TaxDetective®

Q&A Working Papers Best Practices Session #5 in the series

2012-02-08T18:12:00.000-08:00

First, I want to say thank you to all of the participants who shared their comments and questions during the sessions. I really appreciate the positive feedback and the cheering section. I love it and it definitely makes doing these sessions worthwhile! And a big thank you to Leslee who makes the whole thing such a hoot by visiting with me online prior to the start and provides such an uplifting introduction to set the tone! After five times, it feels like this has become a habit and I don't want it to stop. We're talking about the next workshop, so keep your ideas coming.

I hope that if you enjoyed the series, and you are a member, you'll consider purchasing the video series for $39.80 for all five, or $79.80 for all five if you aren't an IPBC member. Also don't forget to visit to access the free stuff the resources page. I loaded the *.QBB file, but you'll need 2012 loaded to restore it, and the PDF of the PowerPoint is now up there too.

The OneNote file is for sale and for members there's 10% off on your member page.

You can purchase your videos on DVD. Of course, I hope you know that you can burn your own DVD if your computer lets you, using Windows Explorer. But if that technology eludes you, I understand, as it took me a while to figure out how, I do provide that as a service and will mail you the DVD complete with a label burned on the front.

In no particular order as the questions seem to come out of the system in garbled order...here are the answers for today's sessions.

Q: How do I purchase the one session that I missed?
A: Go to the Partner page (click on the title above) and find the link to purchase, and there you will find the individual videos as well as the series is now posted for sale.

Q: Can you declare a dividend with negative equity?
A: No, and how much you can declare depends on your corporate law and your share structure. It's always best to check with your lawyer before declaring dividends and have your books drawn up to current to ensure that you aren't off-side

Q: What date should be used when auto-applying credits?
A: Credit application isn't dated separately. The effective date of the credit is the date of the deposit.

Q: How long with the Working Paper articles be available on your website?
A: Good question. Until I stop being the TaxDetective, or until someone buys the rights from me or until you forget the password to the Resource page? Being cheeky, but I have no intention of removing this resource page, but would recommend that you download those articles and save them on your own computer just in case I drop dead and my husband decides not to pay the bills.

Q: How often can you rebuild?
A: I have been told not to rebuild more than twice without checking with support as the more you rebuild, the more tangled up the file could get.

Q: I treat my bookkeeping files in a similar manner to my year-end working paper file, more work but leaves me with a comforting feeling.
A: I like your attitude.

Q: If you use a postscript on a name (e)(c)(v)(o) is there a way of not having this postscript show if you print a cheque or invoice?
A: Yes, just edit the Customer or Vendor information in the Edit screen to change what prints / shows on screen

Q: Is there a summary of best practices for checking the data file?
A: I gave you one screen of info, and if you want more, buy my ten part video series on how to Master QuickBooks Software available for sale on my website. If you are an IPBC member, access the special pricing page through the link on the Partner page on the IPBC website, just make sure you log in first, as it's half price. Where else can you get 20 hours of training for $9.95 per hour? And 30% of the proceeds go to IPBC.

Q: Intuit advises to include all Inactive Customers/Vendors/Accounts/Items before re-sorting
A: I agree and I've had trouble with inactive names on lists so I prefer not to inactivate in the first place as I remember having issues way back. *I've been at this for a while in case you haven't guessed that.

Q: Just wondering why you have some names starting with and _Underscore
A: I use _NAME to accent which of my names are in USD

Q: Regarding use of ?Vendor, I have put a transaction to Suspense until I find out what it is. Then if I reconcile the bank and later find the answer, I have found that if I put ? Vendor and then go to change it, it unreconciles the transaction. How do you get around this?
A: Sometimes when you change the transaction it will unreconcile it, and you'll have to re-reconcile to get back to where your opening balance is what it's supposed to be.

Q: How do you treat cash over/short?
A: I said that's a whole session on it's own. In part because how to treat petty cash and floats is a whole topic all on it's own that I could spend an hour on. To answer your question, I would treat the daily cash count as being over/short when there is excess or short float, and always bring the float back to what your flat amount is for the float. Now your float may go up and down over your seasons or your days, depending on your business, but keeping your float as a fixed amount, even if it's a floating fixed amount, will help you to determine what is over/short. That amount should be expensed and watched and if it's consistently short or over, investigated. If you want a private consult on how to handle money in your business, I can be tricked into a consult, but I do charge by the hour.

Q: Thank you, Thank you, no more monthly envelopes
A: I love your attitude!

Q: Retained earnings, adjustments for prior years..
A: There should never be anything posted directly to Retained Earnings. All adjusting entries should adjust to show that the books and records tie to the tax return. Otherwise, when you are audited, how will the auditor begin to audit your books if they don't tie to what was filed? That's why we do adjusting entries line by line to income statement lines and balance sheet lines. We don't just amend Retained Earnings and call it good. Sorry, not going to cut it in an audit.

Q: What if you have clients who want to sort their files according to expense categories?
A: The way that growing business's sort purchases shows their intention to grow. If they sort by expense category, they have no intention of growing their business. If they sort alphabetically, the system will grow with them, as fast as they grow, and it won't stop them from finding something quickly. Ask them how they are going to sort a receipt that has three or four different categories on it, and how will they reconcile their accounts, or find the transaction slip again when they need it without paying your an exorbitant amount per hour to hunt through all of their paperwork to find the paper they need.

Q: Instead of using a Clearing Account instead of Suspense, why not just post things you don't understand to the Owner's or Shareholder's Draw account?
A: Because anything posted to those accounts should also be approved before it is posted there. Shareholder debit balances result in S. 80.4 deemed interest benefits so you don't want to be posting things to those accounts without approval.

Q: Just a suggestion but next time do 1.5 hours instead of an hour as this was too short
A: There are varying schools of thought about the attention span of both children and adults when it comes to learning. We decided two hours was too long, and now there are some who feel an hour is too short. You're right, the hour whizzed by today. I couldn't believe how fast it went.

