Personal services business risk — can I handle this myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: where the corporation is effectively an incorporated employee, its income is taxed punitively and most expenses are disallowed.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
What makes a corporation a personal services business?
A corporation risks being treated as a personal services business when the individual providing services through it would, on the facts, look like an employee of the client rather than an independent contractor. Factors include control over how the work is done, whether the individual could reasonably be replaced by someone else, and whether they carry the ownership of tools and financial risk of an independent business. We test the arrangement against those factors before it is challenged rather than after.
Why does personal services business status change how income is taxed?
A corporation classified this way loses several deductions ordinarily available to a corporation, so its income is taxed closer to what an employee would pay, without employment benefits attaching to it. The gap between the two outcomes is often the whole reason the structure is worth reviewing early. We model both outcomes for a given contract before it starts so the individual understands the exposure rather than discovering it during a reassessment.
Can restructuring a contract reduce personal services business exposure?
Sometimes, though the contract wording is only one input; tax authorities look at how the relationship actually operates day to day, not just what the agreement says. We review the degree of control the client exercises, whether the individual can subcontract or bring on staff, and whether they bear meaningful business risk, then advise on changes that would genuinely shift the substance of the arrangement rather than only its paperwork.
Is moving money between my own accounts in two countries taxable?
Moving your own capital between your own accounts is not itself income, so the transfer is not what creates tax. What can create tax or reporting is the income the money earned before it moved, a foreign-exchange gain on certain holdings, and the reporting obligations the balances themselves trigger — foreign account and asset reports keyed to balances rather than income. Remittances out of some countries also need certification before the bank will send them. See foreign account reporting.
How do I actually stop being taxed twice?
In this order. Fix your residence under each country's own rules, and if both claim you, apply the treaty tie-breaker. Identify where each type of income is sourced. Read the article that covers that income type, because it decides who taxes and at what maximum rate. Then claim the relief on the residence-country return, with proof of the foreign tax. Most of the tax people lose to double taxation is lost at the last step, not the first. See how double taxation is relieved.
