Tax Services · For Business
Tax counsel for Canadian companies.
Corporate audits, GST/HST and payroll disputes, directors' liability, voluntary disclosures, cross-border tax — we deal with the CRA so you can run your business.
What we do for businesses
Tax counsel for Canadian companies.
Choose the service that fits your situation. Not sure? Book a free consultation and we'll point you to the right one.
Voluntary Disclosure
The Voluntary Disclosures Program lets Canadian taxpayers correct unreported income, unfiled returns, and undisclosed offshore assets before the CRA contacts them. A successful submission can eliminate gross-negligence penalties and the risk of criminal prosecution, while limiting interest exposure.
Learn moreUnreported Offshore Income
The CRA receives offshore account data from over 100 jurisdictions through the Common Reporting Standard. If you have unreported foreign income, dividends, rental income, or capital gains, voluntary disclosure is usually the only path to avoid gross-negligence penalties or prosecution.
Learn moreUnreported Domestic Income
Unreported tips, side-business revenue, cash payments, rental income, or freelance income can all be corrected through voluntary disclosure — often before the CRA flags an audit.
Learn moreUnreported Offshore Assets
Specified Foreign Property over $100,000 must be reported on Form T1135. Missed reporting carries severe penalties, but voluntary disclosure can substantially reduce or eliminate them.
Learn moreUnreported Cryptocurrency Transactions
The CRA treats cryptocurrency as a commodity. Disposals — including crypto-to-crypto trades, NFT sales, staking, and DeFi yields — generate taxable events. Unreported gains can be corrected through the Voluntary Disclosures Program.
Learn moreOverstated Expenses
Overstated business or rental expenses can be corrected through voluntary disclosure before the CRA reassesses, avoiding gross-negligence penalties and limiting interest exposure.
Learn moreCRA Audit Representation
From the first audit letter through proposal letters and reassessment, our tax lawyers manage the auditor on your behalf. We control the flow of information, conduct the audit at our offices when possible, and challenge errors before they become assessments.
Learn moreVoluntary Disclosure
If you have unreported income, unfiled returns, or undisclosed offshore assets, voluntary disclosure is usually the right move — but only before the CRA contacts you. Our lawyers run an anonymous eligibility review and draft a complete VDP submission.
Learn moreTax Court of Canada Representation
When a Notice of Objection is denied or running out of time, the Tax Court of Canada is the next forum. We handle Informal and General Procedure appeals from pleadings through trial.
Learn moreTax Disputes & Notices of Objection
A Notice of Objection must be filed within 90 days of a Notice of Reassessment (or one year for individuals seeking an extension). We draft objections that put your strongest legal arguments on the record and engage the CRA Appeals Division.
Learn moreBusiness Owner Tax Planning
Most Canadian business owners pay more tax than they need to — not because they're aggressive, but because the planning around their corporation, their compensation, and their eventual exit hasn't been touched in years. We build forward-looking tax plans that fit the business as it actually runs.
Learn moreEstate Freeze
An estate freeze caps the value of your corporation at today's fair market value in your hands, while issuing new growth shares to a family trust, your children, or another holding entity. Future appreciation accrues to the new shareholders — outside your estate, outside your eventual deemed disposition at death, and outside your share of any future tax-on-gain.
Learn moreCapital Gains Exemption
The Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption shelters over $1 million of gain on the sale of qualifying small-business-corporation (QSBC) shares — and, with proper planning, can be multiplied across family members. Most business owners qualify in principle; the planning value is in structuring early enough that the qualification tests are met when the sale happens.
Learn moreTax Arrears Negotiation & Payment Plans
If you owe the CRA and cannot pay in full, we negotiate realistic payment arrangements, halt aggressive collection, and pursue Taxpayer Relief for penalties and interest where appropriate.
Learn moreOwner Compensation Planning
The salary-vs-dividend question is the largest annual tax-planning lever for most owner-managed Canadian corporations. The right mix depends on the corporation's tax pools, the owner's other income, family situation, RRSP room, CPP profile, and intended use of the corporate cash. We review it every year.