Q: When naming how do you differentiate payments to Receiver General?
A: If you look at the various modules, they will each put out a different type of payment screen with the payment produced by the module. Sales taxes, payroll, but Income Tax doesn't have a module. You could set up a separate Receiver General-Income Tax vendor name to differentiate. Just don't fiddle around with the vendor set up of the Sales Tax module as if you do, it can terminate the whole GST/HST Payable account and establish a new one, cutting you off in mid-period or whenever you adjust it. I did that recently by mistake and was thankful I'd taken a backup before I fiddled with it.

Q: Where is there help on defrag?
A: Check with your computer maintenance people, or your local computer geek

Q: I had an employee repay an expense by personal cheque. Using the deposit feature there is no name on the entry.
A: Not true, there is a name on the Deposit window, but when the employee repays an expense, you must invoice them and add the tax as it's reimbursed expenses. You get the ITC and they pay again. This means setting up the employee as a Customer (c) and then you can use the Payment window to offset the invoice with the Payment.

Q: Why in some cases does a name not show up in the GL when the source is the General Journal?
A: If you don't put the name on all the lines of the entry it won't show up in the GL where it isn't on that line.

Q: How do you record bank charges using names if you don't use the general journal?
A; Set up TD Bank Charges (o) as your name and then key it into your register directly to bank service charges. It will show up as a Write Cheque rather than a journal entry.

PSB's Game Over Click here for the story

2012-02-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Not sure what a PSB is or why you should care? CRA has done a really great job of hiding any useful information and if you search their website, you won't find anything that even remotely uses these words... Personal Services Business doesn't turn up anything on the CRA search engine.

But type it into my website search box and you'll find all kinds of useful links:

http://www.taxdetective.ca/psb.html

Matching sales and COGS

2012-02-04T10:14:00.000-08:00

In my complimentary links found under the links tab you'll find instructions about how to access the Justice Minister's website to access the Income Tax Act. If you want to read S. 18 to see what I'm muttering on about below, you'll find instructions on how to access the Income Tax Act (ITA) yourself for free on the complimentary links page.

General deductibility of expenses is covered in S. 18 of the ITA and matchability is covered in S. 18.1 of the ITA and by the way, this is the section where you find the limitations on personal services business epxenses in S. 18(1)(p). You can't deduct an expense except where it's made for the purpose of earning revenue and the revenue is reported. If the revenue isn't yet reported, either the revenue must be accrued, or the expense deferred. The opposite can also be true, where revenue is reported, but expenses haven't yet been expensed, and could be accrued if known, reasonable, etc.

In the accounting world there is significant work being undertaken to determine appropriate methods under IFRS. Both the CGA Canada Magazine and The Journal of Accountancy have recent articles about revenue recognition. I've put links to these articles and to the IFRS on my resources page for the series of workshops on working papers I'm currently presenting for IPBC. If you want those resources, or copies of the recording of those five weeks (ends this Wednesday) go to the www.ipbc.ca partner tab and look for my name. Instructions on accessing the correct page to purchase the product is found there.

In my workshop last week I got the feeling from the questions being asked there is significant stress around the recognition of revenue, in understanding how to either accrue or defer, both on the revenue and on the expense side of the equation.

Who did you pay fees for service to in 2011?

2012-02-03T10:25:00.000-08:00

Fees for service reporting is under review by Finance and CRA. This Federal Budget Q&A page hints at changes but this instruction page provides some comfort you won’t be penalized…yet, for failing to comply. If in doubt, review the instructions: or contact Trust Compliance by contacting CRA.
There's change in the wind. Have you heard a rumor that fees for service will be required to be reported on a T4A yet? It was considered in the Federal Budget and CRA has a Q&A page that outlines their thoughts prior to a review, which has yet to be completed.

In preparation for change, in 2011 T4A Box 048 was added, breaking out from Box 028 what was always a bit confusing as it encompassed a number of types of income. We're advised that until the review is complete, no one will be penalized for not complying with the reporting requirements that are under consideration.
I suspect that this reporting of fees for service won't include your hair salon payments or your car repairs, but will likely include payments you make from your business accounts to people who provide a combination of services and goods to your business, similar to the reporting requirements for construction work currently in place on a separate form.

So if you hire someone to fix your computer, maintain your property, clean your house and you have a home office,in essence everyone who is self-employed, not corporate, you'll be required to report how much you paid them net of GST/HST.

Between this reporting, and capturing all of the potential payments to the other major underground economy, in the form of the arts and fitness credits for children, CRA will be taking another major swack at whittling away at the viability of remaining in the underground economy.

What I find sad about the underground is that once you're there, it's so hard to climb out, and it's next to impossible to grow your business to succeed as that will attract too much notice. It's like being labelled as the welfare cousin. Everyone wants to make sure you're ok because it's in their best interest in some twisted way, but they know they are keeping you in check because you can't ever truly compete for a share of the market. Except that's a fallacy because the underground is a huge share of the market, it's just made up of so many tiny parts.

Revenue recognition

2012-02-02T13:43:00.000-08:00

It appears that revenue recognition is up for discussion by the CICA who publishes the CICA Handbook aobut how we're supposed to account.

As this topic came up during the working paper series this week, under the discussion about matching sales and cost of sales (COGS) I thought I'd throw this into the mix...

Not only does the Income Tax Act address revenue recognition but so does the CICA Handbook.

http://www.acsbcanada.org/documents-for-comment/item55545.pdf

Q&A Week #4

2012-02-02T12:36:00.000-08:00

If you missed this series, at the end of the next session, you will be able to purchase the entire set of five episodes online at my website store. www.taxdetective.ca/shop.html You'll also find the set of ten videos, two hours each, a total of 20 hours of online training to Mastering QuickBooks Software produced for IPBC last spring.

If you are an IPBC member, access the member discount page on my website via log-in to the www.ipbc.ca website, go to the Partner page for Eileen Reppenhagen, CGA to link directly to several pages with 50% discounts on videos recorded by IPBC and more of my products at a 10% discount for members.

The OneNote sample file is available for sale at a 10% discount for members along with the series at 50%.

