Planning
Corporate tax planning for Canadian owner-managers
Timing, vehicle choice, and extraction that stay defensible on paper — not just a filed T2.
Questions owners actually bring
When does income land? A move that looks fine in March can create noise if the support isn’t in the minute book by the time the return is signed. Timing across related entities matters as much as the rate on a rate table.
Which vehicle? Operating company, holding company, or another arrangement should track ownership, control, and how you intend to pull money out — not a chart copied from someone else’s file.
Extract or reinvest? Salary, dividends, and leave-in each need a cash story and a paperwork story. “We’ve always done it this way” doesn’t help if the record is thin when someone asks later.
How we run a planning file
Start with the planning question and any hard filing date. We pull ownership, how money moves today, and what the prior return already said. Then you get a short set of workable paths — with trade-offs stated in plain language — and we document what needs to exist before a position is treated as settled.
Compliance follows the plan: the return should match how the business runs, not sit beside an unread memo. If CRA is already sending letters, that isn’t “planning” anymore — use CRA representation first. If cash or creditors are forcing a reset, see recovery & restructuring. Clean entity work without a tax scramble belongs on creation & structuring.
Personal tax prep can attach when you’re already in a corporate engagement with us. It isn’t a lead offer and has no separate landing — mention it in the consult note if you need both coordinated.
Will this lower my tax?
Planning can change how and when income and extraction land. We don’t claim a dollar figure. We aim for positions you can explain and support on paper.
How is this different from structuring?
Structuring builds or cleans the stack. Tax planning decides how that stack is used across the year. They often run together.
What belongs in the first note?
The planning question, year-end or filing date, ownership in plain language, and whether CRA or cash pressure is already live. Ledgers and identifiers wait until engagement.
Get In Touch
Send the planning question and any hard date. We’ll confirm fit and next steps — usually within one business day. Live CRA correspondence? Start at CRA representation.
Related reading
- Salary or dividends — Fit-to-facts extraction.
- Year-end fact list — Cash, withdrawals, deadlines.
- Tax instalments — Avoid the year-end surprise.
- T2 filing readiness — What to assemble before the return.
- Extraction basics — Salary, dividends, paperwork.