Business Solutions (SME)

In this small video clip, I will try to explain what incorporation is in 5 minutes. Why would anyone want to incorporate his company and what are the principle advantages and disadvantages that one may reap by doing so?

First, you must know that I won’t be able to explain everything in just 5 minutes. In the bachelor of accounting sciences, incorporation is subjected to several periods of various courses distributed between accounting, the tax system and law. I shall hence go through the topic very briefly. Generally at the office, when we find someone intending to incorporate, we comprehend the concepts in an hour or two based on the number of questions, therefore 5 minutes is indeed very short. I will therefore speak a little faster …

First, what is incorporation and where does it come from?

Incorporation was initiated about 200 to 250 years ago with the objective of fostering trade. Enterprise development is among one of the main problems encountered by entrepreneurs, leaving a number of risks and issues to be dealt with. Fortunately, the legislators at the time realized that one of the restrictions in trade was that an entrepreneur could lose all his properties including his house, if his business went bankrupt. Therefore, a strategy had to be necessarily introduced which would enable running a business without having to fall into the risk of losing one’s own shirt. Thus, this is how incorporation breathed into life. It was thus brought forward on the basis that it would help reduce the risk in case the company was at difficulty. Equally, the printing press was a revolution which allowed many people to gain access to books, incorporation brought a dramatic transformation in democratizing trade.

The Concept of the legal entity

At the time, the legislator introduced two new concepts. The first was the concept that a legal entity can be a person to whom they called a “moral” person. Indeed, since this entity exists only on paper, it has physical people who represent it. This “moral” person can thus make a contractual commitment and handle trade activities, almost like the real natural person. At that point, if it comes across some problem, it would be this legal entity who would be pursued by its creditors, for it was that which had made a contractual commitment.

The limited liability

They then introduced the second important concept known as the limitation of liability among representatives of the company. In this way, the creditors cannot personally pursue the physical representatives of the company unless they act fraudulently. Thus, if an incorporated company lose some money and is unable to refund its creditors, no one can seize the personal residence of the representatives of this “moral” person. By creating an incorporation and by exercising its commercial activities in terms of this legal entity, the entrepreneur thus protects himself from his creditors. The creditors’ appeals are normally limited to the properties owned by the company.

These two principles continue to function even today and this is the basic concept of incorporation. However, the rules nowadays are more complicated. Therefore the limited liability is the first greatest advantage an entrepreneur would gain in incorporating his company.

In order to best use this concept of legal protection, you must first be properly advised. There are several tricks and pitfalls that must not to be missed, for as the years move forward, banks and generally the principal creditors, have also developed techniques to circumvent the limited liability rules. Limited liability has opened doors to lawyers and professional accountants have agreed to develop some sort of an asset protection strategy which is often now used in real estates, buildings, child care centers, automobile and in almost all other industries.

Professional companies however make an exception to this fundamental principle. In fact, the limited liability rules do not specifically apply to professional misconducts, committed by the members of a professional body regulated as such. For example, if you are permanently hurt by your doctor, you could go as far as taking his own house if his insurance is insufficient, and he cannot hide behind his incorporation.

This aspect is very important; since it’s an element that was not prevalent ten years ago. Previously, professionals simply did not have the right to exercise their activities within an incorporation. The legislator therefore wanted to avoid the limited responsibility of professionals which can be further understood by the example of the person hurt by his doctor.

Several practical aspects

There are several other practical aspects among which the incorporated company has its sole existence on some. This means that the company does not die with the death of its proprietors. Theoretically, it has an unlimited life span.

The incorporated company also benefits from a number of significant tax advantages that can largely contribute to the growth of a small company. Thus, once incorporated, a company can also be easily transferred.

The data source

I invite you to visit our web site and view its contents and videos which would certainly interest you, and from which you’ll gain solid examples on the expertise of our chartered professional accountants, and on the advanced technology used by our firm. There will also be other videos on incorporation, particularities of doctors and those of IT consultants.

The next step

Feel free to contact us right now to discuss with a partner on the peculiarities of your case and book an appointment for an hour of free consultation. And make sure to ask for more information on our competitive rates and our exclusive promotions.