Learn moreFamily Trust Planning
A discretionary family trust is the most flexible vehicle in Canadian tax planning. Used well, it allocates income to family members in lower brackets, holds growth shares so that future appreciation builds outside the founder's estate, and serves as the central tool for transferring control to the next generation. We design, settle, and administer family trusts as part of the broader business-and-estate plan.
Learn moreTax Crime Representation
Tax evasion and tax fraud charges from the CRA Criminal Investigations Program carry the risk of imprisonment, fines of up to 200% of tax evaded, and a permanent record. Engage counsel before speaking to investigators.
Learn moreHolding Company Strategy
A holding company sitting above the operating company is one of the standard Canadian corporate structures for business owners with meaningful retained earnings. It moves accumulated wealth out of the operating business (away from operating-creditor risk), enables tax-deferred dividend distributions, and creates the platform for future estate-freeze and capital-gains-exemption planning.
Learn moreSuccession Tax Planning
The tax planning for transferring a Canadian family business to the next generation can save hundreds of thousands of dollars — sometimes millions — when the structure is set up years before the transfer happens. We coordinate the estate-freeze, capital-gains-exemption, intergenerational-transfer-rule, and corporate-reorganization moves that produce a tax-efficient succession.
Learn moreTax Planning
Good tax planning happens years before a return is filed. We design family-trust, holdco, estate-freeze, and remuneration structures that lower lifetime tax while staying onside of GAAR and recent CRA positions.
Learn moreCharitable Giving
Canadian charitable-giving rules reward thoughtful donors generously — donations of publicly-traded securities are tax-free on the accrued gain, donations through a private foundation give the donor control over the gift's deployment, and large-gift planning can shelter the bulk of a transaction year's tax. The planning question is which asset, which vehicle, and when.
Learn morePost-Mortem Planning
When a Canadian shareholder dies owning private-company shares, the terminal T1 triggers a deemed disposition that often produces a significant capital-gains tax. Coordinated post-mortem planning — pipeline, bump, and loss-carryback — can recover much of that tax. The 36-month statutory window starts the day of death.
Learn moreTaxpayer Relief Applications
The Minister has discretion to cancel or waive penalties and interest in cases of extraordinary circumstances, CRA error, or financial hardship. We draft persuasive RC4288 applications grounded in the case law and IC07-1.
Learn moreInvestment Tax Planning
Where you hold an investment matters as much as which investment you hold. Asset-location decisions across TFSAs, RRSPs, RESPs, non-registered accounts, and corporate investment portfolios produce after-tax-return differentials that compound over decades. We coordinate placement strategy with the broader tax plan.
Learn moreCPP/EI Rulings
A CRA ruling that your contractor is really an employee can trigger source-deduction assessments, penalties, and interest going back years. We help workers and payers request rulings, appeal them to the Minister, and carry worker-status disputes to the Tax Court of Canada.
Learn moreCRA Collections & Garnishment
When the CRA decides to collect a tax debt, it can garnish your wages, freeze your bank account, redirect money owed to you, and register a certificate in Federal Court — often without going before a judge first. Knowing the limits on these powers, and acting before they escalate, is the difference between a manageable arrangement and a financial crisis.
Learn moreCRA Liens & Seizure
When the CRA registers a certificate in the Federal Court, your tax debt gains the force of a court judgment, opening the door to liens on your home, writs against your property, and the seizure of goods. Understanding the certificate, the deemed trust, and your options is the first step to protecting what you own.
Learn moreCapital Gains Planning
When you sell an asset that has grown in value, the tax you owe is rarely fixed in stone. Canada taxes only one-half of a capital gain, and a series of rules on reserves, exemptions, loss timing, and the year of disposition can change how much of that gain is taxed and when. Planning ahead, before the sale closes, is almost always more effective than reacting after the fact.
Learn moreITC Denials
When the Canada Revenue Agency denies your input tax credits, it disallows the GST/HST you paid on business purchases and reassesses you for the difference, plus interest and sometimes penalties. Many ITC denials turn on documentation and timing rather than on whether the tax was actually paid, which is precisely why they can be challenged.