Q: Do you recode COGS to Expense once Revenue is recognized?
A: COGS is a type of expense. We separate COGS and put it below Revenue/Sales to record a net of Sales less COGS and we call that Gross Profit. We like to do analysis of what that Gross Profit Margin is over months/years to determine if the profit is reasonable compared to other business's in the same industry, as well as between periods for our own business. What I think this person was asking is do you reverse out the deferral of COGS as a Deferred Expense on the Balance Sheet once the Revenue is recognized? Yes you would. This question was asked while we were discussing Accruals and Deferrals in relation to revenue recognition.

Q: Honestly I think meals could be its own course.
A: Thanks for the humorous commentary. Yes, meals could be a separate course. And if you look further down this blog, in the past few posts, you'll find several postings that lead to information on my website about meals, and there's a post about chocolate too.

Q: Clarification: Do you ignore GST/HST when accruing or deferring expenses or revenue for Sales/COGS at period end?
A: Yes, GST/HST is required to be posted on the date of the issuance of the Invoice or the Bill.

Q: One of my clients often doesn't invoice for several weeks after the job is done and the costs have been received and recorded already. This often straddles a year end.
A: It's necessary under accrual accounting (which is required by the Income Tax Act) to record revenue even though it's not yet invoiced. Either that or the costs must be reversed out to be matched to the revenue when it's recorded. There are special rules about Work In Progress and that's beyond the scope of this exercise, but the matching principal of matching revenue and expenses prevails because the Income Tax Act requires GAAP and revenue recognition is an accounting principle we rely on.

Q: How do you record meals during the year?
A: I record meals at 100% and then at year end, as allowed by special dispensation in the GST/HST documentation, I make an adjustment to remove the personal portion of the expense on the tax return as an adjustment, and I record that same adjustment on proprietor's books, but on corporate books, I'd leave it in, and I would adjust to remove a portion of the GST/HST that matches the personal portion of meals. For the proprietor, I'd record that to proprietor's draws and for the business, I'd record it as an expense that is added back on the T2S(1) as non deductible along with the 50% (or whatever % if it's trucking)

Q: Could you just create a deferred revenue Item?
A: This was in reference to recording the invoice, then creating an adjustment at year end. Yes, you could go straight to deferred rather than recording revenue and reversing it. Depends on how much you know at the time. You would still record the GST/HST at the date of the invoice.

Q: Would you record salaries under other income if it is a regular salary on payroll for management? Wouldn't it be part of regular operating expenses of running the business as opposed to irregular draws?
A: First of all, there is no such thing as a draw. All withdrawals from the company are either payroll and should be treated as such, or they are repayments of shareholder loans and have nothing to do with the income statement. Second, it's a matter of presentation style, and of comparative analytical value as to where you record management salaries. All I was doing was presenting the notion that removing the management salaries from the Operating Expenses section of the Income Statement could be a valuable comparative tool for analysis of the business at period end.

Q: Would you do this even in a compilation engagement?
A: I think this question related to Sales /COGS matching and would you care whether sales and COGS were matched in a compilation. My answer to all queries about preparation of tax working papers is that there is no differentiation by the Income Tax Act about what level of completion is required for tax. It's necessary to comply with the ITA no matter what, and there is nothing in the ITA about materiality consideration. What is in the ITA is consideration of reasonability of the profit. Reasonability analysis of profit should involve matching of Sales and COGS as a bare minimum and you will find that auditors will require matching in order to ascertain that all sales are recorded and that costs are for revenue booked.

Q: Isn't claiming CCA on building and land have a minus side when property is sold?
A: This question related to the removal of NBVNBV and Selling costs separately under a major category of Gain/Loss in order to separate out the component parts required to report for tax purposes on a S3 or S6 capital/gain loss and also for the UCC schedules to record Proceeds up to Cost to calculate terminal loss or recapture or amend the UCC of a pool. Yes, if you have claimed CCA for taxes/Amortization on the books it will reduce your NBV or your ACB for tax and those may require analysis and reconciliation during the working paper process in order to file tax returns

Q: If the corporation owes the shareholder, do you still have to pay back the loan or can you enter it as a repayment to shareholder loan?
A: I was talking about where there is a debit balance in the shareholder loan account, this would be where the shareholder owes the corporation, not the other way around.

Q: I've had accountants tell me to leave the meals at 100% on the books but they change that on the tax return only.
A: That's because corporations can still expense the 50% for business on the financial statements, there's just a permanent difference between retained earnings for accounting and retained earnings for tax as a result. Same goes for the personal portion of the GST/HST on those meals. It's expensed, not a shareholder loan.

Q: Please explain in more detail why under a compilation engagement it would be our responsibility?
A; I think this person is wondering about why they would need to do analysis when a compilation isn't supposed to require such analysis. Actually, it's necessary to decide if the statements are reasonable in the circumstances before affixing your name to a compilation. That's one reason to care. Then, there's the Income Tax Act, and the engagement to prepare a tax return, which is not the same as a compilation engagement. A compilation engagement is the preparation of the financial statements. The preparation of a tax return isn't the same engagement. When you are engaged to complete a tax return, there's a whole different set of rules that kick in. The Income Tax Act takes over and that is the law you have to look to. Take a look at S. 9 through 20 of the ITA, and S. 18.1 talks about the definition of 'matchable expenditures'.

Q: I've had accountants record the CCA and ignore accounting depreciation, is that common?
A: Yes, for compilations it isn't necessary to follow GAAP completely, so accountants will record the tax entries as there's no reason to differ the expense recognition from that set out as being the common recognition of decay in value over time from that set out in the ITA.

Q: Your year end entries reminded me of a regular issue I have. I deal with a lot of classes. The classes are ongoing year over year. At the end of each year I clear the classes to liability to Deferred Revenue and reverse the following year.
A: Check out the capability for QuickBooks to report Balance Sheets by Class in v 2012 and I think you may find it isn't necessary to make those entries.

