A profitable company had surplus cash exposed to business risk. We set up a holdco to protect it and defer personal tax.
An operating company was accumulating surplus cash exposed to its business creditors. We set up a holding company and moved the surplus up through tax-free inter-corporate dividends, insulating the wealth from operating risk and deferring the personal tax that taking it out would have triggered.
Planning has to be in place before the transaction. The salary-versus-dividend mix, the timing of a capital purchase and the choice of year-end all change the outcome, but only prospectively.
Why it bites: Almost every planning opportunity we see missed was available and simply not taken in time; very few are recoverable after year-end.
A CCPC files its T2 within six months of year-end, with the balance due two months after (three where the small business deduction is claimed). The 9% federal small business rate applies to the first $500,000 of active business income.
Why it bites: The filing and payment deadlines differ, and interest runs from the payment date. Filing on time while paying late still costs money.
Every engagement above was priced as a fixed fee agreed before the work started, and paid only once the client had reviewed the result. If any of this looks like your situation, the first step is a free 15-minute call — we will tell you plainly whether there is anything worth doing.
Reviewed for the 2025 tax year by Udit Gupta, Certified Tax Accountant. Figures describe a real engagement; outcomes depend on your own facts. Client details are omitted for confidentiality.
