Do you add a percentage for rush work?
Nothing is added after the fact. Where a compressed timetable changes what the work costs, it is in the number you agree before the work starts, and the quote says so. If you would rather not pay for the compression, we will tell you what the realistic timetable is instead.
Can you get a late-filing penalty removed?
The penalty belongs to the tax authority, so nobody can simply remove it. What exists is a relief route: each authority has its own process for cases with a recognised explanation, and the strength of an application depends on the facts and on the filings being brought current. We tell you honestly how a case looks before it is made.
Is a late return more expensive to prepare?
Usually it is a larger engagement rather than a more expensive one — several years instead of one, often with records to rebuild. Each year is scoped and quoted, so you can see what bringing the whole set current costs before committing to it.
Will I be charged extra if I need my return done this week?
Nothing is added to an invoice because a file turned out to be urgent. If meeting your date means moving work that is already scheduled, that is discussed on the first call and built into the fixed fee you agree before anything starts. You see what the compressed timetable costs and what the ordinary one costs, and you choose between them. Where the date cannot be met at the standard the work needs, we say so rather than accept the engagement. On a cross-border file, an unverified treaty position filed in a hurry costs far more to unpick later than a late filing does.
Can an accountant get my late-filing penalty cancelled?
The penalty is charged by the tax authority under its own rules, so no adviser can simply remove it. Two separate things can be done. The first is to file correctly and quickly, because the penalty and the interest running on it generally stop growing once the return is in. The second is a relief application, where the authority has a route for taxpayers whose circumstances it recognises; its strength depends on the facts and on the outstanding filings being brought current first. We tell you how an application looks before it is made rather than after.
How much does it cost to file several years of back returns?
It is quoted year by year, and the total is agreed in writing before the first one is prepared. A catch-up is normally a larger engagement rather than a dearer one: the same work repeated, with records to rebuild where statements and receipts have gone. Scoping asks how many years, which countries, and what has to be reconstructed. Sequence matters as well. The earliest unfiled year usually has to be prepared first because it fixes balances the later years carry forward, so the order of work is part of what you agree to.
Why does a rush job cost more if the work is the same?
The work is the same. What changes is everything it displaces. A file that has to be finished this week is finished ahead of files already in the queue, and somebody carries the cost of that reordering. Quoting it before you commit puts the decision with you: the compressed timetable has a price, and you can weigh it against how much the deadline actually matters. A charge that appears afterwards takes the same money and removes the choice, which is the reason we do not use one.
Do you take on files the day before the deadline?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. The question we ask is whether the work can be finished properly in the time left, not whether the date is close. Where it can, the compressed timetable is priced into the quote and the deadline is treated as part of the scope. Where it cannot, we say so on the first call and set out what filing slightly late actually involves, so you can weigh a correct return against an on-time one. Declining is occasionally the honest answer, and we would rather give it early than discover it halfway through.
Is the quote still fixed if my file turns out to be late?
Yes. Lateness changes the scope of an engagement, often adding years, reconstruction work and sometimes a relief application alongside the returns, but it does not change how the fee is set. Everything in scope is priced in writing before the work begins. If the facts turn out to be different from what you described, we re-quote and you decide before we carry on. What never happens is a surcharge arriving on the invoice at the end because the file proved harder or more urgent than expected.
How much foreign income is tax-free in Canada?
None of it is tax-free for being foreign. A Canadian resident is taxed on worldwide income, so foreign salary, interest, dividends, rent and gains all go on the return, converted to Canadian dollars. What genuinely reduces the bill is the basic personal amount, the credit for foreign tax already paid, and any treaty article that exempts a specific type of income. The reporting thresholds people have in mind — the foreign property statement, for one — govern reporting, not exemption. See the foreign tax credit.
How does the treaty tie-breaker work when both countries say I am resident?
As a sequence, stopping at the first test that gives an answer: where you have a permanent home available; if in both or neither, where your centre of vital interests is; then habitual abode; then nationality; and if all of those tie, the two tax authorities decide by agreement. It is evidential rather than elective — you do not choose your treaty residence, you demonstrate it, which makes the record of homes, family and time the substance of the claim. See tie-breaking dual residency.