Q: Please explain the difference between accrued revenue and deferred revenue.
A: I would accrue revenue if there was a way to estimate it and it made sense to include it in the current year. I would for example, accrue rent earned to date of death even though not yet received under S. 70(1)(a). I would defer revenue if it related to a future period, it something was prepaid and met the criteria for deferral because it was unearned. A deferred amount is defined by the ITA in S. 248(1) and there's a reserve for Unearned commissions in S. 32 or where services are not rendered, S. 12(1)(e) and 20(1)(m). These are essentially termed reserves and you'll find a whole half page of different types of reserves for goods not delivered, guarantees, warranty, undelivered, unearned, unpaid, unrealized in the Index to the Income Tax Act. You might also accrue or defer expenses and set up reserves for example, for expected claims when there's been a damage to something but that claim won't be settled for many years.

Q: Is there a new field in QuickBooks report to help us calculate the GST/HST adjustment for meals or vehicle personal portion?
A: Yes, and if the transaction detail report doesn't include that choice in the columns, for Sales Tax Code and for Sales Tax Amount, create a Custom Transaction Detail report under the Report Menu drop down to find the full selection of column choices from which you can then filter to Total By or Sort By

Q: When the accountant puts in the year end accrual and then the actual bill is received in the following year, do we (bookkeepers) reverse the accrual in the following year and then record the actual bill?
A: Yes, that's exactly what you would do.

Q: Why doesn't the tax software calculate the 50% of the Meal?
A: It can calculate the 50% amount instead of the 100% amount if you want to make the time to set up the Sales Tax module to make that happen. I prefer not to do that as I'd rather reconcile it at the end of the year. If it isn't always handled consistently it makes it more difficult and time consuming to check the work. My preference is to always record 100% and do the work once at the end of the year, rather than having to check through each entry during the year at the end of the year to see whether or not each transaction was calculated correctly.

Marion is a Speech Language Pathologist with a home office

2012-01-31T11:49:00.001-08:00

Marion loves what she does, and that she can be home when Emma gets home from school... Click on the title to read the story.

Q&A Week 3 Working Papers: Mastering QuickBooks Software

2012-01-30T16:10:00.000-08:00

Click on the title to register for Week #4

Here are the questions from Week #3

Q: Ongoing dilemna regarding professional judgement..client hands me a receipt that has some sor tof business expense written on it.. because I know the client, I know it's a personal expense...how do I handle this? Just go with what's written on the receipt? It's such a grey area..
A: Highly recommend several activities to help with ethical dilemnas like this one. One, take an ethics course, CGA BC offers them. Two. Read the IC-01 about Civil Penalties on the CRA website and learn about the penalties for ignoring what you know. After you've read that guide, consider the penalties for ignoring that niggling feeling that you should know better, the minimum fine is $1,000 and the maximum is $100,000. I found it makes it much easier for me to listen to my gut when I know my pocketbook could be affected directly.

Q: Can you show how you will tie your ADJ TB references into the OneNote file?
A: I would include the ADJ Trial Balance references on the WTB (Working Trial Balance) in QuickBooks and then include a copy of the WTB in the OneNote file

Q:Can you sort to find transactions dated for a prior yearend, but entered after a specific date in the year year?
A: Yes, by adding an Entered/Last Modified column to the detailed transaction report, then filtering the Report Date Range for last year and then Sorting by Entered/Last Modified

Q: Do we need to do a working paper for each account?
A: Yes, probably a good idea, and even for accounts for which there is a nil balance beginning and ending, as there may be transactions that went through the account and those may be important. One example, might be where a Deposit is received from a customer and it's coded to a Clearing Account. Then the Deposit is paid out to the Shareholder directly, without any transaction recorded or reporting a dividend payout. (Ugly coyote, very fraudulent)

Q: Eileen mentioned 2 courses, Auditing, aka external audit firms do this type of audit and Internal Audit, aka Management Auditor audit internally for effectiveness and/or efficiency. Can she list typical places where these courses are available for bookkeepers who aren't accounting students as in CA, CGA, CMA?
A: Your local college will have equivalency courses.

Q: I perform a number of new QuickBooks setups annually, typically with similar GL's. Is there any suggestion on how to bring in the customized/memorized report list to the new install re Lead Sheets, Ledgers Reports, Mgmt Reports Etc.?
A: Go to the MemRep List. Select the MemRep you want to export. Go to the bottom of the list and select Memorized Report dropdown menu. Select Export Template, name it and save. Open the new data file, go to the MemRep List and Import Template. Edit the Template to ensure it's compatible.

Q: In the P&L report, double clicking on the total provides a more detailed report, showing debits and credits which is a fast way to see if something is posted backwards
A: Same with any account or category on any Summary report, such as the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Customer Receivables, Payables. But.. that report doesn't give you as many options to add columns or to filter as does the Custom Reports > Custom Transactions Detail. You'll find Custom reports on the drop down of Reports on the top menu bar. That report opens you up to all the possibilities that exist. Drilling down only provides some of the functionality.

Q: What do you do if a company starts as a sole proprietor then gets incorporated? Do you have to do a different company when incorporated?
A: Great question, in fact, I'd say it's the best of the day. Yes, it's absolutely essential to start a new business and and a new general ledger, as well as to register for a new BN #, WCB #, Payroll & GST/HST, etc. A company is a separate legal entity. When the sole proprietorship winds down, they must sell their assets, net of their liabilities, if they choose, to the new company. There is the possibility to roll the assets, net of payment for those assets, plus taking back shares, tax free via a S. 85 rollover and that requires a written contract between the sole proprietor and the company. This isn't something that you just do, this is something you pay an expert in this area of taxation to do, as not doing it right can cost big. For example, if you didn't sell the goodwill of the business and take back shares and boot (debt) there could be a significant problem down the road should the goodwill grow and the company never bought it at the beginning.

Q: Which Item Type would you use for COGS/Revenue?
A: You could use any or all of the types. It depends on what you are doing. There are various types and you might use any one of them, depending on how you wanted your reporting to look. Try out some different types to see what the reporting looks like by going to the Report drop down menu and selecting Jobs, Time & Mileage reporting, and open up the Sales by Item Profitability reporting. Remember that you have to record the Customer Name on the Purchases to get this type of reporting to work (I know it's not logical, and if you don't know the customer name, make up a fake one and use it on the Purchases in the Item side of the Tabs to get the reporting to work)

Q: If the bookkeeper provided the working papers, would it be reasonable to expect some savings for the client on the accountant's year end fees?
A: You'd think so, but I doubt it, as the accountant still has to review all the work, and that still takes time. It helps the bookkeeper and the business to ensure they have done everything possible to reduce the accountant's time though, and provides a level of assurance that to the best of their ability they have done everything possible to reduce costs.

