses, so you start investing the surplus. Some goes into GICs. Some goes into stocks and ETFs. Maybe the corporation purchases an investment property. At first, this can...

Your business buys a $3,000 laptop. Then a $45,000 vehicle. Then $80,000 of manufacturing equipment. At tax time, you ask your accountant a reasonable question: Can I deduct all of this now? The answer is often: It depends. Canadian business owners frequently confuse two very different types of spending: Current expenses, which may generally be...