Introduction and Objective
The Canada Revenue Agency’s Related Party Initiative (RPI) is a specialized compliance program targeting high-net-worth taxpayers and their interconnected entities. The RPI’s core objective is to identify, risk-assess, and take compliance action on instances of tax non-compliance among the wealthy and their related networks. In practice, this means the CRA examines entire groups of related parties – individuals, corporations, trusts, p…
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) were lifelines for businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. CEWS alone paid out about $100 billion to help employers cover wages. Now that the crisis has passed, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is auditing those subsidy claims to ensure they were properly claimed. In many cases, these audits are leading to disputes with CRA auditors and appeals officers, and increasingly, in appeals t…
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has intensified its focus on online sellers using platforms like Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, and eBay. With the rapid growth of e-commerce, the CRA is ramping up audits and investigations to ensure income from online sales is properly reported and taxed. This explains why CRA online seller audits are on the rise and what you, as an online seller, need to know. We’ll cover unreported income risks, GST/HST obligations, digital audit trigger…
A Personal Services Business (PSB) is a special classification under Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA) that can have significant tax consequences for corporations. In essence, a PSB is often referred to as an “incorporated employee”– where an individual provides services through their own corporation but, if that corporation didn’t exist, the individual would likely be considered an employee of the client company. This framework was designed to prevent the conversion o…