No love for the taxman!
Posted Jan 16, 2012 1:47 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Small businesses are afraid of the country’s taxman!
A new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business has revealed the majority of respondents would give the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) a grade of ‘C’ or lower.
The Vice President of National Affairs, Corrine Pohlmann, admits the revenue agency has made strides to improve the system, but …
“Where there still needs to be work to be done is … dealing with the call centre and interacting with individuals,” Pohlmann tells 660News. “More importantly than ever is getting the right answer and feeling confident in the answer that you’re getting. And I think that’s where the anxiety still lies.”
Pohlmann says getting the straight goods from the CRA really is a pressing issue.
“It’s really about that unknown, about really not being sure all the time if you’re doing everything correctly,” she adds. “Even if you call CRA and ask for their advice, and then you follow that advice but it turns out to be incorrect, you’ll still be penalized for it.”
Part of the problem is there are no simple answers.
“It’s a very complex structure, the tax code,” says Pohlmann. “I think that alone intimidates a lot of people. As a small business owner, often you’re required not only to obviously pay your corporate income taxes or personal income taxes, but often you have to pay GST as well. And if you have employees, you have pay roll taxes. So there’s a lot to know.”
Pohlmann says the tax agency still has a long way to go to improve relations with small business owners, and recent improvements the CRA has made aren’t very evident to many Canadians.
The CFIB has a number of recommendations for the revenue agency in its report.
