Taxation quick-reference checks for taxpayer classification, income source, calculations, compliance, planning, objections, and risk-aware recommendations.
Use this cheat sheet after reading the Taxation guide pages. It compresses the response habits needed for corporate tax, personal tax, compliance, planning, assessments, and appeals.
| Step | Question | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Taxpayer | Who is taxed, and what is their status, residency, relationship, or structure? | Taxpayer classification. |
| 2. Transaction | What income, payment, benefit, transfer, filing event, or CRA document appears? | Issue classification. |
| 3. Source | What statute, CRA source, schedule, agreement, or record supports the treatment? | Source-supported rule. |
| 4. Calculation | What amount changes taxable income, tax payable, balance due, or cash flow? | Quantified tax effect when needed. |
| 5. Advice | What should the taxpayer do, by when, and with what risk or documentation? | Recommendation. |
Keep income, liability, and payment layers separate:
[ \text{Taxable income} = \text{Income inclusions} - \text{Permitted deductions} ]
[ \text{Balance due or refund} = \text{Net taxes payable} - \text{Instalments, withholdings, and credits applied} ]
The case response should explain what the number means: payment, refund, instalment requirement, filing consequence, planning choice, or support needed.
| Topic | Trigger | Response move |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate Tax | Corporation type, CCPC status, shareholder benefit, corporate income, GST/HST, reorganization, sale, or owner-manager plan appears. | Classify the corporation and relationship, then show entity-level and shareholder-level tax effects. |
| Personal Tax | Residency, employment income, self-employment, trust, estate, spouse, registered plan, non-resident, deduction, or credit appears. | Classify the taxpayer and income source before calculating taxable income or taxes payable. |
| Assessments and Appeals | Notice, reassessment, missed deadline, objection, evidence gap, or CRA dispute appears. | Preserve rights, evaluate support, and recommend an action proportional to risk and amount at stake. |
Do not apply a rule before identifying who is being advised.
| Taxpayer cue | Ask next | Response move |
|---|---|---|
| Corporation, shareholder, CCPC, dividend, salary, loan, sale of shares, or reorganization | Is the issue at the corporate level, shareholder level, or both? | Explain both levels when the case links entity and owner consequences. |
| Individual, spouse, child, estate, trust, partnership, or non-resident | Who earns, receives, controls, or is allocated the income? | Classify the person or entity before calculating. |
| Employment, business, investment, capital, or property facts | What is the source and timing of income? | Separate income inclusion from deduction, credit, or filing effect. |
| GST/HST, payroll, instalment, return, assessment, or CRA notice | What compliance obligation or deadline is triggered? | State the filing, payment, support, objection, or appeal action. |
| Planning alternative or election | What risk, documentation, deadline, or CRA challenge could affect the advice? | Recommend only after stating the constraint. |
Keep these layers distinct in a case response.
| Layer | Do not confuse it with | Strong output |
|---|---|---|
| Income inclusion | Taxes payable | Amount included and why. |
| Deduction | Credit or payment | Deduction allowed or denied and effect on taxable income. |
| Taxable income | Cash balance due | Taxable income after inclusions and deductions. |
| Taxes payable | Instalments or withholdings | Liability before payments already made. |
| Balance due or refund | Planning benefit | Amount still payable or refundable after credits and remittances. |
| Filing deadline | Objection deadline | Required date and consequence of missing it. |
Tax recommendations should name the practical condition that makes advice usable.
| If the issue involves | Check this |
|---|---|
| Related parties | Relationship, fair value, benefit, attribution, and documentation. |
| Owner-manager compensation | Salary, dividend, benefit, payroll, corporate deduction, personal income, and cash flow. |
| Sale or reorganization | Taxpayer, asset or share form, elections, adjusted cost base, proceeds, timing, and support. |
| Trust or estate | Who is taxed, allocation timing, beneficiary impact, and documentation. |
| CRA assessment | Notice date, objection deadline, evidence, payment decision, and likelihood of success. |
| GST/HST | Registration, collection, input tax credits, filing, and cash-flow effect. |
| Mistake | Correction |
|---|---|
| Calculating without identifying the taxpayer. | Classification controls residency, source, rate, filing, and relationship consequences. |
| Mixing taxable income with taxes payable. | Keep income adjustments separate from credits, instalments, and final balance. |
| Treating corporate and personal effects separately in owner-manager cases. | Explain both levels when dividends, salary, loans, benefits, or share transactions appear. |
| Recommending a plan without support. | State the source, election, deadline, documentation, and CRA challenge risk. |
| Ignoring appeal deadlines. | Identify the CRA document and deadline before discussing strategy. |
| Need | Sentence frame |
|---|---|
| Taxpayer | “The taxpayer is [person/entity], and the relevant status is [residency/relationship/CCPC/shareholder/etc.].” |
| Transaction | “The transaction is [event], which affects [income/deduction/benefit/capital/GST/HST/filing/objection].” |
| Calculation | “The tax effect is [amount or direction], which changes [taxable income/taxes payable/balance due/cash flow].” |
| Risk | “The main risk is [deadline/source/relationship/valuation/documentation/CRA challenge].” |
| Advice | “The taxpayer should [file/elect/object/document/pay/restructure/disclose] by [timing] because [reason].” |
Before a timed Taxation case, run this sequence:
| Question | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Who is the taxpayer? | Prevents wrong-rule answers. |
| What happened? | Identifies the transaction layer. |
| What amount or deadline changes? | Forces calculation or compliance consequence. |
| What support or risk matters? | Prevents unsupported planning advice. |
| What should be done next? | Turns rule knowledge into professional advice. |
Before leaving a Taxation response, confirm that each issue has a taxpayer, transaction, source or rule, calculation or filing effect, risk, deadline if relevant, and recommendation.