Learn moreGST/HST Audits & Disputes
A GST/HST audit is not really about the tax you owe today — it is about money the Canada Revenue Agency says you collected, or claimed back, on every transaction over years of operation. Because GST/HST you collect is treated as a trust held for the Crown, the stakes and the collection pressure are different from an ordinary income tax dispute, and the deadlines to object and appeal are strict.
Learn moreNew Housing Rebate
The GST/HST New Housing Rebate can return thousands of dollars on a new or substantially renovated home, but the Canada Revenue Agency denies and claws back these rebates often. The deciding issue is usually whether the home was acquired as a primary place of residence, and the facts around intention, occupancy, and title are where most disputes are won or lost.
Learn moreGST/HST Registration
Almost every business that sells taxable goods or services in Canada eventually crosses paths with the GST/HST system. Getting registration, collection, and remittance right from the start avoids assessments, penalties, and interest that can build quietly for years. We help businesses understand when they must register, how to file, and how to stay onside.
Learn moreGST/HST on Real Estate
Whether a sale of real property carries GST/HST is one of the most misunderstood questions in Canadian tax. The answer turns on whether the property is new or used, residential or commercial, and on rules that can shift the obligation to pay onto the buyer. Getting it wrong can turn a closing into a six-figure CRA assessment.
Learn moreCross-Border GST/HST
Cross-border GST/HST turns on two deceptively simple questions: where is a supply made, and who has to account for the tax. Non-resident suppliers, importers, and digital-economy businesses all live or die by the place-of-supply rules in the Excise Tax Act, and getting them wrong can mean unregistered liability, denied input tax credits, or a reverse-charge bill the CRA assesses years later.
Learn moreGross Negligence Penalties
A gross negligence penalty under subsection 163(2) of the Income Tax Act adds 50% to the tax you allegedly understated, over and above the tax and interest the CRA says you owe. The law places the burden of justifying this penalty on the Minister, not on you, which is precisely why it can be challenged.
Learn moreIncome Splitting & TOSI
Splitting income across a family can lower a household's overall tax, but since 2018 the tax on split income (TOSI) has applied the highest marginal rate to many amounts paid to family members from a private business. Understanding the excluded-amount exceptions, and the planning that still works, is the difference between a sound structure and an unexpected reassessment.
Learn moreFederal Court Judicial Review
Not every dispute with the CRA can go to the Tax Court. When the Agency exercises discretion — refusing taxpayer relief, rejecting a voluntary disclosure, or issuing a requirement to pay — the path to challenge that choice often runs through judicial review in the Federal Court.
Learn moreSource Deduction Disputes
When an employer withholds income tax, CPP, and EI from a paycheque, that money is held in trust for the Crown the moment it is deducted. CRA treats unremitted source deductions as one of the most serious accounts it collects, and it can pursue the corporation, its directors, and even related parties. We help businesses and directors respond to remittance penalties, deemed-trust claims, PIER assessments, and director-liability notices.
Learn moreSR&ED Disputes
An SR&ED claim can be worth a great deal to a Canadian business, which is exactly why the Canada Revenue Agency reviews these claims closely and reduces or denies a large share of the dollars claimed. Most disputes come down to two questions the CRA asks separately: was the work eligible scientific research and experimental development, and were the expenditures properly calculated and supported. Both are contestable, and both have strict deadlines.
Learn moreSection 160 Liability
Section 160 of the Income Tax Act lets the CRA pursue you for someone else's tax debt when property was transferred to you for less than it was worth and you were not dealing at arm's length. There is no limitation period on these assessments, so a transfer from years ago can resurface. Understanding the four conditions and the available defences is the first step.
Learn moreShareholder Loans (s.15)
When an owner pulls money out of their corporation as a loan or draw, section 15 of the Income Tax Act can turn that cash into taxable income. The most common trap is the shareholder loan that is not repaid within a year of the company's year-end, but a deemed-interest charge and broader benefit rules can apply as well. Understanding the rules, the exceptions, and the planning options is the first step to staying onside.
