Workers include all full and part-time employees, casual or seasonal labour, family members and anyone else you pay for working on your farm. If you have employees, there are certain things to keep in mind. You must register with the Canada Revenue Agency and calculate and withhold monthly source deductions from your employees’ gross wages. Remitting the source deductions must be done on a timely basis or you could face late filing penalties and interest. T4s must be issued to your employees each year and also filed along with the T4 Summary to the CRA by the last day of February.

On November 7, 2013, Ontario’s Finance Minister announced proposed measures which if enacted will ultimately increase the tax on non-eligible dividends. This will be achieved by maintaining the non-eligible dividend tax credit rate of 4.5% and then calculating the Ontario surtax on higher income earners before the application of dividend tax credits (currently, the surtax is applied after deducting certain non-refundable credits including dividend tax credits).

Too much success may be bad for your company's health. Is it possible for a company to have too much success? Can it have too much new business, sales figures that are too high, and a bottom line that is too good for the health of the company?

For many entrepreneurs who want to set up their own business, getting started includes digging deep into personal bank accounts and possibly taking on a second mortgage for start-up financing.

Most Canadian employees have at least a general understanding of employment insurance (EI) benefits. Employees pay into employment insurance with each paycheque and can claim EI benefits if they lose their jobs. Most are aware also that any employment or self-employment income earned while collecting EI benefits can reduce or even eliminate the benefits.

Branding reaches us starting at a very early age. We identify brands at a glance. The competition for our attention is critical.

The first time I heard Richard Susskind speak was at a Canadian Bar Association conference in Montreal in 2007. That was also the first time I heard one of the best parables about professional services ever told.

If you are like most law firms, you have a CRM – Customer Relationship Management system – in place. A CRM is more than a glorified Rolodex or database. The purpose of a CRM is to help your lawyers, marketing and business development personnel, PR team, and support staff manage interactions with current and future clients in the hopes of increasing your client base and, ultimately, profits.

Many law firm retreats and workshops include breakout groups for the purpose of acting as brain trusts for the firm and conceiving options and alternatives that are actionable. The Achilles' heel for many such breakout groups is that they may be led by a lawyer who has no idea as to the subtleties of facilitation. Following a few guidelines can increase the effectiveness of breakout groups at retreats and workshops.

For some time now, Tech Central has encouraged lawyers to embrace technological advancements to enhance their practices. We’ve discussed social media, infographics, blogging, and much more. Obviously, being “connected” is essential for these opportunities; laptops, smartphones and tablets are becoming integral components of legal practice. And we see increasing numbers of apps and programs designed specifically to service lawyers in this regard. Here are a few notable ones that have caught our eyes.

This technical bulletin covers the various developments from July to September 2013. Collins Barrow regularly publishes Technical Bulletin for the general interest of its clients and friends to highlight the continually changing accounting and assurance standards, and the interpretations thereof, in Canada.