I returned to the office today after having been away to attend the CICA‘s Advanced Tax Issues for the Owner-Managed Business course in Mont Tremblant, Quebec. The course was intense—there is such a thing as too much discussion about income…
New draft legislation
Usually the Department of Finance waits until closer to Christmas to release draft legislation. Thus Finance wreaks its revenge on tax practitioners by forcing them to read its opaque, sometimes stupefying prose during the Christmas break. Christmas came early this…
Income trust roller coaster
You read it in the paper this morning. Now see the details of the Minister of Finance’s plan for income trusts here and hang on to your hats.
New pages
I have added two new pages to our website that might be of interest to our readers. The first is a collection of links to tax-related websites. The second page simply re-produces an article I posted some time ago on…
Checking GST Numbers
You can now check the CRA’s website to see whether a person really is a GST registrant. The CRA explains: The GST/HST Registry lets you validate the GST/HST number of a business, which helps to ensure that claims submitted for…
Limits on Solicitor and Client Privilege
Some time ago, we wrote an article for The Bottom Line on accountants and client privilege (see the mid-September, 2003 issue). In the article, we noted that, in light of Tower v. M.N.R. and BDO Dunwoody LLP, [2002] D.T.C. 7315 (F.C.T.D.), rev’d 2003 FCA 307 on other grounds, most communications between an accountant and her client are not privileged. A recent case—M.N.R. v. Reddy, 2006 FC 277—shows that neither is some of the confidential information held by a lawyer about her client.
Amendments to the CA Act
Our readers who are CAs will be aware that Ontario has amended the Chartered Accountants Act, 1956 to permit professional corporations to be partners in limited liability partnerships. The amendments are effective May 18, 2006. The Chartered Accountants of Ontario…
Combating the Crazies
For at least the last five or six years, an assortment of conspiracy theorists and their ilk have been trolling the Internet and spreading phony stories about the unlawful nature of Canada’s tax system (see, for example, the Usenet newsgroup can.taxes).
Good news for CAs
Here is some good news for accountants from last week’s provincial budget: a chartered accountant’s professional corporation will be able to become a member of a limited liability partnership.
List of Canadian legal blogs
Blogging is so popular that even lawyers are doing it! Steve Matthews, the Knowledge Services Director at Clark Wilson LLP in Vancouver, has created a list of legal blogs (“blawgs”) in Canada, which you can find here.