Learn moreStatute-Barred Reassessments
After the normal reassessment period closes, a tax year is generally settled and the Canada Revenue Agency cannot simply reopen it. Understanding when a year becomes statute-barred, and the narrow exceptions that let the CRA reassess anyway, is often the decisive issue in audit defence.
Learn moreSurplus Stripping (s.84.1)
Converting what should be a taxable dividend into a lower-taxed capital gain can save a great deal of tax, but section 84.1 of the Income Tax Act exists precisely to stop it. Whether a non-arm's-length share transfer triggers a deemed dividend, or fits within the genuine intergenerational-transfer rules, often turns on details that are easy to get wrong.
Learn moreIncorporated Professionals
Incorporating a professional practice can defer tax on income left inside the corporation, but the advantages are narrower than they once were. The TOSI rules curtail income splitting with family, the passive income grind erodes the small business rate as investments accumulate, and the shares of many professional corporations do not qualify for the lifetime capital gains exemption. Sound planning starts with understanding exactly which benefits a professional corporation still delivers.
Learn moreTax-Efficient Sales
The single largest tax event in most business-owners' lives is the sale of the business. The difference between an unplanned and a planned sale is typically 25-40% of the after-tax proceeds. We work alongside the M&A team to design the sale structure two-to-three years in advance.
Learn moreUnfiled Tax Returns
Years of unfiled returns are a serious problem — but rarely the disaster taxpayers fear. Through voluntary disclosure or careful filing strategy, we bring you current and minimize penalties and interest.
Learn moreCorporate Restructuring
Canadian corporate tax law provides a suite of tax-deferred reorganization mechanics — Section 85 transfers, Section 86 share-class conversions, Section 87 amalgamations, Section 88 wind-ups, Section 51 conversions. Choosing the right one (and getting the election forms filed on time) is the difference between a successful restructure and a costly accidental tax trigger.
Learn moreNet Worth Audits
Net-worth audits estimate income from changes in your assets and lifestyle. They are inherently imprecise and frequently overstated. We rebuild the audit, identify auditor errors, and roll back unsupported additions to income.
Learn moreDirector's Liability
Directors can be held personally liable for unremitted GST/HST and source deductions. We raise the due-diligence defence, challenge the underlying assessment, and file timely Notices of Objection.
Learn moreTax Shelter & Donation Scheme Disputes
If you participated in a charitable donation tax shelter or other CRA-disputed arrangement, you may be facing reassessment with significant penalties. We defend participants individually and as part of group strategies.
Learn moreCross-Border Tax
Tax problems that straddle the Canada-US border are rarely solved by looking at one country at a time. Our cross-border practice, led by Simone Barrett — admitted in Ontario and Florida — coordinates Canadian and US federal tax positions so the two systems work together rather than against you.
Learn moreU.S. Citizens in Canada
A U.S. citizen or green-card holder who lives in Canada stays inside the U.S. tax system for life. The United States taxes its citizens and lawful permanent residents on their worldwide income wherever they live, so a person with an entirely Canadian paycheque, bank account, and mortgage still owes the IRS an annual return plus a stack of disclosure forms — often with no U.S. tax actually due. The work is reconciling two tax systems, claiming the right treaty relief, and steering clear of the Canadian accounts that quietly become U.S. problems.
Learn morePFICs (Canadian Funds)
Almost every Canadian mutual fund and exchange-traded fund is a passive foreign investment company (PFIC) in the eyes of the IRS, and for a U.S. citizen or green-card holder living in Canada that label changes everything. Without a timely election, the default section 1291 regime strips away the favourable capital-gains treatment, taxes gains and large distributions at the highest U.S. rate, and adds a compounding interest charge — on top of a separate Form 8621 for each fund, every year. This page explains how the PFIC rules work on both sides of the border, the elections that can soften them, and why many U.S. persons in Canada ultimately restructure their portfolios.
