A recent discussion with colleagues revealed that many are unaware of the issues that may arise when advising clients whether to declare corporate dividends, including in the case where there exist negative retained earnings.
From the viewpoint of an insolvency practitioner, the picture is quite clear.
A trustee of a bankrupt corporation is permitted to make an application in court to recover against the directors where the corporation has, within the year prior to bankruptcy, redeemed or
by Stevan Novoselac, John Sorensen and Michelle McBride of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
In a recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court, Lemberg v. Perris,1 Eric and Valerie Lemberg successfully sued their loyal accountant, Michael Perris (“Perris“), for breach of fiduciary duty. Over the course of their almost twenty-year relationship, Perris provided tax and accounting advice to the Lembergs and performed their tax compliance work.
Perris advised the Lembergs to engage in a so-called “art-flip” tax reduction scheme. The Lembergs accepted Perris’ advice and enjoyed their large tax savings. However, they were reassessed by the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA“) to disallow all of the benefits they received. Subsequently, the Lembergs learned that Perris had received a “secret commission”
by Douglas J. Powrie and Stephanie Wong of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
The Canadian courts have recently considered appeals of several cases in which the Crown has invoked the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) to challenge tax avoidance transactions. In Lehigh Cement, the Crown was unable to apply the GAAR because it could not meet its burden of establishing the taxpayer’s abusive tax avoidance in the context of planning that had interest paid (free of withholding tax) to an arms-length bank in respect of principal owed to an affiliated corporation. In Collins & Aikman, the Crown was similarly unable to meet its burden in seeking to apply the GAAR to
Statistics Canada today released the 2009 Accounting Services Price Indexes for Canada as a whole. We have been tracking these indexes for Ontario, but these, along with other regional figures, are no longer available due to a redistribution of wealth within the Federal Government.
Here are the indexes for Canada graphed from their inception:
by Nick Miller of Clarity Advantage
In which we are reminded of the value of over-preparing for high stakes sales calls.
Long ago in auditoriums far away, thousands of my closest friends and I competed in the Toastmasters International annual public speaking contests. Best training ever.
These were five round single elimination contests, speeches five to seven minutes long, played out over a few months every spring. Only seven of the many thousand contestants appeared in the final round.
While some speakers were very cool about the contests, most of us were not. Our bellies churned, our shirts moistened, our skins felt cold and clammy, our throats … got… very…. tight… and our hands shook.
In which we are reminded to understand our client’s purpose in a discussion.
Someone asked me this week, ‘Do you have a favorite question that you use in sales calls?’
After overcoming the urge to reply, ‘Yes,’ and listing a dozen wonderful questions, I replied, ‘Tell me a little about what’s happening in your calls.”
The asker’s reply: ‘Well, you know, a question that gets your clients to open up and tell you what you need to know so you know what to talk about or what to sell.’
I found myself wondering about this guy’s social life. Like, has he spent his life searching for the one favorite question or line that would lead otherwise perfectly sensible prospective mates to sigh, swoon, and run off with him to live happily ever after? Has he been searching for THAT one favorite question, too?
‘Well, how do you typically manage your calls?’ I asked. I won’t bore you with his answer, ‘blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,’ and I discovered, as I listened to his meanderings, that I do, in fact, have a favorite question.
This is such a powerful question that I should be charging you hundreds or thousands of dollars just simply to be reading this column, so convinced I am that your regular use of this question will increase your sales. I run the risk of giving up half my income for the rest of my life by sharing this incredible secret with you. A secret that took me years of research and experience with thousands of sales people to discover.
