We know that every small business needs a marketing strategy. Whether you provide services (like myself) or products or a combination of both, the most important thing you need to know is how you are going to bring in customers.

The current financial environment seems a bit bleak right now. The pandemic, war in Ukraine, housing issues and other factors have led to supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, a plummeting stock market, and inflation. Almost everybody has been directly impacted with one of the most significant consequence being an increase in our expenses and a corresponding decrease in our net worth.

I will admit some bias in my title this week. I am currently in the middle of vacation (having written this newsletter in advance) and am hopefully enjoying it without work distractions! Admittedly, as a small business owner, it is difficult to completely detach from work. The line between work and our personal lives is much blurrier and our responsibilities are often weightier. If we don’t respond to a customer or a supplier or a bank on a timely basis, the very existence of our businesses could be at stake or at least the consequences could be significant. Some of us might be able to delegate, but it is often challenging to relinquish control.

According to Revenue Canada, approximately 18 million tax returns have been filed as of April 25th. This is great, but it also means that approximately 12 million Canadians have not yet filed their tax returns, when compared with total returns received for 2021. It is perhaps not a huge surprise that many of us leave the tedious task of tax filing to the very last minute (including myself :)). Of course, if you haven’t filed, now is the time to get it done! Below are my annual tips for tardy tax filers:

Given the macro environment where spending by the government has been at an unprecedented high along with significant inflation that affects all of us, the budget didn’t have much in the way of tax breaks for individuals and small business owners. There were, however, some financial measures that will have an impact, many of which relate to making housing more accessible and affordable to the average Canadian. Some of the more relevant measures include the following:

Hope everyone’s has gotten through this April Fool’s day with a healthy dose of humour, but otherwise relatively unscathed :)

Sadly, I do not have any April Fool’s pranks for you (humour is in short supply for many accountants during tax season). Instead, I bring you information on the deadly serious topic of taxes.

Whether you are an employee or a small business owner, you can claim home office expenses as long as you worked from home, although the rules are a bit different.

By now most of you have received a variety of tax documents. Some are straightforward while others may seem a bit cryptic. There are also some taxable events that do not actually result in a tax document, but require the filing of forms anyway. And if you are an unincorporated small business owner or have rental property, almost all of the burden of preparing your tax reporting is on you.

As we get closer to the tax deadline, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about some tax concepts, over the next few newsletters,and address some of the more frequent questions that I get. The most fundamental of these concepts, and one that is largely misunderstood, relates to how income is taxed in Canada.

I recently had a consultation with a client who is having trouble navigating her accounting and tax obligations. On top of it all, she recently received a letter from Revenue Quebec advising her that she owed a significant amount of money plus penalties. As a consequence she is feeling overwhelmed and unsure if she can handle the financial aspects of her business. She is bright and intelligent and certainly more than capable of doing so - but it doesn’t take much, especially where it comes to taxes and unpleasant missives from the government, to feel a loss of control.

Anyone who has been to a grocery store, to a gas pump or to buy regular household items in recent months will likely have noticed that prices have gone up somewhat markedly. This is largely due to the pandemic which has brought about disruption in the supply chain (basically the many steps in the process in the production and distribution of goods), increase in oil prices, labour shortages and increased buying after people have been stuck at home for many months. Consequently, inflation, which has been very low for many years, experienced a significant uptick in 2021 . This has governments around the world trying to figure out a solution to a difficult problem.