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Dear BC Politicians,

If we have clients who have not called their energy suppliers to remove the HST Residential Energy Credit from their energy bills, and they wish to report and pay what they owe, what would the process look like?

Would they have to remit the entire amount, and then claim a rebate, or can you simplify this for us as I am positive that the compliance on this was almost nil.

I blogged and wrote about it, but I'm sure it wasn't done.

For someone with a home office, who has energy bills of about $2500 a year, that's about $500 in credit over the period from July 1, 2010 to March 31, 2013.

Most people's home office is about 10 or 15% of their home, so this is about $50 or $75 they owe net of a reimbursement. Of course, if they all wait, and don't do this within 2 years of claiming the credit illegally, you could have a huge cash grab on your hands, at $500 x 400,000 = $20 Million, yes, it does add up quickly.

Yes, there are 400,000 small business's in BC, and a good number of them have home offices and yes, that does constitute a significant figure, as in 400,000 x $50 is about $2 Million dollars.

Can we please have a process that will clean this up and make it easy for people to comply?

We really don't need more red tape for the sake of $50 or $75 from each small business. And we really can't afford the ill will of $500 per plus penalties of 10% or 25% as currently set out in the legislation.

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

Same trip, same dates, two completely different insurance plans, same person.

Double insuring, it's a perfect recipe for serious trouble if there's ever a potential claim.

It's considered 'unjust enrichment' if you attempt to claim from both.

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Double+insurance

I've always been annoyed that CRA charges for their views. I can't believe we pay their salaries and they charge us for their product, but I suppose it's a way to keep down costs.

That's why it was such a find today, thanks Eve (CGA Canada) for noticing this link

Here's a lawyer who is paying for CRA views to drive traffic to his website, so for now, it's free, but for how long? I called him, and he's paying over $30,000 a year for this privilege, so make it worth his while.

Did you know that to obtain these views, most accountants and lawyers pay CCH or Carswell anywhere from $1500 for a sole practitioner to many thousands per year to gain access?

The history isn't there, it's only current access since last fall I believe, but here you are, the inside scoop daily:

http://taxinterpretations.com/

Canadian MoneySaver is hosting information sessions for the full day at UBC in the Student Union Building. 

It's only $30 plus tax. (pssst...if you wait until April 1 to sign up it's only GST)

Why not sign up for a financial spa day?

Hear some great speakers, clear your mind to think about your money and your paper...

And come say hi! I'd love to meet you.

http://www.canadianmoneysaver.ca/

CRA has a tax tip about self-employment reporting today and that's great, but how and why do you go about complying with their rules?

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/txtps/2013/tt130328-eng.html?utm_source=mediaroom&utm_medium=eml

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the paper and all the rules!

I can help with the tools to learn about how to use QuickBooks and Quicken. I have webinars, making it affordable to learn how to keep records.

I can also help with designing your record keeping systems using QuickBooks, either desktop or online, and Quicken. That's for when you've learned how the software works, but now, you have no clue how to make that work for you. We look at what you're doing, and we custom design your system to fit what you're doing. It really helps if you already know how the software works before you start doing this. That's why I recommend the webinars before you start designing your system. This part will cost way more if you haven't watched the webinars first. The webinars are cheap by comparison, at $290.00 for a whole raft of stuff to help you learn first before you leap.

This February, I presented a webinar series on record keeping for non corporate business. For five hours we examined what it means to keep records for your business. This isn't about how to use QuickBooks, it's about how to comply with the rules.

Why do any of this? Why keep records?

It's simple really. It's to get financing. To save money so you can afford to stay self-employed and feed your family, and put a roof over their heads. No banker is going to look at you if you aren't keeping proper records. They'll want nothing to do with you. And most Canadian business's start with a $5,000 credit card. How ridiculous is that? Not, if you've just been laid off or downsized, and need to get some cash flow happening. The problem is that's a short term solution that isn't going to help you much in the longer term. And by then, if you haven't developed some good habits, you're going to end up in bankruptcy.

If you want to grow your business, and, even more important than just growing your business, get financing to fund that growth, or even just to get a mortgage to house your family while you're growing your business, these five webinars cover what you'll need to know about how to keep records so a banker will look at you seriously!

Being self-employed, it sounds so easy, but really, if you want to move beyond working in your business, to working on your business, there is so much to know about how and why you'll want to keep proper records so you can relax and succeed!

http://www.taxdetective.ca/keeping_records_business.html

During the reign of the HST in BC we who had home offices were supposed to notify our suppliers of energy to remove us from this residential energy rebate program as we weren't entitled to the entire amount, and would have to apply for a partial rebate.

I don't know about you, but I did contact my energy suppliers to remove the credit from my energy bills, but I never applied for the partial rebate. It seemed like too much trouble.

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=8F921DD0AA644FAA8B78618D2C73357E&title=Residential%20Energy%20Credit%20and%20Rebate%20Program

But now, of course, we're on record as a business premise with the energy providers, and there are differentials on rates for business versus residential users.

I plan to call them next month to ask if because I work from home and have this 'business' status is my rate charged for energy different than just a normal residential rate?

Will keep you posted.