s.247 contemporaneous documentation (Canada) — 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: the records must describe the property or services, the terms, the participants, the functions and risks, the method chosen and why, and the comparables relied on.
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 does a transfer pricing benchmarking study do?
It evidences that your related-party pricing sits within the range independent parties achieve. The work is comparison: identify companies or transactions genuinely similar in function, risk and assets, compute their margins, and show where your result falls against that range. Done before the filing deadline it supports the position; produced afterwards under audit it carries far less weight. See benchmarking study.
Can you give a plain transfer pricing example?
A Canadian company manufactures at a cost of one hundred and its US subsidiary sells to customers for one hundred and eighty. If the parent invoices the subsidiary at one hundred and ten, most of the margin is taxed in the United States; invoice at one hundred and seventy and most of it is taxed in Canada. Nothing about the business changed — only which treasury collects. That is why the arm's length price, the one unrelated parties would have agreed, is the reference point both authorities use. See our transfer pricing work.
What is country-by-country reporting?
A report that the largest multinational groups file with their home authority, setting out revenue, profit, tax paid and accrued, capital, employees and tangible assets for every jurisdiction they operate in. It is exchanged between authorities and used for risk assessment, not to compute tax. Its effect on the ground is that inconsistency between the report, the local files and the statutory accounts is itself what draws attention. See our transfer pricing work.
Do you give a written opinion?
Where the position warrants one, yes — with the reasoning, the authority relied on, and what would change the answer. It is quoted as part of the scope rather than added afterwards.
Can you work alongside my existing accountant?
That is how most of our engagements run. They keep the domestic file, we take the cross-border piece, and the scope boundary is agreed in writing so nothing is done twice or missed.