<p>Family cottages can play an integral role in strengthening family bonds. Over time, traditions are established, festivities are enjoyed and emotional ties are formed, creating a desire to keep these properties in the family for generations. However, a variety of financial and legal concerns can make this more difficult than it sounds.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Wikipedia d&eacute;finit le financement participatif comme suit&nbsp;: &laquo;&nbsp;un moyen de financement de projet ou d&#39;entreprise qui vise &agrave; collecter beaucoup de petits montants d&#39;argent aupr&egrave;s d&#39;un grand nombre de gens, habituellement par le biais d&#39;Internet<span class="s1">.&nbsp;</span>&raquo; Il s&#39;agit d&#39;un v&eacute;hicule de plus en plus populaire pour collecter des fonds en vue de projets particuliers, comme la cr&eacute;ation d&#39;un album musical ou d&#39;une &oelig;uvre d&#39;art, l&#39;acquisition d&#39;immobilisations ou le financement du d&eacute;marrage d&#39;une entreprise. Cette tendance a men&eacute; un certain nombre de contribuables &agrave; demander conseil aupr&egrave;s de l&#39;Agence du revenu du Canada (ARC) quant aux implications fiscales de la collecte de fonds au moyen du financement participatif. Les commentaires suivants r&eacute;sument les positions de l&#39;ARC sur le sujet.</p>

<p class="p1">The spectre of &ldquo;non-lawyers&rdquo; owning equity in law firms has led some practitioners to express grave concerns about the survival of our ethical standards, and about the wisdom of allowing &ldquo;non-lawyers&rdquo; to deliver legal services at all. Before we can dive too deeply into these questions, we need to step back and look at the bigger picture.</p>

<p class="p1">How often do we hear commands like &ldquo;innovate or die&rdquo; outside of the legal industry?&nbsp;</p> <p class="p2">Product companies and even other professional services firms are asked &ndash; perhaps even required &ndash; to &ldquo;innovate,&rdquo; largely in deference to the healthy paranoia they recognize drives all great businesses to higher levels of success. The legal industry, however, is in the very early stages of experimenting with innovation. Professional services firms in general hate to invest ahead of revenue as compared with their product company brethren. And to the extent that real innovation necessitates what are viewed to be distracting allocations of capital, law firms have been loath to do much of it.</p>

<p class="p1">There continues to be a lot of discussion about changes facing the legal industry, many of which are long overdue, but perhaps not welcome. Not only are clients putting pressure on lawyers to find suitable alternatives to the billable hour, but they are also seeking changes in how services are managed, delivered and benchmarked, including pushing for implementation of performance metrics.</p>

<p>Many Canadian taxpayers spend most of their lives working hard to accumulate sufficient savings to permit them to live a comfortable lifestyle during their retirement years. At age 65, when they can start benefitting from Canada&rsquo;s social programs, they often find themselves with an effective marginal tax rate of 50% on their taxable income. When combined with the Old Age Security (OAS) recovery tax, rates can reach 55%.</p>

<p>Le pr&eacute;sent article est le premier d&rsquo;une s&eacute;rie de quatre qui examineront les incidences en mati&egrave;re d&rsquo;imp&ocirc;t sur le revenu canadien et am&eacute;ricain lorsqu&rsquo;un employ&eacute; d&rsquo;une entit&eacute; canadienne est envoy&eacute; pour travailler temporairement aux &Eacute;tats-Unis. Ce premier article met l&rsquo;accent sur l&rsquo;importance de l&rsquo;&eacute;tablissement de la &laquo;&nbsp;r&eacute;sidence&nbsp;&raquo; aux fins de l&rsquo;imp&ocirc;t sur le revenu des particuliers. Les prochains articles traiteront des obligations fiscales des particuliers selon les diff&eacute;rentes d&eacute;terminations de statut de r&eacute;sidence, du concept de p&eacute;r&eacute;quation des imp&ocirc;ts, des questions relatives &agrave; la paie et des questions fiscales des soci&eacute;t&eacute;s.</p>

<p>Canadian-controlled private corporations earning business income can enjoy significant tax advantages.</p> <p><strong>Small business deduction</strong></p> <p>The small business deduction is the most significant advantage. The federal tax rate on the first $500,000 of business net income is reduced to 11 per cent from a general rate of 15 per cent. In addition, all provinces assess a general business tax rate ranging from 10 to 16 per cent, depending on the province. Each province also provides a significant rate reduction on the first $500,000 of business income (with the exception of Manitoba and Nova Scotia, which have lower thresholds).</p>

Whether as a result of family background, friendships, or serving clients belonging to that industry, it is essential that an industry group leader be familiar with the industry at least at a basic level. Over time, both the industry group leader and the industry group will acquire much greater knowledge about the industry, but starting from zero makes no sense. Most typically, the industry group leader would act for a signature client who belongs to that industry.

<p>Even though Canada does not have an inheritance tax, a significant and unexpected tax liability can be left behind by a farmer at death without proper planning and preparation.</p>

<p>From time to time, many Canadians find themselves considering a permanent move to the United States. Whether it is a business executive seizing an extraordinary career opportunity or a retired entrepreneur simply in search of warmer climates, it is important to understand the tax implications that may result.</p>