Q: You were going to explain Name and Source Name and why you need both
A: The Source Name is the name of the Vendor on a Bill. When you assign a Customer to that cost, you'll find that the reporting picks up the Customer name in the Name field. If there's no Customer name included in the Bill on the cost line, then the default is to report the Name as the same as the Source Name. See the Q&A above discussing the use of Item Profitability and why it's required to allocate costs to customers in order for the Item Profitability and Job Profitability by Customer reporting to work. If your costs of goods sold have all been assigned to Customer Names, then you'll find that the Item Profitability and the Job Profitability reports agree to the Income STatement Revenue less COGS (Net Profit before Expenses) but only if you used Forms and on those Forms utilized the Items side of the tabs to record the COGS.

How to be a 'Paper Angel' for your parents

2012-01-29T08:27:00.000-08:00

Concerned about your parents and how you could help with downsizing?

Click here to see 24 fillable forms and be sure to flip through the pages...

Purchase the Word Fillable forms for $3.95 plus tax

The forms are delivered in two versions, Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 (.doc and .docx) and the 2007 versions works in Microsoft Word 2010.

Paper Angels

2012-01-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

When I explain to people that I'm writing this book about how to organize your paper, each person I tell, in turn tells me about how there is someone they are close to who is struggling with the process of doing exactly that, taking over the financial affairs or becoming concerned about the financial affairs of a senior who is close to them.

It may be mom and dad who are just not as competent as they once were, or it could be the spouse who cared about the finances in the couple has developed early onset dementia, or it's the widow struggling to take on the finances after a lifetime of being looked after in that way.

My municipality, Delta, BC has a program called "Snow Angels" where seniors can call in if they need their snow shovelled if there's a storm. An army of volunteers signed up to help, but reports from the recent snow fall were that seniors who had signed up almost all called in to say that someone was caring for their needs and the didn't require assistance. The volunteers weren't needed this time around.

I wonder if you created a program for seniors to help them to organize their paperwork, hence the "Paper Angels" to assist in the process of downsizing, would volunteers be met with the same resistance to assistance? Probably. Most seniors, until they can't do it for themselves, are likely to resist any efforts to assist them with their paper. They've after all handled it this far, no need to rock the boat.

But if you are one of the 'watch crew' monitoring how a senior is doing, one of the leading indicators may be that their tax return filing isn't being completed correctly. And these days, CRA is more likely to catch that than it ever was before as their programs to cross check the TSlips to the income reported are much more vigilant than they used to be. The Auditor General in Canada brought to the CRA's attention that there wasn't enough cross checking, especially on slips like T3's. That's probably been rectified by now, and combine that with some pretty stiff penalties for not reporting your income, and the senior in your life may get a notice that their bank is being garnisheed for some pretty substantial coin, and not just for tax not paid, but based on 20% of income not reported.

Why would they care if income wasn't reported, even if there is no tax owing? Because both federal and provincial social benefit programs, for example OAS, GIS, Pharmacare, Medical Services Plan, all have substantial programs to assist low income seniors and the threshold is based on the calculation of net income.

Where would you start? Click here to see what the forms look like!

I'm writing a story to show how it's possible. It's in re-write mode at the moment, so you'll have to wait. If you need to get started right now, some tools to assist you to organize the paper. I sell a starter kit of 24 checklists in Word Fillable Format, for $3.95 plus tax. You can enter information into the Word form, save it, then call it up later to add or edit the file. Create multiple files for you, your parents, your kids..

If you're in your 50's and have aging parents, or you're one of the aging parents, and you can use Word and know how to save a Word document, it's easy. If you aren't, you could print out the forms, and complete them by hand.
In either case, you'll need a banker's box, preferably one with a lid attached, or a plastic tub that holds legal size folders, plus a package of legal size folders to get started.

Complete the fillable forms, and while you're at it, start dredging up the paper to put it into the folders in the same order. By the time you're finished, you should have no paper left in all those nooks, crannies, drawers, cupboards and closets. There should be a pile of shredding, consisting of empty envelopes that every senior I've ever met seems to hoard. Lord knows why you would keep the envelopes for your bank statement instead of stapling everything together for the month and keeping it in a pile, flat, so you can sort through it easily to find something is quite beyond me. Included in that pile of shredding will likely be grocery lists, letters you don't want found when you die, hydro and telephone bills for many years prior, articles you thought you would respond to...and I could go on.

Why would you want to see those bank statements again? Several really great reasons. First, you want to check that all of your income has been reported,and the fastest way to ensure it's been captured is to make a list of your deposits during the year, documenting any deposits that aren't income as to the reason for the receipt. You'll need them if you're ever audited, or if you die, it will give your executor assurance that returns were filed correctly, so it's a great idea to keep them with your paperwork.

The second, is to check for medical expenses, as even if you don't have taxable income, if you do have some income from working, there is a significant, as in over $1,000 Refundable Medical Expense Supplement to claim per person for claiming medical expenses if you are a low income earner. Even if you don't pay tax, you should always keep your medical receipts, because in the year you die, you can claim back 24 months prior for medical expenses on your final return.

Be your own Paper Angel first, then start to help others if and when they ask for your assistance. Making the transition to old age, and not being able to care for your own financial transactions can be easier if you've got systems in place.

Working in 'what-if' land

2012-01-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Question: Eileen, a client ask me if we can estimate an corporate tax return. I told him that I have to do the bookkeeping to come up the numbers.
Answer:

To know enough, you'd need to really know your client, this couldn't be someone you have no idea about or about their business or their knowledge of business and taxes.

If they wanted to come up with estimated numbers, you could run a return on an estimated basis to see how much tax would be owing, but of course you would want to ensure they signed off that this was not even an estimate it was a ‘what if’ scenario, based on the following assumptions and make them tell you the assumptions they used to arrive at the numbers.

