In a recent Tax Alert titled “Abuse of Source Deductions and GST/HST Amounts Held in Trust” CRA warned that businesses must hold source deductions and GST/HST amounts in trust for the government. Penalties and interest and possibly personal liability for the directors will be the result if this is not done.
Federal legislation allows CRA to collect unpaid amounts through garnishments, assessments of the directors, seizure and sale of the assets of the debtor corporation, an assessed director or a sole proprietor, and any other means of recovery.
Taxpayers who have not complied with this requirement may make a voluntary disclosure to CRA. The taxpayer will not be penalized or prosecuted if valid disclosures are made before CRA begins any compliance action against the taxpayer.
Taxpayers may only be required to pay the in trust amounts owing plus interest.
After graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Gerald joined KPMG (Formerly Thorne Riddell) as a Computer Accounting Customer Service representative. In this position, Gerald installed accounting systems in over 200 different small to medium sized companies over a 6 year span. In 1989, Gerald left KPMG to continue to work with small business clients in his own corporation installing computer accounting systems. While in this role, he was engaged by the DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary to teach various courses. In time, Gerald moved up through the ranks of DeVry until he attained the position of Director of Finance for the Calgary Campus. He also acquired his Masters of Business Administration from City University of Seattle, Washington in 2001. Gerald’s career has always been focused on small business, accounting and education.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.