Sunday News Roundup 21.10.17: Freeland sells OECD deal, CRA nightmare, tech deals, and more

Wrapping up the odds and ends in this week’s Canadian accounting news

Oct 17, 2021 Author: Canadian Accountant

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TORONTO, Oct. 17, 2021 – Now to the odds and ends in news from the Canadian accounting profession, from the OECD global tax deal to a few quick hits of news to further your reading.

Time for international tax planners to retire?

Unlike the bizarre musings of some Financial Post columnists, Allan Lanthier’s op-eds can always be counted on for thoughtful insight. In The OECD says goodbye to corporate tax avoidance? We'll see, Lanthier is skeptical about political support necessary in the United States to finalize the recent OECD deal, but suggests that it may be time for a downsizing of the transfer pricing sector. Again, we’ll see.

Freeland sells global tax deal

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland met with US Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, last Tuesday as she kicked off a week of selling the OECD tax deal. Freeland said Canada is still willing to impose a digital services tax if the accord, which could earn Canada up to $4.5 billion a year, fails to pass through the US political system. (By that time, there could be a new government in power.) Meanwhile, Terry Corcoran of the Financial Post, says this corporate tax mania will lead to the Organization for Economic Contraction and Decline.

Routine RRSP transfer a bureaucratic nightmare

Global News’ Consumer Matters reported on a BC man and his tax filing nightmare this past week on a dispute with the Canada Revenue Agency. The CRA assessed an RRSP transfer as income tax and it took media coverage for the CRA to quickly resolve the situation. The victim, Brian Kirkham, told a familiar refrain: “We didn’t count. It’s a big bureaucracy to even phone in and try and talk to someone there. You get the runaround and no one is paying attention and nobody cared.”

Poseidon captain may go down with the ship

Seven years after legal proceedings began in one of the more prominent Canadian corporate fraud cases, the American CEO of a Calgary oil and gas company faced forty years in jail. The United States Department of Justice filed charges this past week against Joseph A. Kostelecky, 60, of Dickinson, North Dakota. Siskinds LLP brought a class action lawsuit on behalf of shareholders against the company. Poseidon’s auditor, KPMG, and the bankruptcy monitor, PwC, were tied up in court for years filing applications.

Grant Thornton, Xero to boost women-owned businesses

Grant Thornton LLP has teamed up with the global small business platform Xero to launch Business Boost. The program will empower up to five women-owned small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to realize their potential with Grant Thornton’s experience and Xero’s cloud accounting technology.

Business Boost will provide up to five women-owned SMBs with a complimentary custom cloud ecosystem designed to help solve their business’ pain points and make them more efficient. Successful applicants will also receive two years of access to Xero’s cloud accounting platform, and more. The deadline for applications is November 5, 2021. More information can be found here.

Xero unveils new reporting features

Xero will launch a series of technology and design updates over the next six months, including new ways to access and search for reports, the ability to customise content and layout, add cell annotations, and build management reports. With more editing options and a refreshed design, accountants and bookkeepers will be able to better customise reports to suit their unique needs and style. Watch this YouTube video for a sneak peek.

MNP chooses Artiffex investment portfolio automation

Homegrown national accounting firm MNP has signed a multi-year agreement with Artiffex to automate the reconciliation of investment portfolios across its offices in Canada. MNP says the automated platform shall make their operations more competitive by freeing up time, reducing errors due to manual data entry, and allowing staff to become better strategic advisors to clients across the country.