Learn moreTFSA/RESP U.S. Tax
A Tax-Free Savings Account, Registered Education Savings Plan or Registered Disability Savings Plan is tax-free in Canada, but the Internal Revenue Service does not see it the same way. For a U.S. citizen or green-card holder living in Canada, the income inside these plans can be taxable in the United States each year, and the accounts can trigger foreign-trust, PFIC and foreign-account reporting that has nothing to do with the Canada Revenue Agency. Barrett Tax Law helps U.S. persons understand how these registered plans are treated on both sides of the border and how to bring their U.S. filings into order.
Learn moreGILTI / CCPC U.S. Owners
If you are a U.S. citizen or green-card holder who owns shares of a Canadian corporation, the U.S. controlled-foreign-corporation rules can reach into that company's profits before a single dollar is ever paid out to you. Subpart F income, the GILTI inclusion (renamed net CFC tested income, or NCTI, beginning in 2026), and annual Form 5471 reporting create a timing and character mismatch with Canadian corporate tax that can produce double taxation if it is not planned for. Barrett Tax Law, whose cross-border practice is led by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), helps U.S. shareholders of Canadian companies understand these inclusions, evaluate the section 962 election and the high-tax exception, and coordinate both countries' rules.
Learn moreDeparture Tax
Canada's departure tax — the deemed disposition under Section 128.1 of the Income Tax Act — treats most of your worldwide assets as sold the day you leave. Planning ahead can defer the tax, post security in lieu of payment, or restructure holdings so the deemed gain is smaller.
Learn moreRenouncing U.S. Citizenship
Renouncing U.S. citizenship is a deliberate legal act with two separate dimensions: a State Department process that ends your nationality, and a tax process under Internal Revenue Code section 877A that can impose a one-time "exit tax" on the way out. The two do not happen automatically together, and the most expensive mistakes are made by people who handle the consulate appointment without first working through the covered-expatriate tests and the Form 8854 certification. Barrett Tax Law, led on cross-border matters by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), helps Canadian-resident U.S. citizens and long-term green-card holders understand the exit-tax exposure before they renounce, so the timing and the filings line up.
Learn moreU.S. Rental Income
If you are a Canadian who rents out a U.S. property, the default U.S. rule is unforgiving: a flat 30% tax is withheld on your gross rents, with no deduction for mortgage interest, property tax, repairs, or depreciation. The Internal Revenue Code section 871(d) election lets you flip to U.S. taxation on net rental income at graduated rates, filed on Form 1040-NR — almost always a far better result. Barrett Tax Law helps Canadians make and document this election correctly, coordinate the Canadian reporting, and plan ahead for the FIRPTA withholding that arrives when the property is eventually sold.
Learn moreU.S. Gift Tax
A Canadian who has never lived in the United States can still trigger U.S. gift tax simply by giving away the wrong kind of U.S. property. The rules turn entirely on what is given and where it sits: a gift of U.S. real estate or tangible property located in the U.S. can be taxed, while a gift of shares or other intangibles usually is not. Because the Canada-U.S. treaty's unified-credit relief applies to estate tax at death but not to lifetime gifts, the safest gifts are often the ones planned before the transfer, not after.
Learn moreU.S. LLC Trap
A U.S. limited liability company is one of the most misunderstood structures a Canadian can own. The United States usually treats an LLC as a flow-through, taxing the Canadian member directly on its share of income, while the Canada Revenue Agency treats the same LLC as a corporation. That single mismatch in classification can produce double taxation, a denied or wasted foreign tax credit, and unrecoverable U.S. tax. Barrett Tax Law helps Canadians who already hold an LLC, and those weighing whether to use one, understand the trap before it costs them and plan a structure that both countries can live with.
Learn morePermanent Establishment
When a Canadian or U.S. business sells, hires, or operates across the border, the question that decides whether it owes income tax in the other country is whether it has a permanent establishment (PE) there. Under Article V of the Canada-U.S. tax treaty, business profits are taxable only where a PE exists, so understanding what creates one — a fixed place of business, a dependent agent, a long construction site, or extended on-site services — is the difference between a treaty exemption and an unexpected return, withholding, and penalties on the other side of the border.
