Tax

Estate planning 101

A reluctance to tackle touchy subjects can prove costly. I remember a long-ago conversation with one of my earliest personal tax clients about aging parents and estate planning. The client — let’s call him Bob — was the only child of a well-to-do couple. Bob had no children of his own, and was relatively well […]

By Michelle Munro |July 6, 2009

5 min read

Employment versus self-employment

Alex recently lost his job with a local plumbing company. After several weeks off, he was approached by a competing firm, Charlie’s Plumbing Agency, with an offer for his services. The offer was an interesting one — Alex could choose to work as part of a contract of service, or he could enter into a […]

By Wilmot George |June 17, 2009

6 min read

IFRS: Managing change for the tax function

The move to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from the current Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) will fundamentally change the way Canadian organizations report their business results. The tax function will not be immune to these changes. In fact, IFRS may affect the measurement and reporting of income taxes for financial statement purposes, the […]

By Spence McDonnell and John Gotts |June 4, 2009

4 min read

Taxing transaction fees

I’m asked regularly about whether commissions received by an advisor on the sale of life insurance and/or investment products for his or her own personal use are taxable. A 2003 tax case—Delisle v The Queen, 2003 TCC 751—dealt with such an advisor. Gilbert Delisle, an executive at Sun Life, became self-employed after leaving in July […]

By Jamie Golombek |June 1, 2009

3 min read