March 24, 2022 by John F. Oakey
2022 Quebec provincial budget tax highlights
On March 22, the Quebec government released their 2022 budget. The following are highlights of the key tax measures.
Recent Publications - Private sector consulting
Recent Publications
March 23, 2022 by John F. Oakey
2022 New Brunswick provincial budget tax highlights
On March 22, the New Brunswick government released their 2022 budget. The following are highlights of the key tax measures.
Tax changes to the Canadian digital economy
In recent months, the tax treatment of non‑resident and resident suppliers (i.e., Wayfair) engaged in e‑commerce sales has undergone significant changes. While many of these suppliers were not required to register to collect provincial or Canadian federal sales tax in the past, those obligations have changed.
March 4, 2022 by John F. Oakey
2022 Prince Edward Island budget tax highlights
On February 24, the PEI government released their 2022 budget. The following are highlights of the key tax measures.
March 1, 2022 by John F. Oakey
2022 British Columbia provincial budget tax highlights
On February 22, the B.C. government released their 2022 budget. The following are highlights of the key tax measures.
March 1, 2022 by John F. Oakey
2022 Alberta provincial budget tax highlights
On February 24, the Alberta government released their 2022 budget. The following are highlights of the key tax measures.
December 10, 2021 by Candice McKay
Managing banking relationships in agricultural organizations
For many agricultural organizations, their chosen financial institution is a significant partner in the success of the operation. With increasing consolidation of farm corporations, credit facility agreements are becoming larger and more complex. Reporting frequency has increased, covenants have been added, and many institutions are seeking forward-looking projections.
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Historically, the success or failure of most brands has been a direct result of products and services.
November 23, 2021 by Thomas Blonde
When should farmland be owned by a holding company?
Most farmers understand that there are many tax advantages to owning farmland. However, more complicated structures are sometimes needed for those advantages to be realized. One such structure involves owning farmland in a holding company.
November 19, 2021 by Shaun Andresen
A streamlined procedure does not clear a GILTI conscience
In December 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) into law. The TCJA made significant amendments to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Among them was the introduction of a transition tax under IRC section 965—a tax on accumulated earnings of certain foreign corporations in the hands of U.S. shareholders. This new tax marked a transition to taxing the active income of foreign corporations.
November 11, 2021 by Randy Labuzinski
Getting routine law firm news published still delivers value, requires savvy PR know-how
How many times over the past 12 to 24 months have you clicked to read an online story or mention of your law firm or firm’s attorneys, only to be blocked by the dreaded subscription paywall? Where once you could freely roam the online pages of a newspaper or magazine, now you either have limited access to content or must pay a fee to read everything on a site. And the trend is only going to spread.
November 2, 2021 by Mike White
How can you reach and recruit diverse lawyers?
I am amazed by how many managing partners and firm practice group leaders tell me, “Mike, we’re having trouble recruiting a homogenous, non-diverse stable of lawyers; we want to grow our numbers but we can’t seem to break the cycle of onboarding lawyers who all look very different from each other and represent different life experiences, ethnicities, geographies and genders. Can you help us address this human capital challenge?”
November 2, 2021 by Jordan Furlong
Defining lawyer competence
These are the two fundamental questions that lie behind lawyer licensing and regulation—a person’s initial entry into, and continuing membership in, the legal profession.
November 2, 2021 by Keith Ecker
Three things to include in your law firm website’s ‘About’ section
When it comes to marketing a law firm, how do you differentiate your firm’s identity from others in the market? It’s not your full-service scope; countless law firms claim to have all the practice areas a client could ever need. It’s not the quality of the attorneys; no firm would boast that their lawyers are the second-best in their region or area of practice.
October 22, 2021 by Julie Thacker
Is the sale of vacant land by an individual subject to GST/HST?
The sale of vacant land can be taxable or exempt for purposes of GST/HST under the Excise Tax Act. Generally, vacant land sold by individuals is exempt, subject to certain exceptions.
The profits and pitfalls of maintaining QSBC share status
With the recent Royal Assent of Bill C-208, owners of incorporated small and medium-sized businesses, and their tax advisors, were reminded that proactively monitoring and maintaining qualifying small business corporation (QSBC) share status is essential to make many tax-planning strategies possible. There are many traps that may cause the unintended loss of QSBC share status, and when the time comes to take advantage of available tax planning, it can be too late to correct the problem.
June 23, 2021 by John F. Oakey
Easing the transition
The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) has been an important program for businesses struggling with the economic fallout of the pandemic. This program (which began on March 15, 2020) was designed to keep employees on the payroll during a time when businesses were experiencing unprecedented disruption in revenue. The federal government is phasing out this program by reducing the subsidy rate over the remaining four periods, from June 6 to Sept. 25, 2021.
June 22, 2021 by Leigh-Anne Finch
How to attract and retain talent in the new labour market
As society advances through the pandemic, 2021 could see the highest number of people (re)entering the workforce and changing jobs in recorded history.
May 5, 2021 by Gerry Riskin
Leadership: agility in the face of fragility
This article first appeared in the ABA’s Law Practice November/December 2020 (www.lawpractice.org). It is reproduced here with permission.
Leaders are aware of the imperative to be agile right now. However, many may have a blind spot and are not conscious of or sensitive to the fact that their constituencies are particularly stressed and fragile.
May 5, 2021 by Jordan Furlong
Frugal innovation in lawyer formation
More than a decade ago, in a post that captured the imagination of hardly anyone, I wrote about the need for “frugal innovation” in the legal services sector. Chief among the problems with the legal market, I said, is lawyers’ insistence on offering ever-more-elaborate services to ever-fewer people at ever-higher prices, ignoring the growing population with straightforward legal needs but little time or money to address them. Frugal legal innovators, I wrote,