Jones and Cosman Chartered Professional Accountants
25 Laidlaw M6K1X3 Toronto, ON, Canada

Reminder you should count your inventory today. Amazon inventory you can pull reports at a later date but stuff at prep centers, your house, or in the way you should count. Everyone else with Dec. 31 year ends or sole proprietorships need to count today.

Did you work from home as an employee during Covid in 2020? CRA announced a simple flat-rate method that will allow employess to claim $2 for each day they worked at home up to a maximum of $400 and not have to get an employer to complete a T2200. Now lots of employees it will make more sense to get a T2200 still completed and Sole props generally you will want to still claim your home office, but this is a little something for normal employees who worked from home. More info here and more details about the program. https://www.canada.ca//introducing-a-simplified-process-fo

New Episode: If you are new to the world of affiliate marketing then my interview with Spencer Mecham of Buildapreneur.com today is going to be good and could m...otivate you to start. We discuss his affiliate marketing journey, what his team looks like, what worked for him, and some advice for people starting out. Like most things, it isn’t easy but can lead to some good income down the road. Spencer started only 4 years ago and has a full-time income from affiliate marketing. He teaches affiliate marketing and sells products..so much in fact one company pays for his car each month as long as he continues with them. In this episode we talk about: Clickfunnels One Funnel Away Challenge which is awesome value for getting started in affiliate marketing tools: https://neon.ly/clickfunnels Spencers Blog: https://buildapreneur.com/ Spencers Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@spencerhacks Quickbooks https://refer.quickbooks.ca/s/Rob015 Quickbooks Chart of Accounts: https://www.thesellersacademy.com/quickbookschart Listen at all the usual locations. https://sellingfromthebeach.com/listen Apple https://podcasts.apple.com//selling-from-the-/id1529509270 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5UwOA6LuGRRzmMSk5iVwfr Iheart radio https://www.iheart.com//269-selling-from-the-beach-715656/ Google https://podcasts.google.com//aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb

New Episode: Selling Art on Instagram Is Instagram the new art gallery where you browse and purchase art directly from the artist? On this episode, I talk with ...Kyra Kendall who is a full-time artist who sells 97% of her artwork direct to customers on Instagram. She gives us some insight on her approach and some great tips to get started selling including a very cool promotion that created a lot of customer engagement. She is a one-person entrepreneur that has taken her joy of painting and built a business around it. It was so fun to listen to her talk Instagram strategies, her different customers, what she did to start out when no one knew her, along with some great advice for just getting started. She takes us through starting on Etsy and how she grew into a full-time operations.still as a sole entrepreneur. The entire episode we cover some great topics and nuggets. https://sellingfromthebeach.com/listen Apple https://podcasts.apple.com//selling-from-the-/id1529509270 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5UwOA6LuGRRzmMSk5iVwfr Iheart radio https://www.iheart.com//269-selling-from-the-beach-715656/ Google https://podcasts.google.com//aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb In this Episode we talk about: [Kyra's Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/kendallkyra/) https://www.instagram.com/kendallkyra/ [Kyra's Website](https://www.kyrakendall.com/) https://www.kyrakendall.com/ [Sticker Mule](https://www.stickermule.com/unlock?ref_id=8691501701...) https://www.stickermule.com/unlock?ref_id=8691501701...

New Episode: Entrepreneurship is Hard When You Are 25 Selling 7 Figures with Dickson Leung. For those of you who don't know, Dickson is an experienced amazon s...eller who continues to grow year over year! In this episode we talk about his journey and about the struggles with being an entrepreneur. It isn't always easy taking this road and going against the normal social norms of "going to school, getting a nice corporate job" and what so many people get sucked into for their entire lives. If you enjoy any of the content on this podcast or on our sites, please take the 2 minutes to leave a review on the podcast on any of the platforms, Apple, Spotify, Google and more. We only have a few reviews compared to the number of downloads. It only takes a couple minutes and really means a lot if you can leave a review. https://sellingfromthebeach.com/listen Apple https://podcasts.apple.com//selling-from-the-/id1529509270 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/5UwOA6LuGRRzmMSk5iVwfr Iheart radio https://www.iheart.com//269-selling-from-the-beach-715656/ Google https://podcasts.google.com//aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb

Attention Amazon Sellers! Are you tired of being restricted from selling some of the best toys and brands? Our Ungating course is exactly what you need then. https://www.thesellersacademy.com/sales-page1587785621002

Interested in what you can deduct working from home? Checkout our latest blog. https://www.jonescosman.com/working-from-home-tax-implicat/

