ICAP Certified in Accounting and Finance — CRA / CIPO / Corporations Canada / Compliance, Canada

Federal incorporation under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) through Corporations Canada gives you the right to operate under your corporate name across Canada and provides stronger name protection. Provincial incorporation under Ontario's BCA, British Columbia, Alberta or Quebec is generally cheaper, faster, and sufficient if you operate within a single province. Federal corporations still need to register extra-provincially in each province where they carry on business. We assess the trade-off based on your operating footprint, name-protection priorities, banking, and growth plans before recommending one route.

The Business Number (BN) is the single identifier the Canada Revenue Agency assigns to your business. It is the root number under which your CRA program accounts attach — corporate income tax (RC), GST/HST (RT), payroll (RP), import-export (RM) and others. You receive a BN automatically on incorporation, or you can register one through CRA's Business Registration Online. Provincial and federal corporations both need a BN before they can open program accounts.

GST/HST registration becomes mandatory once your taxable supplies exceed CAD 30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single calendar quarter. Below that threshold you are a "small supplier" and registration is voluntary. Voluntary registration can be advantageous — it allows you to claim input tax credits on business purchases. We assess each client's position before deciding whether to register early or wait until the threshold is reached.

T1 is the personal income tax return for individuals. T2 is the corporate income tax return for incorporated businesses. T4 is the year-end information slip an employer issues to each employee showing employment income and source deductions. T4A is a similar slip for pension, self-employed commission and other income outside regular employment. T5 reports investment income such as dividends and interest. Each slip has its own filing deadline and information return obligations to CRA.

Canadian employers withhold three things from each paycheque and remit them to CRA on a unified schedule: federal/provincial income tax (based on the employee's TD1), CPP contributions (the Canada Pension Plan), and EI premiums (Employment Insurance). The employer matches CPP dollar-for-dollar and pays approximately 1.4 times the employee's EI contribution. Rates and ceilings are updated annually by CRA. Remittance frequency depends on your average monthly withholding — small employers remit monthly, larger employers more frequently. Year-end is closed with T4 slips to each employee and a T4 summary to CRA.

Employers with staff working in Quebec operate two parallel payroll systems. Federal income tax and EI premiums still go to CRA. But Quebec employees contribute to the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) instead of CPP — at a higher contribution rate — and to the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) instead of the federal parental EI benefits. Quebec provincial income tax is remitted to Revenu Québec, not CRA. Year-end produces a separate RL-1 slip alongside the federal T4. We handle the dual-remittance complexity for clients with cross-province staff.

NUANS (Newly Upgraded Automated Name Search) is the database search that compares your proposed corporate name against existing federal and provincial business names and trademarks. A NUANS report is mandatory for federal incorporation and for incorporation in most provinces unless you choose a numbered company name. The report is valid for 90 days. Important: name approval is not trademark protection — to protect your brand you also need to register a trademark with CIPO. We routinely handle both filings together for new corporations.

IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) is mandatory for Canadian publicly accountable enterprises — listed companies, banks, insurance companies. ASPE (Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises) is the simplified framework most private companies in Canada use. ASPE has fewer disclosure requirements, simpler measurement rules in several areas, and is generally less costly to apply. We pick the right framework for each engagement — most owner-managed Canadian corporations report under ASPE, with IFRS used only when there is a specific business case for it.

A Notice to Reader (now formally called a Compilation Engagement under CSRS 4200) is the lightest form of accountant involvement with financial statements. The accountant compiles management's figures into financial statement format without auditing or reviewing them. CSRS 4200, effective for periods ending December 14, 2021 and later, increased disclosure requirements and the basis-of-accounting note compared to the old Notice to Reader. We prepare CSRS 4200 compilations for owner-managed Canadian corporations whose stakeholders do not require audit or review-level assurance.

Yes. We file Canadian tax returns for non-resident Canadians, deemed-residents, factual residents living abroad, and Canadians with foreign-source income, all remotely. This includes Section 216 returns for non-residents earning Canadian rental income, Section 217 elections for pension and similar income, T1135 foreign property reporting for resident Canadians, and departure-return filings for the year of emigration. We work through email, WhatsApp and secure document upload — clients do not need to be in Canada at any point.

A Canadian trademark application typically takes 18 to 36 months from filing to registration where no objection is raised and no opposition is filed. The stages are: filing and formalities examination, substantive examination by CIPO, advertisement in the Trademarks Journal, a two-month opposition window, and final registration. Canada is a Madrid Protocol member, so applications can also be filed internationally through that system. We file electronically, monitor each stage with CIPO, respond to examiner objections, and handle any opposition or hearing.

Section 216 lets non-residents of Canada who earn Canadian rental income elect to file a Canadian return on a net basis instead of paying the flat 25% withholding tax on gross rents. This is almost always more tax-efficient where the rental property has operating expenses, mortgage interest and capital cost allowance to deduct. Section 217 lets non-residents of Canada who receive certain types of Canadian-source income — Canadian pensions, OAS, CPP, RRSP withdrawals — elect to file a Canadian return so they pay tax at graduated rates instead of the 25% flat withholding. We file Section 216 and 217 elections regularly for Canadian clients living abroad.