News Room

Opportunity: Canadian Dollar Stabilizes, Somewhat

Things have started to turn around for the Canadian dollar in the second quarter of 2025. It hit a 22 year low in January of 2025. Investors and property owners, who have been swooning at the high burn rate in their travel plans and property maintenance abroad, may wish to consider recent more positive trends and consider some risk mitigation opportunities now that the dollar is stabilizing somewhat.  

Anticipating Recessionary Pressures in Investment Planning

While inflation is characterized by an increase in prices in an economy, a recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative real GDP growth; that is, the inflation-adjusted growth of an overall economy.  Higher inflation obviously has a significant impact on this definition.   The two concepts are a double-edged sword in today’s economic climate and it will impact the conversations you may be initiating with your concerned clients:

The New CEWS Audit: New Risks for SMEs in Canada

The CRA has at least 2,500 CEWS audits of large Canadian businesses underway. It is anticipated that what they learn from those audits will then be used to audit small and medium-sized businesses across the country over the next decade. There is no audit limitation period, meaning that every business should anticipate having to defend their CEWS claims at some point in time.  The September 21 CE Summit, will cover this topic in depth with one of Canada’s leading tax litigators and a tax lawyer with broad experience in resolving audits, David Robertson and Evelyn Tang from EY Law LLP.

DAC Acuity 2022: Hear Insights from Top-Flight Industry Thought Leaders

Be sure to register by August 31 to take advantage of the early bird conference discounts for DAC, October 16 -18 in beautiful Niagara Falls.  You won’t want to miss the incredible line up of topflight speakers who will bring the future of finance to you in spades of insightful thought leadership.  It is the only conference for a multi-advisory audience and the one you should not miss if you are a business leader or owner-manager in the tax or financial services.  Consider these critical topics:

Employer-paid Cell Phones

Like all employer-paid expenses, the concept is that, if the employer is the primary beneficiary of the payment, the payment is not taxable to the employee.  But, if the employee is the primary beneficiary, then the benefit is taxable.  For cell phones and cell phone service, the same concept applies, but the details can become confusing.

Inflation, Inflation, Recession, Recession, let’s just call the whole thing off?

We find ourselves in an unusual situation with higher-than-normal inflation while simultaneously seeing signs of either an ongoing or approaching recession.  It’s not a time for knee-jerk overreactions.  Rather, the current cloud gathering should come as a reminder that long-term wealth is built by well-researched investments constructed around the realities of fluctuating economic circumstances.

Executor: Tips when preparing to file final returns

Have you agreed to be an executor for a loved one?  If so, I just know you want to be ready and informed about what to do when the time comes.  When it is time to ‘be’ the executor, over and above the additional tasks you have to do, you could be also faced with the emotions of your loss.  For that reason, amongst others, the time to check into what is involved is NOW! 
 
 
 
Knowledge Bureau Poll Question

Do you believe Canada’s tax system based, on self-assessment, has suffered under recent changes at CRA and by Finance Canada? If so, what is the one wish you have for tax reform?

  • Yes
    342 votes
    69.8%
  • No
    148 votes
    30.2%