Denial of responsibility

This small video clip covers complex questions and does not inevitably apply to the facts and particular circumstances. It was offered to you free of charge only to help you discuss it better during our future discussions at the office. Do not undertake in financial transactions without assistance from recognized professionals.

Do you sometimes feel uncomfortable having to explain to your accountant on how your industry works? If that is so, and if there’s doubt filling up your mind, then this is probably the right time to address the situation. How should it be done? Ideally, the answer is to seek for a chartered professional accountant who has a professional insight into the industry you specialize in and is enthusiastic as much as you are. I do admit that it could be rather difficult to spot the exact right person.

At Célestin Chartered Professional Accountants, we have set in motion a particular approach, designed to develop certain specific niches. Here, you can meet recognized professionals dedicated to exercise their profession over several precise fields of activity upon which they are greatly inspired.

Chartered professional accountants working at the office are non-specialized practitioners, who attempt at focusing on a maximum of 4 business areas so as to strengthen their competencies as much as possible. Our chartered professional accountants must expand their horizons in each of the fields that they have chosen to dedicate their practice, and reach far beyond the traditional field of accounting and the tax system. They seek to master in every business sector both in terms of financing and economy. The customer niches developed in the office contribute us to remain on the leading edge of the latest technological and industrial developments and discover upcoming trends, fashion, etc… We also aim at differentiating ourselves from the competition by publishing interesting informational articles addressing each domain.

By developing such knowledge and experience in highly-specialized fields, each chartered professional accountant can hence become an essential business consultant towards his customers. As a result, we can best help you identify new trends in the sector, detect pitfalls for which the others were fooled and help you seize opportunities that may rise over time. Additionally, gaining a certain focus over customers in a particular niche enables us to discover possible saving opportunities due to the volume.

Therefore, you can enjoy one of the most competitive fees available on the market from us. You will also be able to access a distinctively useful professional to support you in your business affairs. Ultimately, you will be able to rely on someone who would perfectly understand the entrepreneur within you, the risks that you are handling and the challenges you are dealing with.

We do not claim to be experts in every domain; in fact, we develop specific niches with several customers in the same domain. Our strategy on market development, through the development of niches, seems to exceed the horizons of other accountant agencies found today. Not all agencies are designed to develop specific niches.

You might perhaps be uncertain of the advantages that you may procure through Célestin chartered professional accountants. Unless you try to make a comparison between us, you might never know if our consultancy is worth the sacrifice or if our fees are similar, or even less.

You may think that we are simply too far away from you!

We are currently based in Montreal, in the corner of two major highways, 40 and 25 and within a 5 minute distance to the Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine tunnel and our firm is indeed equipped with an advanced technology. If you have access to the internet, you will have the feeling we are almost in your neighborhood. You will hardly need to move, since usually, it’s our dedicated team of chartered professional accountants that will visit you at your home. We are already acquainted with several customers, in remote areas, who would also wish to benefit from the expertise of our chartered professional accountants of our Montreal firm.

I invite you to visit our web site and view its contents and videos on all your interested sectors, and from which you’ll gain solid examples on the expertise of our chartered professional accountants, and on the advanced technology used by our firm.

Feel free to contact us right now to discuss with a partner on the peculiarities of your case and book an appointment for an hour of free consultation. And make sure to ask for more information on our competitive rates and our exclusive promotions.

Although being a considerably small firm, we implement on some of the latest high technologies that many large-scale chartered professional accountants do not have. Using highly advanced technologies gives us a tremendous competitive advantage. These technologies helps us become more effective in terms of our customer service and enable us to provide a better balance (work – family life) within our team.

How does it work?

How does it work? It’s really very simple. We have established three server solutions. A server to be used for internal purposes, another dedicated to customers, and the last that serves as a terminal server.

The decision taken in 2007, to use a terminal server was among the best decisions taken by our chartered professional accountants firm until today. The terminal server solution facilitated with an intermediate internet connection allows to connect to a distance server directly.  We thus have the capability of connecting from anywhere in the world and access any software and any means of communication including the commercial telephone of the office. And once we grab a hold of it, it is indeed magical. As a result, we could remotely connect, even with our customers, within a matter of seconds. The data are stored in a central point and any individual can easily connect to it in extremely safe conditions. The team-based approach was in fact, made accessible though this. Three members were to work on the same case, at the same time, and each had to be placed in a different position. Not only is this “cool”, but is also exceedingly efficient. For example, if someone got sick and was unable to attend the office, he can still undertake his cases in the safe comfort of his home. Now, that’s really astounding, even if we are physically present in the office, we are still connected to the terminal server and are continuing to work as if we were far away!