Some new benefits for Ontario Families that might be worth a look if you have children 0-12. https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-support-families

Here is more info about the Emergency Response Benefit. Applications will start next Monday, April 6th and based on your birth month....yeah sure..... https://www.canada.ca//benef/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html I would HIGHLY suggest everyone get your CRA my account set up if you have not already done this. https://www.canada.ca//e-services/account-individuals.html... WHO CAN APPLY The CERB will be available to workers: residing in Canada, who are at least 15 years old; who have stopped working because of COVID-19 or are eligible for Employment Insurance regular or sickness benefits; who had income of at least $5,000 in 2019 or in the 12 months prior to the date of their application; and who are or expect to be without employment or self-employment income for at least 14 consecutive days in the initial four-week period. The income of at least $5,000 may be from any or a combination of the following sources: employment; self-employment; maternity and parental benefits under the Employment Insurance program and/or similar benefits paid in Quebec under the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan. The Benefit is only available to individuals who stopped work and are not earning employment or self-employment income as a result of reasons related to COVID-19. If you have not stopped working because of COVID-19, you are not eligible for the Benefit.

Filing Season Deadline Extensions In order to provide greater flexibility to Canadians who may be experiencing hardships during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canada Revenue Agency will defer the filing due date for the 2019 tax returns of individuals, including certain trusts. For individuals (other than trusts), the return filing due date will be deferred until June 1, 2020. However, the Agency encourages individuals who expect to receive benefits under the GSTC or the Canada C...hild Benefit not to delay the filing of their return to ensure their entitlements for the 2020-21 benefit year are properly determined. For trusts having a taxation year ending on December 31, 2019, the return filing due date will be deferred until May 1, 2020. The Canada Revenue Agency will allow all taxpayers to defer, until after August 31, 2020, the payment of any income tax amounts that become owing on or after today and before September 2020. This relief would apply to tax balances due, as well as instalments, under Part I of the Income Tax Act. No interest or penalties will accumulate on these amounts during this period.

CRA has a new feature showing cheques they might have sent you and you didn't cash. Check to see if have some missing money! https://www.jonescosman.com/did-cra-send-you-money-and-you/

Time to start 2020 Planning! As Q4 finishes up in a few weeks why not pick up our new 2020 Amazon Seller Planner and start getting organized for the next year. We have updated this year to include some scripts for opening wholesale accounts and rebuttals, lead tracking worksheets and some other business planning worksheets.... As with last years version, it still has a weekly planner, weekly tasks and monthly tasks to keep you organized along with some key dates and things to remember during the year. It is available on .ca and com and in two sizes. I prefer the bigger one but we did get some people ask about a smaller version. Amazon.ca Larger 8 x 10 [https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-2//1710604492](https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-2//1710604492) Amazon.ca Smaller 6 x 9 [https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-2//1670149056](https://www.amazon.ca/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-2//1670149056) Amazon.com Larger 8 x 10 [https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-//1710604492](https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-//1710604492) Amazon.com Smaller 6 x 9 [https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-//1670149056](https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Sellers-Planner-//1670149056) Cheers to a strong Q4 and crushing 2020!

Here is a step by step guide that might work for people trying to open a US based Amex. https://www.jonescosman.com/how-to-get-a-us-dollar-us-base/

CRA has a new feature showing cheques they might have sent you and you didnt cash. Check to see if have some missing money! https://www.jonescosman.com/did-cra-send-you-money-and-you/

A common question we get is switching from a sole prop to a corporation for amazon sellers, so we put together a little checklist to help out. https://www.jonescosman.com/incorporation-checklist-for-ca/

They are finally ready! Our template and courses designed specifically for Canadian Amazon Sellers! Marsha and I are happy to release 4 new products that we have created specifically for Canadian Amazon Sellers. Using our years of experience with amazon clients, we put together templates and video courses made for Canadians. We are super excited for these. We created them for sellers looking for great do it yourself solutions and specifically tailored to Canadian sellers an...d their unique challenges. #1. Bookkeeping Template this is an excel based template great for sole proprietors for tracking all their expenses and revenues for amazon sellers both on .com and .ca. It does foreign exchange, GST/HST and US purchases. Template and videos walking through how to use it. #2. How to File GST/HST how to pull reports and mine the data to file your own return. Videos walking through how to pull the data and complete the return. #3. How to File BC PST How to pull reports and mine the data to file your own return. Videos walking through how to pull the data and complete the return. #4. Quickbooks Chart of Accounts This excel file you can easily upload in Quickbooks all the amazon.ca and .com revenue and expense accounts into your chart of accounts. Includes videos how to upload and set up in QuickBooks sub accounts and taxes. BONUS: Free membership site There is so much valuable info I find I decided to put it into a free membership site anyone can join. I will update this weekly with additional info as I come across it. Sign up towards the bottom of the page. Here is the link to our store. Any questions/feedback please let us know. Im sure as people start purchasing, there will be feedback and probably something not clear so we are here to answer questions and/or update with new videos! https://www.thesellersacademy.com/store-front

