The Globe and Mail published an informative article on August 2, 2011 explaining the CRA’s new audit program that targets restaurants using software designed to suppress restaurant sales i.e., zapper software. In addition, the Globe reports that the CRA intends to “develop a broad strategy to tack the problem” and that, although several cases are under investigation, the CRA has successfully prosecuted two cases. Read the Globe article entitled Taxman Finds Rampant Restaurant Fraud.
Filing a Notice of Objection places part of the dispute on the record before it is treated as final. That record shapes how the matter is assessed and what can still be changed.
Decisions made after a CRA reassessment form the dispute record before they are recognized as final. That record shapes what can be said, changed, and defended later.
A CRA reassessment sets out a position. It does not show what will determine the outcome. How it is interpreted, carried forward, and placed on the record defines what can still be changed.
Leveraged growth leads to CRA reassessments and disputes. This insight explains how exposure modelling, objection strategy, and dispute readiness affect a company’s ability to reduce or overturn a reassessment.
After a CRA reassessment, management must make decisions while the information is incomplete. Those early decisions shape the tax dispute, and lender and board scrutiny.
This insight explains how management's initial framing of a CRA dispute with partners, lenders, and boards will shape stakeholders' evaluation of management's performance.