Learn moreCross-Border Trusts
Trusts with one foot in Canada and one foot in the US carry a thicket of overlapping rules: Section 94 of the Canadian Income Tax Act, the US grantor-trust regime, throwback rules on accumulated income, FATCA reporting, and treaty residency. We design and remediate cross-border trust structures so each system reaches the conclusion you want.
Learn moreReg 105/102 Withholding
When a non-resident earns fees, commissions, or other service income for work performed in Canada, the payer is generally required to withhold 15% of the gross amount under Regulation 105 of the Income Tax Regulations — and to withhold under Regulation 102 on remuneration paid to non-resident employees who work in Canada. The withholding is not a final tax; it is a deposit against any Canadian liability that may ultimately be assessed. With advance planning, a Canada-US treaty waiver or a reduced-withholding waiver can often release some or all of the funds before the work begins. Barrett Tax Law, led by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), helps US individuals and businesses navigate Regulation 105 and 102 withholding, the waiver process, and T4A-NR reporting.
Learn moreT1134 / T106 Reporting
If a Canadian business owns part of a foreign corporation or transacts with related non-residents, the Canada Revenue Agency expects two information returns most owners have never heard of: Form T1134 for foreign affiliates and Form T106 for non-arm's-length cross-border dealings. The dollar amounts are reporting thresholds, not taxes — but missing the filings carries day-rate and gross-negligence penalties that dwarf the work of filing, and the same numbers feed the transfer-pricing rules under section 247 of the Income Tax Act. Barrett Tax Law helps Canadian companies and their owners identify what they hold abroad, file on time, and document related-party pricing before a question becomes an assessment.
Learn moreResidency & Tie-Breaker
Tax residency is the single fact that decides whether Canada, the United States, or both can tax your worldwide income — and the two countries use very different tests to reach that answer. When their rules overlap and you come out resident of both, Article IV of the Canada-US tax treaty supplies an ordered tie-breaker (permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, then citizenship) that assigns you to one country for treaty purposes. Getting residency right is the foundation of every other cross-border filing decision, and getting it wrong can mean double taxation, missed elections, or unexpected exit-tax exposure.
Learn morePre-Immigration Planning
The Canadian tax bill you carry for the rest of your life is largely set in the months before you land. When you become a Canadian resident, subsection 128.1(1) of the Income Tax Act treats almost all of your worldwide property as freshly acquired at fair market value on your arrival date — a cost-base “step-up” that can permanently shelter gains that accrued before you moved, but only if your records and your transactions are ordered correctly first. Barrett Tax Law, led by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), helps individuals and families plan the arrival side of a cross-border move before residency is triggered.
Learn morePre-Emigration (to U.S.)
Moving from Canada to the United States triggers tax consequences in both countries at the same moment, and the most valuable planning happens before you arrive. Canada imposes a departure (deemed-disposition) tax on the way out, while the U.S. begins to tax your worldwide income once you become a resident there — and the two systems do not automatically line up. Coordinating the timing of the move, the U.S. cost-basis position of your assets, your RRSP treaty election, and your dual-status first-year return can prevent the same gain from being taxed twice and avoid costly information-return penalties. Barrett Tax Law, led on cross-border matters by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), works through the U.S. side of an emigration in coordination with the Canadian departure plan.
Learn moreCross-Border Retirement
Retirement savings that cross the Canada-US border carry a hidden second tax system. An RRSP, RRIF, 401(k), IRA or Roth IRA that is fully sheltered in one country can become taxable, double-taxed or burdened with penalty filings in the other unless the Canada-US tax treaty is applied carefully and the right elections are made on time. Barrett Tax Law helps individuals and families align both countries' rules before a move, a withdrawal or a transfer locks in an avoidable result.
Learn moreUS-Canada Estate Planning
Estate planning that crosses the Canada-US border touches Canadian capital-gains-at-death rules, US estate tax, QDOT planning for non-citizen spouses, and the Canada-US treaty estate-tax credit. Coordinated wills, beneficiary designations, and asset titling avoid the common double-tax traps.