This method has brought in all sorts of new requirements. Now, when they are remote, our accountants also require to access these customer files. It is much more convenient to avoid moving heavy customer files any longer. Therefore, we have begun to digitize these customer files enabling us to become more effective at home, to the customer, as well as to the office.

An improved safety for customer data

Centralizing data on the terminal server was also an excellent solution to restore safety on the customer data. Now for example, if one of our accountants loses his mobile phone, none of the confidential data will fall into the wrong hands. In fact, mobiles need not no longer transfer important customer information since all the necessary information are saved on the office server itself. It would seem really unfortunate to find all the financial statements, or even worse, the tax returns containing names, social security numbers, addresses, parents’ and children’s birth dates, to be in the fraudster’s possession.

The customer safety zone – for a better customer service

Customers, in particular, are experiencing significant benefits with the use of our customer safety zone. With this safety zone, they are also given the opportunity to access a distance server dedicated to them. With the customer safety zone and the digitalization of files, it has now become easy to increase the content, accessible to customers remotely. Customers can thus easily access several of their on-line documents. Even if they still have their paper documents with them, it would be quite beneficial for them to be able to access their on-line documents. It is often faster to connect and directly select the relevant documents they need. They would no longer require to call our chartered accountants’ office and wait until someone finds their file and ultimately end up receiving the wrong papers. Hence, they are free to access their documents around the clock.

Facilitating the exchange of voluminous documents

The safety zone is also specifically convenient for the exchange of large databases, which cannot be sent through e-mails given their size. Ask the directors of the child care center, and the CPE who own enormous databases, filled with very confidential information.

Safe exchange of confidential documents

The customer safety zone has lead us to improve safety during data exchanges with customers. Through the safety zone, the exchange of documents is carried out in a coded method, using an HTTPS connection, like banks. It is also recommended in the United States, by the Internal Revenue Service, equivalent to the Canada Revenue Agency, to work in this manner when communicating personal and confidential documents between accountants and their customers. E-mails are to be avoided as much as possible since they are not quite safe in the process of sending confidential documents.

Better serve remote customers

Customer services, found far from the office, is made easier and convenient with the introduction of the safety zone. In the case of certain files, neither the customer nor our accountants’ team would require to travel. Everything is carried out more faster at a distance. Through this, not only does it save more time, but a large region can also be covered at the same time. It is true that we prefer to meet customers personally, but if that’s not possible, everything can be done remotely and probably at a lower cost.

Free remote backup

With the safety zone, our chartered professional accountants’ office offers customers the possibility of making their backup copies directly from our free secure server. Thus, our customers can have a peace of mind knowing that they have their backup copies on accounting data, stored offsite while everything being provided free of charge.

Fast payment via credit cards

Facilitating the possibility of an electronic payment directly from our Web site, is also highly valued and appreciated by our customers. Especially those who wish to increase their points in their credit cards are delighted with this method.

Employee benefits

Many professional offices face significant difficulties on reconciling work and family life. This has turned out to be one of the main stakes within the next ten years. Our office is no exception to this rule. We may be small, but deal with the equal reality as larger offices. Therefore, we had to carefully consider on the matter so as to find the perfect solution to solve the problem of reconciling work and family life.

What I like most is that I can go home early and have supper with my family even if it means having to complete my cases later on, perhaps when the children go to sleep. Times when it gets really busy are indeed very interesting. I can work at home, for example, when the child is sick or while waiting for a furniture delivery.

We have thus established and introduced one of the best terminal server solutions, an excellent server for all our customers and for which I am exceedingly proud of.

Montreal: 514-493-3472
or
elsewhere in Canada: 1-888-493-3472

Did you know that you could save up to $30000 or more on taxes through an incorporation every year?

Incorporation could be one of the best tax-effective decisions of your life and in the following videos, I will show you why. Whatever maybe said, incorporation is a must for most entrepreneurs.