Online seller trying to move your USD and CDN around? Here is a blog post we did about how to move the cash around and get a good FX rate. https://www.jonescosman.com/how-do-i-get-us-dollar-payment/

If you are an online seller, please take a minute and join our new facebook group! Lots of great info and discussions already!

#quickbooks If you are going to make the commitment and get your bookkeeping organized we highly suggest getting quickbooks. We have clients who use waveapps which is free, but like anything you get what you pay for (the wave memorization does not work well). What we really like about QuickBooks is the memorization of classifying expenses. Once you set some rules it will remember where to classify and to add GST/HST or exempt. So if you purchase from a lot of the same pla...ces, once you sync your accounts half the work will be done already! If you are selling both .com and .ca you will need the Essentials level to get the multi-currency. If you are only dealing with Canadian dollars the Easy Start will work fine. Here is my affiliate link below if you decide to sign up and what to give me a little bit of cash/love back, it won't cost you anything and you'll get a discount for 6 months. See more

CRA has traditionally been denying a lot of home office claims for employees/owners fo corporations and it is really not fair, since sole props are able to claim it. Last night CRA sent out this message and seems like they are going to reverse previous decisions, maybe give a little money back. This is a good sign on home office claims for corporations. Employment expenses review ... Each year, the Canada Revenue Agency reviews a number of returns to ensure that taxpayers are entitled to the claims that they have made, and that amounts claimed have been correctly calculated. These reviews are an important part of our compliance activities to maintain the integrity of, and Canadians' confidence in, Canadas tax system. In the fall of 2017, the CRA began reviewing a small percentage of individual tax returns when we detected a trend in the normal course of our regular reviews. The review focused on other employment expenses claimed on line 229 of the T1 Individual Income Tax and Benefits Return by shareholder-employees. Based on the feedback we received from industry stakeholders in recent weeks, it became clear that there was confusion among taxpayers, who were the subject of these reviews, as to how they should be claiming other employment expenses. The Canadian tax system is based on self-assessment, which is in turn supported by clear guidelines for taxpayers and their representatives. In this case, the Agency agrees with our industry stakeholders that additional consultation and new guidance products are necessary. Effective immediately, the Agency will stop reviewing and disallowing other employment expenses claimed on line 229 of the T1 Individual Income Tax and Benefits Return by shareholder-employees. We will also reverse those reassessments specific to line 229 already issued during the review period September 1, 2017 to February 10, 2018. Specifically, taxpayers who were major shareholder and owners of a corporation and received a letter from the Special Assessment Program of the Canada Revenue Agency dated between September 1, 2017 and February 10, 2018 indicating that they were reviewed for other employment expenses claimed on line 229 of the T1 Individual Income Tax and Benefits Return. Taxpayers involved in these reviews will be contacted by letter to inform them of this decision. Consultation will be undertaken with stakeholders in the tax professional community to clarify the requirement of employer certification under Subsection 8(10) of the Income Tax Act as it relates to shareholder-employees. It is expected that clarification will be issued to take effect in the 2019 tax year. The Agency will issue guidance products on this issue well in advance of any future reviews to allow taxpayers, and their representatives, reasonable time to adjust to their tax filing requirements.

Here is an interview I did with Tom Wang on his FBA Hustlers group chatting about taxes and selling on Amazon. Here is a link to Tom's Group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/amzhustlers/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqer5CDEB8k

Here is a video on how to set up your Amazon.ca HST/GST sales tax collections that might help some new sellers or new HST/GST registrants. We usually suggest clients set up and register for HST from the start. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuZJ-np5cps

Stop doing your own bookkeeping! We have started accepting bookkeeping clients again and have put together some great monthly options for e-commerce sellers who just want to offload this to us. We also offer a setup service for new sellers to get their bookkeeping right from the start. We will set up your system and even do one months bookkeeping and then you can take it over. This way you have things set up right from the start and a month done for you correctly to follow. Click to see more details. http://www.jonescosman.com/services/

We often get asked how do we stay organized? It's a bit old school but this is what we use to stay on track and prioritize our work and clients. During the day we add items and then at the end of the day we prioritize what to work on the next day. http://amzn.to/2zH9tlZ

