What makes an expense deductible? According to the CRA, any expense incurred to operate a business is deductible. The amount must be "reasonable" in the circumstances. For example, if your business pays your spouse a salary that is greater than what you may have paid to a person not related to you, this greater amount may be considered "unreasonable". There are many restrictions on what and how much you may deduct, consult us if you have any doubts about a deduction.
Why do I need to keep a log of my kilometers driven? You need to keep a log of kilometers driven because you can only deduct the "business use" portion of your automobile expenses. Remember to keep track of total kilometers driven too. The best way to keep a log is every time you get into the car make an entry in the log of where you are going, where you have been and the kilometers driven. In addition, if CRA ever has a query about your automobile expenses you have the proof for what you claimed as "business use" of the automobile. No proof... no deduction.
What can I write off for home expenses? For home expenses to be deductible, they must meet one of two tests. First, the workspace is the chief place where your business is carried out. You may fulfill contracts at your customer locations, but your main business functions, i.e., bookkeeping, purchasing, etc., are done in your home office. Second, You may also qualify if the workspace is used exclusively to carry out your business activities. In addition to these activities, you must use the space on a regular and continuous basis for meeting clients or other associated with your business. In the CRA's opinion, infrequent meetings or frequent meetings at irregular intervals are not regular and continuous.
What bookkeeping and accounting software are you familiar with? As a team, we know all of the most commonly used bookkeeping software such as QuickBooks, MYOB and Peachtree. If you have other software that you would like us to work with we will quickly train our staff to work with your software. Since our staff is familiar with a wide range of accounting software, they can learn your specific software in a matter of days and at no cost to you.
How do we get our accounting / bookkeeping source information to you? You can scan/fax/email or upload your source documents (invoices, receipts, bills). We can also arrange to have your information picked up at your location.
I have bookkeeping software at my office and I want to use it. How would your work in this situation? One of the options we have with working with you is to log onto your computer. We can use a secure software service to login to your computer and do the bookkeeping entries right on your PC. Your source documents can be uploaded from your PC as well.
How secure is our bookkeeping information? We do not use the old paper based methods where your information could be at a desk or at an unlocked file cabinet. We use a secure encryption technology. You use the same technology for doing your online banking with any of the major banks. It is secure and dependable and you can be assured that you are the only one who has access to your confidential information.
Do you work with small companies? Absolutely, we work with small and medium-sized companies from various industries.