Personal Tax Handbook: Tax Preparation & Advisory

In many situations, practitioners and new tax preparers are well versed and dependable in the fundamentals of personal tax and T1 preparation. And yes, the fundamental knowledge will get you a long way into preparing tax returns and advising clients.  However, as any seasoned practitioner will tell you, many clients do not fit nicely into these simple scenarios and tax positions.

The Canadian tax landscape has grown exponentially in complexity over the last decade The CRA has become more frequent and aggressive in their reviews and application of tax positions. It is important to our practices and our clients that we are aware of the many pitfalls and traps that lie waiting for us in this challenging field. This is where the Personal Tax Handbook comes into play.

This course is organized and delivered in six modules designed to cover the majority of personal tax situations and topics including income, deductions, tax credits and more.

Each of these modules is individual presented using the following approach and methodology:

1. Preparation Tips, Tricks & Traps – Best practices and methodologies on reporting and completing the tax return covering areas that are often overlooked or misunderstood by many practitioners
2. Tax Advisory & Problem Solving – How to deal with common and tricky situations that do not have easy answers or solutions. CRA guidelines and a number of Court Cases are analyzed and presented to help you formulate a filing position that can be defended at the highest level on any tax return you prepare.

The following is a synopsis of the modules and topics covered in this course:

Employment Income & Deductions – Take a deep dive into employment expenses and the most common adjustment and reassessments that arise on CRA reviews.  The individual elements of the T2200 & T777 will be covered in detail along with court decisions to help navigate this often audited area of the personal return

Rental Income & Principal Residence  – Issues with claiming losses on rental statements; The challenges of not running a rental property in a commercial manner and cost-sharing arrangements Taking a deep dive into the principal residence exemption and change in use rules (Section 45 elections)

Investment Income & Deductions – Understanding the reporting of foreign income, the foreign income tax credit and foreign tax deduction; topics related to deducting carrying charges, what can and cannot be claimed; The T1135 and issues encountered when dealing with Specified Foreign Property; understanding how TOSI works and how to report it on the personal tax return.

Tax Credits & Deductions – Review and analysis of common issues with tax credits; Analysis on how various caregiver and dependant credits work together to maximize tax credits; understanding what is and what is not deductible as spousal support; proper reporting and filing of RRSP contributions; understanding how TOSI work, the issues you will encounter and how to report it on the personal tax return.

Seniors & Students – Opportunities and challenges when preparing tax returns for seniors; planning and dealing with the OAS clawback; understanding pension income splitting and optimizing returns; special considerations when dealing with student tax returns and processing from a tax practitioner’s position.

Business Income – Preparing accurate and useful business returns that avoid CRA audit radars; understanding how vehicle expenses are deducted, including common CCA misconceptions; determining whether or not there actually is a business and the most commonly disallowed business expenses and how to plan ahead to make them deductible; Issues related to GST/HST reporting and the T2125.

The course presentation material is also designed to leave you with a valuable resource that you can tap into as you prepare tax returns. A number of resources, links and court cases will be provided for self-study and to further cement your personal tax knowledge and skills.

A good understanding of personal tax concepts and tax return preparation is assumed.