Case study 1
Several years of deducted tax never claimed back
The client had held a flat in India for years and let it through an agent. Tax had been deducted from every payment, and no Indian return had ever been filed, because no demand had ever arrived. The work was to establish which years remained open, gather the deduction records against the credits actually received, compute the real taxable position for each year, and file. The engagement produced a filed set of open years and a claim for the excess deducted, together with a standing process so that following years would be reconciled as they happened rather than years later.
Case study 2
Rent taxed on the payment while expenses went unclaimed
Deduction had been taken from the rent as it was paid over, calculated on the full amount, while the client had been meeting municipal charges, loan interest and repairs out of her own pocket. Nothing linked the two. We assembled the expenditure with its evidence, set out the correct basis of assessment for the letting, and filed on that basis rather than on the figure the deduction had been worked out on. The engagement produced returns showing the actual taxable result of the letting, a recovery claim for the over-deduction, and a document list she could follow each year afterwards.
Case study 3
A transfer refused because the certification came last
The transfer had been requested first and the paperwork sought afterwards, which is the order that causes delay. The bank wanted certification that the tax position on the underlying income had been dealt with, and that certification depended on filings which had not been made. We reversed the sequence: established what the income was, brought the filings up to date, obtained the certification on the settled position, and only then went back to the bank. The engagement produced the filings, the certification and a completed transfer, along with a note of the order to follow next time.
Case study 4
Foreign tax credit claimed on the wrong figure
The client had claimed the whole amount deducted in India as a credit against tax at home and had filed nothing in India. Credit is given for tax properly payable, and an Indian return would have established a smaller figure, so the claim was overstated at home while the excess sat unrecovered in India. We filed the Indian years first, settled the actual Indian liability, then corrected the home-country claims to the settled amount. The engagement produced consistent filings on both sides and a recovery from India, in place of a position neither authority would have accepted on examination.
Case study 5
Sale proceeds credited without anyone checking the withholding
A flat in India had been sold and the proceeds credited without anyone considering which account they should reach or what had been withheld on the way. The client assumed the matter closed, because tax had plainly been taken. The work was to establish the correct computation of the gain, reconcile it against what had actually been withheld, and deal with the account the money had landed in before any transfer was attempted. The engagement produced a computed position for the sale, a claim for the amount withheld above it, and an account arrangement from which the balance could properly be moved.
Case study 6
An Indian pension taxed without the treaty ever being applied
A pension continued to be paid in India to a client who had settled abroad, and tax was deducted from each instalment. He had assumed, reasonably enough, that the deduction was the end of the matter. It was not. The treaty position on the pension had never been tested, and no Indian return had been filed to apply it. We established how the pension is treated under the treaty between the two countries, filed on that basis for the open years, and corrected the payer’s records for the future. The engagement produced filed years, a recovery claim, and a correct deduction going forward.
Case study 7
Trips That Added Up to a Filing Obligation
Short visits are tracked against a treaty threshold that is measured over a moving window rather than a calendar year. Where the threshold is passed, the obligation reaches back over the whole period.
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Case study 8
US Estate Tax on Assets a Canadian Did Not Know Were Exposed
US shares and US real estate sit inside the US estate tax net regardless of where the owner lives. The treaty provides relief that is proportionate rather than automatic, and the calculation depends on the worldwide estate.
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