Your Global Tax Command Center

Honestly? It depends on what you're doing. If you're just selling stuff online to customers in other countries, probably not a huge deal. But if you're contracting with foreign businesses, hiring international contractors, or receiving income from abroad - yeah, you'll want to know what's up with treaties. They can literally cut your withholding tax in half sometimes. We've seen small businesses leave thousands on the table just because they didn't know to claim treaty benefits.

PE is basically the line between just doing business in another country versus being taxed there. Have an office? That's probably PE. Send an employee there for 9 months? Could be PE. Just selling to customers online? Probably not PE. This matters because once you've got PE in a country, congrats - you're filing taxes there too. The rules are nuanced and every treaty's a bit different, which is why we actually read these things so you don't have to.

First off - make sure you actually need one. Sometimes a branch or just contracting works better. But if you're going the subsidiary route, we look at: why you're expanding there, what the local tax rates look like, how you'll get money back to Canada, and what ongoing compliance looks like. Oh, and CFC rules - because the CRA has opinions about foreign subsidiaries. Download our checklist above, then let's hop on a call to see if this makes sense for your situation.

Yeah, foreign tax credits are pretty much designed to keep you from getting hit twice. If you paid tax in another country, Canada usually lets you credit that against your Canadian tax on the same income. But (there's always a but) - you can only credit up to what you would've paid in Canada, and there are separate baskets for business vs. non-business income. It's not automatic either - you gotta claim it properly. Miss the forms and you're SOL. We make sure that doesn't happen.

Transfer pricing kicks in when you're doing business with related companies across borders - like your Canadian company selling to your US subsidiary. Tax authorities want to make sure you're pricing things fairly (at "arm's length") and not just shifting profits to low-tax countries. If you're over $1M in transactions with non-resident related parties, you need documentation. Under that? You still need to price things reasonably, just less paperwork. Get it wrong and penalties are nasty - we're talking 10% of the transaction value sometimes.

If your foreign property (investments, accounts, real estate - not personal stuff) is worth over $100K Canadian at any point in the year, you're filing a T1135. Own more than 10% of a foreign company? That's a T1134. These aren't optional and penalties start at $25/day late. The forms are detailed and honestly pretty annoying to fill out. We handle this for clients because a) we have the software that makes it less painful, and b) we know what the CRA's actually looking for so you don't get follow-up letters.

Oh man, this gets interesting. First question: are you actually leaving Canada for tax purposes? The CRA looks at residential ties - do you still have a house here, spouse, kids in school, etc. If you're truly non-resident, you might trigger a departure tax on certain assets. Your Canadian business likely stays taxed in Canada, but now you might also be taxed where you're living. Plus there's potential withholding tax on dividends you take out. Every situation's different, so we really need to map out your specific circumstances. This isn't a DIY situation.

IFRS is the international standard - if you're public or thinking of going public, you're using IFRS. ASPE is the Canadian private company standard - simpler, less costly to implement. Most of our mid-sized private clients use ASPE unless they've got foreign parent companies that need IFRS. The catch? If you're doing cross-border deals or seeking foreign investment, sometimes IFRS makes more sense because it's what everyone else speaks. We help you figure out which makes sense for your situation and future plans.