Tax Audit Representation
Mark Feldstein and Associates provides tax audit representation services that aim to help taxpayers who face a CRA audit. The service is designed to find the documentation required by CRA and then work on behalf of the client to take away the pain of an audit.
It is very dangerous for the taxpayer to handle a tax audit alone without representation. Our firm will assess the situation prior to the audit, will organize the information required by CRA and we will then meet with the auditors on behalf of the taxpayer.
The stress and anxiety brought on by a CRA audit is excessive and the taxpayer loses sleep during the entire process. This normally occupies their mind all of the time. Our objective is to help in relieving the anxiety and stress during the audit process and negotiate a favourable outcome for the client.
Our representation services during a tax audit ensures that the client is not dealing with the CRA auditors on their own. The total penalties including gross negligence and summary conviction can be as high as 250% and two years in jail. Our objective is to work with CRA and reduce the penalties and taxes to a more reasonable amount.
We know the odds are definitely against the taxpayer who is facing a tax audit alone. But, this does not mean that those odds cannot be increased in favour of the taxpayer. We can increase the chances that the client will get cleared from the audit or with minimal damage.
Every tax audit is different and every case is unique.
Once a new client hires us to be their representative, we call the Canada Revenue Agency and book an appointment at our office several weeks later. The audit is always done in our office and not at the client’s place of business or home. CRA may have to see the home or office of the taxpayer, but the entire audit is done at our office. Once CRA is notified that we are representing the taxpayer, we review all of the information that the client has and organize the files so that the audit can be done quickly and on a timely basis. We do not want the auditor to go through shoe boxes of information. If the auditor has to reconstruct the books and records of the company and do all of the bookkeeping, the result is normally a disaster for the taxpayer and it will cost them a lot of money. CRA auditors should not have to do all of the bookkeeping for a company. The books and records should be organized in order for the audit to be completed quickly and result in favourable outcome to the client.
Our office deals with personal tax audits, appeals, corporation tax audits, GST and HST audits.
If your bank account has been garnished or your assets have been seized by CRA we can also help in negotiating the lifting of these garnishees. We do this all of the time and provide relief to our clients. The taxpayer cannot operate a business if their bank accounts have been garnished.
For more information on tax audit representation, please contact Mark Feldstein (CA) or use our online consultation request form.