Thinking ahead never hurt anyone...

Well, we have one more day left this year. My kids (early teens) are starting on the transition phrases such as “…see you next year” or “…I’ll wait till next year to do that!”. All the phrases we learnt to say decades ago when we experienced a new year. The humor wears off after a few decades, yet we chuckle along for posterity.
I’ve taken on a daunting task these last couple years. Promoting incorporation and subsistence allowance in an industry that is 80-90% self-employed is a monster job. In the words of Yancy from The Waltons “…I thought this would be a much bigger task than I thought it would be!”
I estimated five to eight years for saturation to take place in the industry… in some respects I guess I was right. However, the industry seems to have sat up and taken notice in respectable size pockets across Canada. When I started this blog (November 1st), I settled on not “evaluating” success for two years. However, today the consistent volume of hits (as well as other writers commenting in their articles) has convinced me that many are listening, and not just through publicity but firms and individual operators as well.
There is only one problem with a mass movement, it is disorganization. I am still concerned with the implementation of the employer-employee agreement. Talking to as many accountants and operators as I have these last couple years I have concluded that there are a whole host of operators (and accountants) not fully complying with employee agreements. Their “audit trail” looks virtually identical to self-employed status. This will NOT satisfy the CRA, at least not without a needless fight. Both accountants and operators must follow the rules of the agreement and integrate their monthly records with CRA’s system. There must be a regular salary, regular source deduction remittance, accurate subsistence allowance checks etc. If the operator hasn’t changed their cash flow habits, chances are it’s not done right.
As the industry ramps up usage of the system CRA WILL retaliate! It’s hard to ignore $100-200 million dollars in revenue. They may not retaliate publicly but probably through individual disqualification and intimidation. Without a universal standard, national support and networking, private accounting firms are vulnerable to CRA bullying. If you’re an accountant you know what I mean, if you’re an operator who is choosing an accounting firm (and the one who will ultimately defend it) it is your primary concern. If you are required to sign a waver just remember, you are on your own, you are officially “SELF-ensured”. You may only have a year or three to prepare your personal system for defense. It truly is the time to think ahead.