In addition to the legal advantages on which we’ve already discussed, there are almost 9 tremendous tax benefits, along with an exceedingly minor disadvantage.

1. The first great benefit: Income splitting.

Income splitting is the benefit that’s most easiest to obtain and probably the most common as well. Income splitting is in fact, the perfect strategy that alone could easily help you save up to $30 000 on taxes every year. You can split your income fairly easily:

Either with adult children who are students

• Or with an handicapped adult child
• Or with your spouse if he’s unemployed, or has undergone an income reduction due to a certain inability, a maternity leave, a sabbatical year, a return to school or any other situation that causes an income reduction.
• Or with yourself if you become temporarily or permanently disable
• Or even with your elderly relatives who have a low income
  

There are many income splitting possibilities. For more details, watch our video titled:

“The ABCs of income splitting (part 2) “and the video” income splitting, a benefit of incorporation (part 3)”

2. The Second greatest benefit: the deferred tax.

The deferred tax is a technique that’s extremely easy to carry out. Let the Célestin chartered professional accountants in Montreal show you, in a couple of seconds, how you can immediately save $10 000 on taxes by saving $30 000, without touching your RRSPs.

Watch our video: “How to save $15 000 on taxes through an incorporation (part 4) “

3. The Third greatest benefit: the capital gains deduction

The capital gains deduction has a massive benefit, not to be missed out. The capital gains deduction facilitates you to exempt certain capital gains from taxes up to $800 000. After watching the Célestin Chartered Professional Accountants’ video on this topic, you may probably be, at the very least, reviewing some of your investments, and this would especially be true if in case you are investing in a real estate. Learn how to succeed in saving $200 000 on taxes, effortlessly.

Watch our video: “capital gains deduction, an inevitable benefit of incorporation (part 5)”

4. The Fourth greatest benefit: the IPP

The Individual Pension plan (IPP) can be an especially appealing benefit if you don’t have access to a pension plan other than the RRSP. This is what most entrepreneurs are opting for. The IPP most profitably replaces the RRSP for many incorporated entrepreneurs. If you have not yet heard about this, then that’s simply because, the IPP generally brings benefits only from 3 to 4 years after the incorporation. In order to reap full benefits offered by the IPP, you must, however, be aware of how to prepare yourself, beginning now.

• The IPP enables you to profit from deductions just like the RRSP.
• The IPP also allows you to largely exceed the maximum RRSP contributions and instead of $22 000, it could be $35 000 based on your situation.
• The IPP further allows you to enjoy valuable reductions found on the market. This cannot be done with an RRSP.

If you are 50 years and older, you might probably be needing the investment vehicle. The main tricks are further explained in the Célestin Chartered Professional Accountants’ video titled:

“Why is the IPP known to be so outstanding.”

5. The Fifth greatest benefit: the R&D program of Quebec and Canada

The R&D is possibly one of most significant profits brought to you by the incorporation. Research and development tax credits are extremely open-handed. Quebec and Canada invests billions of dollars in the form of tax credits.

• For example, an entrepreneur developing a software without being incorporated will be able to apply for a tax credit of 40 % from his development expenditure excluding his salary. Unfortunately, his salary is by far the most frequently significant R&D expenditure.
• An incorporated entrepreneur can retrieve 70 % from his expenditure including his own salary.

Be careful, most entrepreneurs are very often unaware that some of their activities qualify them to apply for Research and development credits. This is a serious mistake. By research, it does not signify a fully structured research, in laboratory. Small researches that you personally carry out for all sorts of specific reasons are acceptable regardless of your scope of activity sector. In general, entrepreneurs will continue improving processes and these improvements can be considered as research and development. For example, this can even mean developing a new recipe. Research, in fact, has a broad definition.

6. The Sixth greatest benefit: being incorporated, you can name your car on behalf of the company like so many other entrepreneurs.

7. Seventh benefit: the company shares, and therefore the properties detained by the company, do not include into the family patrimony, in case of a separation! Think about it, carefully!

