Summer School: Why Upskilling Now is So Important

Having trouble recruiting and retaining qualified tax specialists to help with your clients’ ever more complex financial affairs? Shifting your tax accounting practice to provide expert advisory services year round is key to required scalability as demand grows for in a rapidly changing environment in the tax and financial services. Some recent statistics prove the point:

In response to a scathing report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer back in 2017, CRA initially promised to improve its service standards by 2020. CRA has made small steps in the right direction with an upgraded phone system for the business inquiries line.  Do you find that call requests are being resolved more quickly and accurately?

According to Statistics Canada, based on the 2018 tax year, taxpayers who donate to charity are giving more, marking a second year of growth in giving by these generous Canadians.  What’s more, charitable donations rose the most in Saskatchewan – a whopping 17.1% over the year before.  It was therefore very appropriate to hear from a prominent financial advisor from this generous province at this week’s CE Summit, to explain some of the reasons why.

Things have also gotten a lot more complex since taxes were first introduced in 1917.  Back then the tax return was six pages long and contained 23 lines. By contrast, the 2019 federal T1 featured an expanded 8-page return, 11 schedules and hundreds of lines. This complexity and digitization been a boon for tax accounting and bookkeeping services, which have grown exponentially, too.  Entry into these high demand and highly rewarding professions makes good sense, an dnew statistics about the size of the market confirm this good news.

Professionals in the tax, bookkeeping and accounting industries can add big value to stimulate healthy new births in a new economy. Based on newly released statistics on November 10, professionals could be more proactive in improving survival rates…but how? One way is to formalize business planning, budgeting and forecasting service offerings.

There are big penalties for businesses who don’t remain above board with the taxman. Fees paid to professional bookkeepers and tax accountants can be well worth it, as a self-employed taxpayer in the construction industry recently found out.

Should you buy or lease a new vehicle or computer before year end?  It’s a great question for financial advisors and their clients to discuss before year end. Canada’s tax system has some excellent incentives for people in the market for buying business assets before year end.  Here’s an overview of the provisions that were first introduced with the November 21, 2018 Fall Economic Statement: