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Financial reporting and accounting advisory services
You trust your external auditor to deliver not only a high-quality, independent audit of your financial statements but to provide a range of support, including assessing material risks, evaluating internal controls and raising awareness around new and amended accounting standards.
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Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises
Get the clear financial picture you need with the accounting standards team at Grant Thornton LLP. Our experts have extensive experience with private enterprises of all sizes in all industries, an in-depth knowledge of today’s accounting standards, and are directly involved in the standard-setting process.
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International Financial Reporting Standards
Whether you are already using IFRS or considering a transition to this global framework, Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team is here to help.
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Accounting Standards for Not-for-Profit Organizations
From small, community organizations to large, national charities, you can count on Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team for in-depth knowledge and trusted advice.
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Public Sector Accounting Standards
Working for a public-sector organization comes with a unique set of requirements for accounting and financial reporting. Grant Thornton LLP’s accounting standards team has the practical, public-sector experience and in-depth knowledge you need.
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Tax planning and compliance
Whether you are a private or public organization, your goal is to manage the critical aspects of tax compliance, and achieve the most effective results. At Grant Thornton, we focus on delivering relevant advice, and providing an integrated planning approach to help you fulfill compliance obligations.
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Research and development and government incentives
Are you developing innovative processes or products, undertaking experimentation or solving technological problems? If so, you may qualify to claim SR&ED tax credits. This Canadian federal government initiative is designed to encourage and support innovation in Canada. Our R&D professionals are a highly-trained, diverse team of practitioners that are engineers, scientists and specialized accountants.
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Indirect tax
Keeping track of changes and developments in GST/HST, Quebec sales tax and other provincial sales taxes across Canada, can be a full-time job. The consequences for failing to adequately manage your organization’s sales tax obligations can be significant - from assessments, to forgone recoveries and cash flow implications, to customer or reputational risk.
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US corporate tax
The United States has a very complex and regulated tax environment, that may undergo significant changes. Cross-border tax issues could become even more challenging for Canadian businesses looking for growth and prosperity in the biggest economy in the world.
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Cross-border personal tax
In an increasingly flexible world, moving across the border may be more viable for Canadians and Americans; however, relocating may also have complex tax implications.
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International tax
While there is great opportunity for businesses looking to expand globally, organizations are under increasing tax scrutiny. Regardless of your company’s size and level of international involvement—whether you’re working abroad, investing, buying and selling, borrowing or manufacturing—doing business beyond Canada’s borders comes with its fair share of tax risks.
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Transfer pricing
Transfer pricing is a complex area of corporate taxation that is concerned with the intra-group pricing of goods, services, intangibles, and financial instruments. Transfer pricing has become a critical governance issue for companies, tax authorities and policy makers, and represents a principal risk area for multinationals.
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Succession & estate planning
Like many private business owners today, you’ve spent your career building and running your business successfully. Now you’re faced with deciding on a successor—a successor who may or may not want your direct involvement and share your vision.
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Tax Reporting & Advisory
The financial and tax reporting obligations of public markets and global tax authorities take significant resources and investment to manage. This requires calculating global tax provision estimates under US GAAP, IFRS, and other frameworks, and reconciling this reporting with tax compliance obligations.
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Transactions
Our transactions group takes a client-centric, integrated approach, focused on helping you make and implement the best financial strategies. We offer meaningful, actionable and holistic advice to allow you to create value, manage risks and seize opportunities. It’s what we do best: help great organizations like yours grow and thrive.
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Restructuring
We bring a wide range of services to both individuals and businesses – including shareholders, executives, directors, lenders, creditors and other advisors who are dealing with a corporation experiencing financial challenges.
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Forensics
Market-driven expertise in investigation, dispute resolution and digital forensics
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Consulting
Running a business is challenging and you need advice you can rely on at anytime you need it. Our team dives deep into your issues, looking holistically at your organization to understand your people, processes, and systems needs at the root of your pain points. The intersection of these three things is critical to develop the solutions you need today.
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Creditor updates
Updates for creditors, limited partners, investors and shareholders.
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Governance, risk and compliance
Effective, risk management—including governance and regulatory compliance—can lead to tangible, long-term business improvements. And be a source of significant competitive advantage.
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Internal audit
Organizations thrive when they are constantly innovating, improving or creating new services and products and envisioning new markets and growth opportunities.
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Certification – SOX
The corporate governance landscape is challenging at the best of times for public companies and their subsidiaries in Canada, the United States and around the world.
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Third party assurance
Naturally, clients and stakeholders want reassurance that there are appropriate controls and safeguards over the data and processes being used to service their business. It’s critical.
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ASPE Sec. 3041 Agriculture Understanding and applying the new ASPE Section 3041 AgricultureThe Canadian Accounting Standards Board (AcSB) has released new guidance on recognizing, measuring and disclosing biological assets and the harvested products of bio assets.
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Tax alert Agricultural Clean Technology ProgramThe Agricultural Clean Technology Program will provide financial assistance to farmers and agri-businesses to help them reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
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Tax alert ACT Program – Research and Innovation Stream explainedThe ACT Research and Innovation Stream provides financial support to organizations engaged in pre-market innovation.
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Tax alert ACT Program – Adoption Stream explainedThe ACT Adoption Stream provides non-repayable funding to help farmers and agri-business with the purchase and installation of clean technologies.
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Builders And Developers
Every real estate project starts with a vision. We help builders and developers solidify that vision, transform it into reality, and create value.
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Rental Property Owners And Occupiers
In today’s economic climate, it’s more important than ever to have a strong advisory partner on your side.
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Real Estate Service Providers
Your company plays a key role in the success of landlords, investors and owners, but who is doing the same for you?
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Mining
There’s no business quite like mining. It’s volatile, risky and complex – but the potential pay-off is huge. You’re not afraid of a challenge: the key is finding the right balance between risk and reward. Whether you’re a junior prospector, a senior producer, or somewhere in between, we’ll work with you to explore, discover and extract value at every stage of the mining process.
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Oil & gas
The oil and gas industry is facing many complex challenges, beyond the price of oil. These include environmental issues, access to markets, growing competition from alternative energy sources and international markets, and a rapidly changing regulatory landscape, to name but a few.
As a real estate professional, the opportunity to incorporate by setting up your own Personal Real Estate Corporation (PREC) brings many incentives. In addition to letting you defer income taxes, a PREC may allow you to take advantage of a range of other tax benefits.
To reap the full rewards, your PREC must be properly structured, and depending on your desired outcomes, the corporate structure of your PREC may shift—making it important to identify your objectives in advance.
Objective 1: Protect your assets
Unlike traditional corporations, PRECs do not confer liability protection for your excess income—such as cash, investments or other passive assets. That means, if you keep those assets in an operating PREC, they can be exposed to litigation or creditor claims.
So, what can you do if you want to retain excess earnings within your corporation to take advantage of tax deferral opportunities? One option is to place those assets in a holding company. By keeping your excess earnings and accumulated assets in a holding company, you can retain and invest them as part of your corporate structure while removing them from direct ownership in the PREC.
Objective 2: Access to the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption (LCGE) on sale
When shares of a qualifying small business corporation are sold, gains realized on their sale can be sheltered from tax under the LCGE. With the right planning and structuring, that means you could shelter up to $892,218 (for 2021) of capital gains if you decide to sell your PREC to a child, colleague or arm’s length party.
While the rules to qualify for the LCGE are complex, they involve “purifying” the corporation for income tax purposes. This means holding assets that are primarily used to earn active business income in Canada, while limiting the accumulation of passive assets (such as cash and investments).
To enjoy the tax deferral advantages of holding accumulated assets under the corporate umbrella without losing access to the LCGE, proper structuring is essential. If a sale of your PREC is part of your exit plan, it’s important to optimize your structure early on.
Objective 3: Bring in other owners
Depending on your succession or retirement plans, you may want to bring new owners—such as a child, family member or business colleague—into your PREC at some point in the future. Ultimately, this will require you to think about how your ownership structure would potentially allow the new owner to participate in future growth, how to ensure a tax-efficient transition, how to effectively fund a share purchase and much more.
Although there are several mechanisms within a corporate structure that would allow you to achieve these objectives, these transactions are typically more efficient when you lay the groundwork at the outset. Ultimately, you’ll want a corporate structure that’s sufficiently flexible to allow for changes without undue administrative burdens, while enabling you to shift assets and ownership to meet your future transactional needs.
Objective 4: Preserve the preferential small business tax rate
In Canada, the small business deduction provides corporations with a reduced tax rate on the first $500,000 of active business income they earn. This business limit benefit, however, is reduced by $5 for every $1 of investment or passive income earned over $50,000. Because the $500,000 small business limit is shared by associated corporations, this so-called “passive income grind” can reduce the small business deduction available to a PREC, even if investment earnings are in a holding company.
If you intend to earn passive income within your corporate structure, it’s likely worthwhile to adopt a structure or investment strategy that doesn’t compromise your preferential small business tax rate—so you can optimize your after-tax returns.
Objective 5: Multiply the small business limit
As we just saw, the small business limit of $500,000 is shared between associated corporations. That means the deduction available may be limited for taxpayers with multiple corporations, or whose spouses or family members are involved in the PREC.
If you flip properties or have business ventures outside your real estate business, however, it may be possible to take advantage of the small business limit through multiple corporations. Once again, though, proper structuring is necessary to make it work.
Get it right from the start
Given the potential pitfalls of improperly structuring your PREC, it makes sense to get good advice from the start. To make sure you adopt a structure conducive to meeting your objectives, contact your Grant Thornton advisor.
For the latest insights and information on personal real estate corporations, visit our PREC hub.