Amazon Sellers - How to Put Together a Year End Inventory Report http://www.jonescosman.com/canadian-amazon-sellers-year-en/

We often get asked how do we stay organized? Its a bit old school but this is what we use to stay on track and prioritize our work and clients. During the day we add items and then at the end of the day we prioritize what to work on the next day. http://amzn.to/2zH9tlZ

http://blog.turbotax.ca/federal-education-and-textbook-cre/

http://blog.turbotax.ca/mutual-funds-and-taxes/

Tax slips are all out now and its time to gather everything up. Contact us to set up an appointment or email us your documents to get started on your tax return. If you have questions or would like one of our sole prop templates let us know and we'll email it over.

Happy new year and happy tax season! If you would like to receive additional email updates from us, please sign up on our new email list on the following link or on our website. We won't send any more emails to you unless you do from now on. http://eepurl.com/bcLLgj Second, we wanted to send along a few tax related things to think about.... RRSP deadline is March 2nd. If you are thinking about making contributions and not sure how much to make and what that means for your taxes this year; we can help run a quick estimate for you. Just send us your last paystub (or T4) and we can make an estimate for you. Should you file your return with your spouse? We always say yes, but if you have a child under 18 years old, you could get another $2,000 Family Tax Cut by filing together this year under the new 2014 tax changes that allow some income splitting. Family loans Have you thought about family income splitting? The CRAs low prescribed interest rate once again offers a great opportunity to enter into income-splitting loan arrangements with family members or a family trust. By locking in a family loan at the 1% rate before the second quarter of 2015, and by having the family member invest the lent funds at a higher rate of return, you can shift investment income earned on the lent funds to your spouse or another family member who has little or no other income and thus pays little or no tax. If properly implemented, you can effectively arrange for all investment income earned over 1% to be taxed at the lower-income-earning family members tax rate indefinitely. TFSA - Don't forget the TFSA contribution room up to at least $36,500 in 2015. These accounts offer a great way to earn tax free investment income. Universal Child Care Benefit: In 2015 this has increased, but when are you going to receive it? July 2015 is the big payday since the increase will accrue but not get paid out until then. If you know anyone who could use our services, we appreciate new clients and there is nothing better than a referral! Look forward to hearing from you this year!

Here is a good video outlining the changes to the UCCB and when you'll actually receive your money...hint, the windfall will come in July! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG7gS3lmu10

Tax free savings accounts (TFSA) can provide a great opportunity to contribute excess funds and have them make money tax free. Contributions can be made any time during the year and withdrawn at any point without a tax penalty. These accounts can serve as investment accounts or temporary savings accounts. If you are saving for something, consider using a TFSA as any interest or return will be tax free. If you are planning to withdraw and then re-contribute, consider doing it at the end of the year. Individuals can not re-contribute the same year as they take out funds, so consider withdrawing towards the end of the year so you can re-contribute January 1st.

Here is a good video outlining the changes to the UCCB and when youll actually receive your money...hint, the windfall will come in July! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG7gS3lmu10

You can rest assured if you get your tax return in before March 31 a 10 day refund turn around is expected from CRA. Send us your taxes before the rush!

Accounting by email! We work a lot by email as so many clients don't have time to take personal calls at work or schedule calls or office visits. Reply to our questions and send info on your schedule with us!

Accounting by email! We work a lot by email as so many clients dont have time to take personal calls at work or schedule calls or office visits. Reply to our questions and send info on your schedule with us!

Pay your bills as they arrive: If you have set up pre-authorized payments, fine pay on due dates. If you are good at managing money wait until the deadline. BUT, if you have the cash, just pay on time. Too often clients forget to pay bills on time or late and end up with large interest payments. This is especially true for clients who put a lot of purchases on a credit card. Missing your payment by a day can be a big interest charge that directly hits your profit.

Year End Small Business Tips: Buy any equipment now before year end. Youll only be able to get 50% capital cost deduction, but it will set you up for next year with a larger deduction base! Consider moving income/revenue into January to reduce income this year. What is only a few days? Finally, look to make business expense purchases now if needed to reduce 2013 income. Maybe increase office supplies or anything else that might be low.

Year End Small Business Tips: Buy any equipment now before year end. You'll only be able to get 50% capital cost deduction, but it will set you up for next year with a larger deduction base! Consider moving income/revenue into January to reduce income this year. What is only a few days? Finally, look to make business expense purchases now if needed to reduce 2013 income. Maybe increase office supplies or anything else that might be low.