I’d suggest you purchase the CGA Canada Public Practice Manual and look at the FOFI section for guidance on doing FOFI as there are two types. CGA BC also runs classes for a half day on practice management which include something on dealing with clients who want a 'what-if'.

FOFI is short for Future Oriented Financial Information (I was the contributor of this section of the CGA Canada manual many years ago now)

TurboTax Online Student WorkBook...if you want to learn about tax...

2012-01-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

The article is running today ( http://tinyurl.com/7sfrw52) in the North Shore News and should be picked up by the Coquitlam Now on Friday.

Working papers for compilations

2012-01-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

Question:
For notice to reader do we have to prepare working papers for all accounts or just the assets and liabiltiies. Do we have review the accounts. For notice to reader is just taking the numbers and putting in the financials format and not audited or verify.

Answer:
I know that there is always dissention about this topic. This is always the question, how much work is too much work? I'm going to answer it obliquely and hope you understand that there is a difference between doing work for tax and doing work for accounting.

If you are preparing a tax return, then you need to document your work for tax return preparation, it's not about the financial statements at all, it's about preparation of schedules, and the return(s).

There is always confusion about whether you are doing work for tax or work for financial statement preparation. I side with doing tax work, as that's what most clients are hiring you for, especially when it's compilation, as that's what will likely bite back if it's not done correctly. There is no test in the Income Tax Act for determination of materiality. That's an accounting test. In the Income Tax Act the test is reasonability and business purpose.

Ask any accountant and they will each have their own answer. Feel free to post yours below. I'd love to hear them.

Naming when using QuickBooks

2012-01-23T19:59:00.000-08:00

If you want transparency in your records, it's important to name every transaction and cross reference purchases of products that can be matched to jobs to cost of goods sold and expenses

Where appropriate naming the purchase to cross reference to the customer provides proof that your costs relate to jobs for which you've billed customers. There's nothing worse than someone wanting me to do their books and none of the job costs are cross referenced to customers.

Why would I say that? Well just maybe they didn't record all of their revenue and they don't want anyone looking too closely. I once had a client (former immediately, I will add) who informed me that they didn't bill out for jobs on certain days of the weeks, at least not on the books, so if they recorded the cost of those jobs and cross referenced to the customer, those customers wouldn't be on the books.

Another reason you want to match costs with sales is to check that you have billed out all of your costs to clients. I don't know how many times I've found customers don't bill out for all of their work. It's no wonder they don't make a profit.

Then there's costs that are accumulated in advance of billing and when there's a cut-off period, and those costs don't match to revenue, they must be adjusted out as costs for future matching. In other words, you don't get to claim those costs until you bill those customers.

The reverse works too, if you bill out in advance, and that revenue is not yet earned.

Just sayin' chocolate is consumable by humans...

2012-01-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Income tax rules about meals... more on that front..
Chocolate is a food, it's consumable by humans, therefore, giving chocolates falls under the meals and entertainment 50% deductible rules.

The only time something is considered Advertising and Promo, is when it's not consumable by humans. It's perfectly acceptable to give dog treats instead, and those, not consumable by humans, if they really were a reasonable expense, could be gifted as a promo item. However, to make them more acceptable, you might want to ensure they have some sort of reference to your company stamped on them, not just a bag of dog treats... as Advertising and Promo should be something that advertises your company, not the company whose product you are giving away.

That's why all those big companies give away mugs, hats, etc. with their company logo on it. They're pretty smart, they've figured out the rules and realized that chocolate isn't going to cut it, and they want to make what they do give away memorable and lasting. They don't want you consuming it, they want you wearing it, displaying it, so the longevity matters...

I don't know how often I run across new business owners who give away chocolate. It's just not the smartest move they could make, given the tax rules, but hey, I wouldn't turn it down, but don't expect me to display it, or keep it very long, or remember who gave it to me, because chocolate just doesn't have any of those qualities. Just sayin'

Meals & tips

2012-01-21T11:02:00.000-08:00

If there isn't documentation of who was there, what was discussed and the business reason for a meal, it's likely that if you can't remember or don't have it written down in your documentation/calendar/file somewhere...it's going to questioned and possibly denied by an audit.

It's necessary to keep the document that shows what you ate and drank, and the credit card slip that shows you paid for the meal. Both are actually the basis of a complete paper trail of your business expense.

Writing down who, what, and the business reason on the back of the receipt will provide you with the best paper trail possible, and doing it at the time means you don't have to rack your brain later to figure out who, what and why.

Tips are allowed to be claimed as long as they are reasonable of course, as are meals. Tips however, are not eligible for a claim for the ITC as the waitress isn't a registrant. It's necessary to segregate out the GST/HST paid on the receipt and claim only that amount when you file your GST/HST return.

QuickBooks List Sorting Tip

2012-01-20T17:13:00.000-08:00

If you want to sort your names list because it's out of order, Open a Write Cheque Form, click on the dropdown on the Payee Name then select Ctrl L and a Names List opens up.
At the bottom left corner of the names list you can click and select Sort List to return the list of Names to alphabetical order.

It reminds me of the 'Sorting Hat' in Harry Potter because it's secreted away so you have to know how to find it, and remembering what to click is a pain for those of us passing through menopause...

Isn't everyone at Intuit except Scott Cook under 40, and they don't wear progressive lenses and can still read small print. (LOL)... and they can remember stuff like this.

Why they can't just put the Names List on the List of Lists on the Menu Bar is quite beyond me.

Meals at 100%

2012-01-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

Someone recently told me that they have weekly meetings with all the staff and because everyone is there, they write off the meals. Something at the back of my brain objected to that claim.

See S. 67.1(2)(f) for limitation to six events per year

And.. if employees are being fed regularly and aren't contributing their fair share, there may be a taxable benefit called an empoyee fringe benefit that applies. Click here to see IT470 Employee Fringe Benefits for more information.

Session 2: Working Papers Series Q&A

2012-01-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

What an interesting session with great commentary and thoughtful questions. We covered starting up a working paper file in Microsoft OneNote, explored the 2012 Report Centre, then focused on creation of reports for Lead Sheets and the intricacies of Modifying and Memorizing reports, and ended with Grouping of reports to facilitate instant creation of a group of reports. Below are the Q&A.