Learn moreForeign Tax Credits
When the same income is taxed in both Canada and the United States, the foreign tax credit is the main mechanism that keeps you from paying twice — but only if the two systems line up on timing, character, and source. Our cross-border practice, led by Simone Barrett (admitted in Ontario and Florida), coordinates the Canadian credit under ITA section 126 with the US credit on Form 1116 and the relief rules in Article XXIV of the Canada-US treaty, so the credit you are entitled to is actually the credit you receive.
Learn moreUS Estate Tax for Canadians
If you are a Canadian who owns US real estate, US-corporation shares, or other US-situs assets, US estate tax can apply at your death — even with no other US connection. The Canada-US tax treaty provides a prorated unified credit, but the math depends on the size of your worldwide estate and the value of your US-situs holdings.
Learn moreSnowbird Tax Planning
If you spend more than a third of the year in the United States across a rolling three-year window, the IRS can treat you as a US tax resident — exposing your worldwide income to US tax. The closer-connection statement (Form 8840) and the Canada-US treaty's residency tie-breaker keep most snowbirds on the Canadian side, but the analysis isn't automatic.
Learn moreFATCA & FBAR
A US citizen or green-card holder living in Canada is subject to US tax on worldwide income and to two parallel disclosure regimes — FBAR (FinCEN 114) for foreign financial accounts and Form 8938 (FATCA) for specified foreign financial assets — with penalty schedules that can dwarf the underlying tax.
Learn moreStreamlined Filing
If you're a US person who hasn't been filing US returns or FBARs and your non-filing was non-willful, the IRS's Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures provide a structured path to compliance: three years of amended Form 1040s, six years of FBARs, and a signed certification — without civil penalty if accepted.
Learn moreFIRPTA Withholding
Under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA), a US buyer of US real estate from a non-resident foreign person must withhold up to 15% of the gross sale price and remit it to the IRS. The withholding is not the final tax — it's an advance against the actual US tax liability — but the cash impact at closing is substantial.
Learn moreSection 116 Clearance
A non-resident selling taxable Canadian property — Canadian real estate, shares of certain private Canadian corporations, partnership interests deriving value from Canadian real estate — must obtain a Section 116 clearance certificate from the CRA. Without it, the purchaser is required to withhold 25% (or higher, in some cases) of the gross sale price.
Learn moreNew-Resident Tax Planning
When you become a Canadian tax resident, paragraph 128.1(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act gives you a one-time fair-market-value cost-base reset on most of your worldwide assets — sheltering all pre-arrival appreciation from Canadian tax. The window for planning closes the day Canadian residency begins.
Learn morePre-Relocation Tax Planning
Canadian tax planning before a relocation focuses on minimizing the Section 128.1 departure-tax exposure, cleaning up account positions that would be tax-disadvantaged after the move (Canadian mutual funds, TFSAs, RESPs), and restructuring closely-held corporations while they're still under Canadian tax rules.
Learn moreCross-Border Real Estate
Whether it's a Florida condo bought by a Canadian or a Toronto rental held by an American, cross-border real estate structures have lifetime consequences for income tax, estate tax, capital-gains treatment, withholding obligations, and audit risk. Choosing the right structure at the purchase stage avoids costly restructuring later.
Learn moreCross-Border M&A
Cross-border deals between Canadian and US companies — Canadian buyer of US target, US buyer of Canadian target, cross-border merger of equals — bring tax issues that are routinely missed in the closing rush: treaty residency of the surviving entity, Subpart F / GILTI inclusions, branch profits tax, transfer pricing on integration, and the choice between asset and share deals.
Learn moreUS IRS Representation
Barrett Tax Law represents clients in US federal IRS examinations, Office of Appeals proceedings, and Florida-state tax matters. Simone Barrett is admitted in Florida (The Florida Bar) and Ontario (Law Society of Ontario), so she can represent clients in matters of US federal tax law, Florida state tax law, and Canadian tax law. For US-state tax matters outside Florida, the firm engages locally-admitted counsel.
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Estate freezes, family trusts, intergenerational transfers, US-Canada estate-tax exposure on US-situs assets, and post-mortem pipeline planning. We coordinate the will, the corporate structure, and the tax position so the plan actually does what the family expects.
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