8. Eighth biggest benefit: being incorporated, you can reduce your cost on non-deductible expenses. Non-deductible business expenses may cost you approximately 30 % of less tax if they are paid through an incorporation. For example, you will save up on:

• your club dues
• golf expenditures which are never deductible
• meals and entertainment expenses, deductible only up to  50 %
• certain non-deductible conference and travel expenses
• and several others…

9. Ninth great benefit: Being incorporated, you may gain access to several outstanding strategies with the life insurance. Among others, you have the possibility of releasing several thousand dollars from the company, excluding tax, by transferring a life insurance policy.

With all these elements, it is practically impossible to think that there will be nothing productive left out for you. Simply the possibility of splitting with yourself, or your spouse during a maternity leave, when returning to school, an early retirement or a temporary or permanent disability, should encourage you to incorporate.

But keep in mind that you cannot start incorporating once you become disable, then it’ll be too late to earn profits from the benefits. Generally, if the incorporation has not enabled you to save up on taxes for one year, it will usually take a neutral effect for most entrepreneurs. On the other hand, a single year of income splitting, for example, will allow you to save up so much money, that it will compensate for every year the company was left fiscally neutral.

The minor disadvantage is that there is a little more administrative paperwork to be completed. You must prepare a balance sheet for the company along with an income statement as well. In addition to this, you must also maintain a minute book of the company. At least one advantage can be drawn from these little inconveniences. Your business affaires will at the very least, be in order during an inability, or a premature death.

The most important point is

The most important point of today, is that the benefits of incorporation play an important role throughout our life whereas the disadvantages together with the expenses are quite insignificant, if not negligible.

Gain benefits from a free consultation worth $375

I invite you to gain remarkable benefits from a free consultation worth $375.Through this consultation, you will eventually come to know how much money you can ultimately save on taxes through an incorporation, a trust or any other prudent tax strategies.

www.comptable-montreal.com

Register now

Register to this page right now to be able to visit our web site, its content and videos aimed at SMEs for free. You will be offered solid examples on the expertise of our chartered professional accountants, and you will find some particularly useful information to learn how to best use an incorporation, while enjoying its benefits.

Feel free to contact us right now to discuss with a partner on the peculiarities of your case and book an appointment for a free consultation worth $375. And make sure to ask for more information on our competitive rates and our exclusive promotions.

ATTENTION

The information and the data contained in this Tax Bulletin are presented and provided for informational purposes only and Célestin chartered professional accountants and the people who prepared them shall not be liable in any manner, based on contract or tort. We recommend you to consult the professionals of Célestin chartered professional accountants before making any decisions on the basis of the information contained in this Tax Bulletin.

Thank you.

Montreal: 514-493-3472
or
elsewhere in Canada: 1-888-493-3472

Learn what income splitting is and why tax experts use income splitting techniques so as to reduce your taxes. In the following video, the tax rates of various families are compared in order to illustrate a tax “inequality”. To simplify the demonstration, certain deductions may not be used, the credit which for example, could be entitled to the spouse. Nevertheless, the difference remains significant.

Find out how you can easily split your income and save $ 30 000 on taxes. Income splitting is a simple technique that helps reduce your tax bill significantly. The American system allows to carry out income splitting over the same family. Here in Canada, a real strategy is needed to achieve the same results. Incorporation allows you to carry out income splitting very easily. For an entrepreneur having adult children who are still students, incorporation is often the “best” option. Watch this video and let us know what you think!

Find out how and why, when you save, you can reduce your taxes if you are incorporated. Incorporation is an inevitable approach for many entrepreneurs since sooner or later, they will have to save up for their retirement years… The explained mechanism is related with the deferred tax. This is the simplest method you can use to benefit from immediate tax benefits. There are better strategies such as using the IPP (Individual Pension plan) enabling you to save up even more (including a 20 % from taxes which the corporation must normally pay). Watch this video and let us know what you think!

Selling SMEs is certainly a significant method that an entrepreneur can use to prepare his pension plan. Very often, entrepreneurs undergo a certain difficulty in saving up for their retirement years due to the lack of sufficient liquidity. Entrepreneurs often consider that selling their company is the best privileged method to save up a certain amount that will serve as his pension fund. Hence, the capital gains deduction helps entrepreneurs exempt up to $800 000 from his earnings (at the time of the sale) without the tax taking a large part of it. This video will briefly elucidate on how to earn optimum profits from this deduction. Watch this video and let us know what you think!