Oh yes, forgot to mention it, but your homework is to read the second article on the Resources page before next Wednesday.

Q: Is a public accounting licence required to prepare and sign off on NTR statements:
A: Apparently not! I didn't know that you could sign off on NTRs if you weren't licenced, but apparently you can.

Rumour is that might change if there's a merger as the three bodies will pressure for a change to provincial/territorial and federal Companies Acts. See more on this question below. In no other profession can non professionals do work relating to the profession without anyone complaining.

Q: Are these webinars available on the IPBC website
A: No, they will be available for sale on my website. Link to my website via my Partner page (for member prices) on the www.ipbc.ca website home page or directly www.taxdetective.ca/shop.html (non member prices)

Q: At the end will you show examples of each of these categories under each tab?
A: I think this question relates to my commentary about the types of engagements, Draft for Management, NTR, Review and Audit. No, I don't have time to create working paper samples for each type. Anyone who wants to take that on as a rather ambitious project is welcome to do so and share with the others. I'll post a link and credits on the Resources page if anyone does that! Happy to share.

Q: Breaking Bad LOL
A: This was in response to my commentary that most of us are women in the bookkeeping industry and the role models TV is portraying these days about our industry involve women who are supporting a meth cook, and a motor cycle gang. Gemma plays the role of accountant as well as matriarch (sound familiar?) in Sons of Anarchy.

Q: Can we get a copy of this page to use as a reference?
Q: Will you be posting this to the website in the next few days?
A: The resource page has useful links and I will update it to include the OneNote PDF at the end of the series

Q: Can you not save the PDF under File: in QB instead of Emailing it to yourself?
A: Yes, thanks for pointing that out, I hadn't noticed File>Save as PDF, learned something from you today! That's why I do this!

Q: Can you show how to save a PDF to the OneNote page?
A: Showed how to attach a file to the page.

Q: Are copies of my PowerPoint available on my website?
A: Not yet, they will be on the resource page at the end. It's a work in progress, I add content as we go through the materials.

Q: Would you be willing to share a live copy of your OneNote file?
A: Not unless I was absolutely sure that it was secure. Louie P and I talked about that and decided it probably wasn't a good idea unless we had some technical assistance with ensuring it was secure.

Q: Great stuff Eileen! Is this file from MS OneNote going to be available on the IPBC website for downloading?
A: No, it will show up on the Resource page at the end of session 5. Have you read the articles yet? The first article provides a great way to review Lesson 2, as it walks you through the report modification process very thoroughly with snapshots along the way.

Q: OneNote package would be very nice as we could then open it and play around with how it actually works.
A: Start your own NoteBook and experiment. That's what I'm doing. I just figured out that this was a cool way to create paperless working papers two days before the first session. We're learning together.

Q: Is the QuickBooks Update button available in Excel 2007?
A: To explain, I was showing how the new report Update to Excel feature works between QuickBooks 2012 and Excel. You'd have to experiment to see if it works with 2007 or check with Intuit support, it's probably on their website support page somewhere. If not start a query in Live Community and see if anyone knows. Please report back to me and I'll let everyone know next week.

Q: I have been signing off on NTR's for 41 years, are you sure they are restricted in BC?
A: Turns out my assumption was not correct. There is nothing in the Companies Act in BC to restrict the preparation of NTR's to CA, CGA, CMA. Apparently, it's also possible to request under that Act to prepare an audit if you aren't licensed by your body to audit, and it's very rarely done. With the merger the three bodies coming together will likely press for NTRs to be added to the list of engagement types that are restricted to someone with a designation.

Q: I was told by a CGA practice reviewer that it isn't necessary to sign an NTR at all.
A: Don't know about that, but given anyone can prepare an NTR, that might well be the case. I am checking with CGA BC

Q: IF we make changes in QuickBooks, will the Excel report we save in OnNote be updated automatically?
A: No, it's necessary to facilitate the update either from the Excel end, or from the QuickBooks Update your spreadsheet end.

Q: IPBC provides its members with an engagement letter template for FS and T2
A: Yes, IPBC has a number of templates they have developed for members to access. If you are a member, check out the member templates on the www.ipbc.ca website.

Q: Are you sure the link is active (auto update) when you attach a file to OneNote?
A: Yes, when you attach a file, you are actually linking to the latest version of that file. Test it if you don't believe me.

Q: Where would you find the laws for the Province?
A: The www.CANLII.org website has all the laws for all the provinces and federal law as well as court cases. Each province will have it's own Companies Act. In BC, it isn't necessary to prepare financial statements for a company in certain circumstances, you can just prepare a tax return. I meant to mention that but the thought was fleeting and I moved on.

Q: Can you tell me how to create a new OneNote file when I have a file already?
A: Just add a new NoteBook, more than that, check out the Microsoft website for videos of how to use OneNote

Q: What is the acronym NTR?
A: Great question, NTR is Notice to Reader, and it's also called a Compilation Engagement. The terms are used interchangeably. This type of engagement has a standard that the work has not been reviewed or audited and has been compiled from what you were given. CGAs, CA's and CMAs have a standard that there must also be reasonability checkups and that we can't associate with a compilation which we believe would be false or misleading.

An NTR or Compilation isn't required to follow GAAP either, though if it would be misleading we can't associate. CGAs, CMAs and CAs have varying standards of care for preparation of NTRs and are required to have practice reviews by their associations to ensure that standard of care is maintained.

From a risk perspective, preparing statements and signing them can be a risky thing to do any time you don't know your client. Even though there isn't the same standard of care as a review or an audit, always ask yourself, do you want to be associated with these numbers, and what if someone sued because your name was on that page because they made a financial or other decision based on your signature being on that page, regardless of the type of engagement.

Ask yourself every time you sign, are you prepared to put out the deductible on your insurance? My deductible is $1000, what's yours? Do you know? And then, are you prepared to work with an insurance adjuster, doing exactly what they ask so as not to invalidate your insurance coverage to mitigate the circumstances, which may involve a settlement of some kind to make the problem go away to minimize damages?

Q: You can download a free program called DoPDF7 that functions as a printer. Your print your report, selecting P0PDF7 from your printer list to create a PDF report.
A: There are a number of PDF printers out there for free. QuickBooks comes with it's own PDF printer. I make no comment on your particular program as I haven't used it, but have used others, like CutePDF, but not for a few years, haven't needed to. I use SnagIt by www.techsmith.com and can turn anything into a PDF or any other file format. I pay for SnagIt and appreciate the program for many reasons as I use it to snag copy for articles and Procedure Manuals all the time. Couldn't live without it.

Q: You mentioned a 4th type of engagement?
A: Yes, I did. Draft for Discussion Purposes Only - Subject to Change. This is the type of engagement that you are preparing for internal management use.

See you all next week for round three. Remember, attending all five sessions entitles you to participate in the draw at the end for a one user, one year ProAdvisor licence and there are four of them available to be won.

Thanks for the prizes, Intuit Canada! www.proadvisor.ca to see what's included in a membership if you qualify for ProAdvisor status (payroll will be extra). Intuit will provide an equivalent if you don't qualify or you are already a ProAdvisor.

Videos from Session #1 and #2

2012-01-18T13:09:00.000-08:00

It's possible to purchase the videos from Working Paper series on my website in the shopping cart.
To access member prices login to the www.ipbc.ca website and find the Partner page for me, Eileen Reppenhagen, CGA, TaxDetective to obtain the link to purchase at member prices. Non members can also link to the shopping cart that way, or go directly to www.taxdetective.ca/shop.html to find the working paper series products page. You can use PayPal or Visa/Mastercard to pay online, or call me if you'd rather pay via credit card over the phone. 604-943-7414

All video sales have a responder so you will get an email immediately after purchase, directing you to Click here to download and SAVE your videos to your desktop. You can play them as many times as you like, there's no expiry date.

2012-01-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

Every accountant in the country probably just got a phishing message that could compromise their Twitter account.

If you click on a message that says

"you seen what this person is saying about you? and then there's a URL terrible things"

It comes as a direct message from someone you know who may not know they are sending this message.

Here's what to not do: Do not click to see what it is.

And here's what to do:

Change your Twitter password
Tell the person who sent it, look up their email and let them know they need to change their Twitter password as they have been compromised
Hopefully they aren't using the same password for Twitter that they use for everything else, because they should change all those passwords too.

News: IC99-1 on RDSP's just published

2012-01-13T11:53:00.001-08:00

Keeping up with tax changes.. to learn more follow What's New on the CRA website

2012-01-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Did you know that corporate and personal income tax rate changes in 2011 and 2012 affect how beneficial it is to pay dividends versus paying salary?

If you haven't considered those tax rate changes into your formula, you might be unpleasantly surprised to find that dividends aren't necessarily your best option, especially if you have a personal services business.

Long Haul Truckers meal deduction amount goes up to 80% (2011) from 75% (2010)

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/ddctns/lns206-236/229/trnsprttn/mp-lnghl-eng.html

CCA on manufacturing and processing equipment acquired after March 19, 2007 and before 2014 is straight line 50%, See Class 29 for details in the link below computers

If you purchased a computer after January 27, 2009, and before February 2011, the CCA class is Class 52, a temporary class which had accelerated CCA. After January 2011, it's Class 50, at 55%

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/slprtnr/rprtng/cptl/dprcbl-eng.html#class52

2011 is the first year you can claim Children's Art's Credit
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/ncm-tx/rtrn/cmpltng/ddctns/lns360-390/370/menu-eng.html

2012 is the first year you can claim the new Family Caregiver Amount, which is blogged about in earlier columns, and you need to get documentation confirming infirmity of spouses, children, relatives who are dependent before adjusting your TD1 with your employer to ensure you aren't paying too much tax during 2012.

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/fctshts/2011/m11/fs111122-eng.html

And in 2011, if you don't file your corporate tax returns electronically, there are penalties where revenue exceeds $1 Million and here's what's new for corporations;

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/crprtns/menu-eng.html?bsn

Are you hoping to learn how to use QuickBooks to create working papers?

2012-01-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Click here for the ten part series, 20 hours of training recorded in March 2011.

Then follow that up with the five part series, another 5 hours on how to develop a working paper 'work product'

... did you know that there is fierce competition among the various accounting bodies and publishers for working paper checklists, considered 'work product', and that working paper checklists are copyrighted material? For example, CGA Canada sells their Public Practice Manual online for $415.

What goes into the creation of working papers?
Education, knowledge, expertise, training, experience, blood, sweat and tears, hours and hours of reconciling accounts, vendors, customers, payroll, compliance with taxes, until it's right...and a significant dose of professional judgement

Click here to learn more about the working paper series

and learn how you could link your QuickBooks reports via Excel into Microsoft OneNote to create paperless working paper files to save to a PDF.

Audience Appreciation

2012-01-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

Thank you for the many encouraging remarks in the survey for the first in the working paper series.
...by way of explanation about the incomplete data file:

Comment: "I felt that perhaps the presenter was a bit unprepared because the QB file wasn't completed fully enough to allow a straightforward presentation of a topic"

I'd like to think of this working paper series as Art reflecting Life.

Of course the file wasn't complete, that was on purpose. To tell a story it's necessary to have not only the scene, the characters, but to have obstacles to overcome so you can make a point...the moral of the story is... There's no story without obstacles and there's really no need for working papers if the data is already perfect.

In the business of keeping records, whether you call that bookkeeping or accounting, I don't care what you call it, nothing is straightforward, and it's never completely finished until well after either the person or the company is dead, as much as several or even more years. If you're looking for an occupation where there's a finished product you hang on the wall, keep looking, this isn't it.

And much more about appreciation

...for those of you who said that I'm really easy to listen to, that the first workshop was really informative, and who really truly appreciate the time I take to build my slides and keep to the format set out, thank you!

Your positive feedback gives me encouragement and insight. I do this for you because you do appreciate the hours and the expertise that goes into creation of these presentations.

Apology
for a mis-quote: "Here's your sign" is not Jeff Foxworthy's quote, it's to be attributed to Bill Engvall. Bill is told by Jeff to tell these jokes....