Huh, maybe it’s coming into effect for the 2013 tax year. Curious…
You studying tax law too?!
If you somehow managed to rack up a bunch of expenses as an independent contractor, you could declare a business loss! I think.
I haven’t figured out a great way to scam the system yet. I guess they save that for the advanced tax law course!
I avoided taking tax law as long as I could; didn’t think I would ever use it, and I really haven’t. Finally took it in my fourth year in French, which somehow made it more interesting.
I think I took a tax law course in Mongolian, but I’m not sure, given that I don’t speak Mongolian. In any event, the prof was setting up a tax code for Mongolia, and I truely couldn’t make out a word she said.
Sad to say, that wasn’t the worst I’ve experienced. My oriental calculus TA didn’t speak English, but no one in the class (I being the only person who did not speak a far eastern language) had a clue as to what language the fellow spoke. He was replaced after a couple of weeks.
In any event, when it comes to the Income Tax Act, the only folks who really understand it are a species of alien mutant beetles who have programmable logic controllers for brains.
Cat, sit down with an accountant for an hour or so, and go over the following to sort out what applies to you, what does not apply to you, and what (if any) options you have:
[ul]
[li]Income tax (use the net income from your business return to calculate the gross income for your personal return)[/li][li]EI (sounds like you are in a category similar to cab drivers and hairstylists, who despite being contractors for tax purposes are treated as employees for EI and CPP purposes – note that if this is not the case, then if you wish you can make a one-time election to be permanently under the EI/CPP regime)[/li][li]CPP (see EI)[/li][li]HST/GST (whether or not you have to register depends on how much you make)[/li][li]Worker Safety Insurance (depends on the type of work you do – yes, these days in some provinces it sometimes is applied to self-employed people)[/li][li]E&O Insurance (cover your ass in case you get sued for making a mistake on the job)[/li][li]Incorporation (pretty much tax neutral and probably not worth it given the admin costs – but look into whether it might offer liability protection relative to the type of work you do)[/li][/ul]
Used to be that employees were under the EI/CPP regime and contractors were not. These days that remains the norm, but there are exceptions for certain groups of contractors/self-employed persons who are now under the EI/CPP regime whether they like it or not (e.g. cab drivers and hairdresssers), and for people who wish to be under the regime voluntarily. I don’t know when the changes came about, but it was within the last few years.
Yes, business losses can be carried forward and used as deductions, but if you don’t eventually make a profit Revenue Canada will stop you from doing this. I don’t know how many years you have until you must make a profit.
I’m currently taking Personal and Corporate Taxation… so how to calculate all those taxes. Four classes in two weeks right off the bat thanks to an all day Saturday class. Thank goodness I remember some things from a previous class, I’m already a little behind in my studying.
My parents are heading west from Strathmore Alberta to Kelowna today. Weather network shows it looks ok, but slippery portions and snow covered through the pass. I am not enjoying their “vacation” at all.
Yeah, I’m writing a policy brief on taxing self employed artists for my class. There’s an it bulletin out there that suggests your shitty independent contact business can never turn a profit, but if you have certain professional qualifications, you can still argue that there was a “reasonable expectation of profit.” Woe betide the man who tries taking that to its logical end, lol.
My sympathies, antonio107. Having been on the receiving end of CRA’s interpretation of the tax code as it applies to self-employed artists for 30 years, I have nothing but respect for anyone who wants to look through it of their own free will.
Well, as a musicker myself (as you may already know from our Olivier Mrssiaen chats), it was a personal labor of love. The Irish system is crap, but the NDP’s income averaging proposals were intriguing, to say the least!
http://tyronebenskin.ndp.ca/bill-c427
Income averaging would be an interesting innovation for low-income artists. This coming from a generally right-wing sort of guy like me.
Yes, I remember! So it isn’t just masochism on your part…
I also remember Tyrone Benskin from Stratford in 1993 - he’s a brilliant performer. Sadly, we have never been in the same show together.
I wish him good luck with his bill, but it’s always going to be a tough sell. The Liberals’ ‘Status of the Artist’ bill never got through, despite much drafting and discussion. One day, I hope.
One of the things I’d love to see get in is an option for self-employed artists to pay a lower rate of tax on their gross income, if they so choose. One would lose the benefits of the deductions, but it would make it far easier to get your taxes done on time. The government would see their money with less hassle, and artists taking advantage of the option would save in penalties and interest from late filing. For people to whom money is not the incentive that drives them, penalties and interest charges are not the disincentive that works best. For someone who has $30,000 gross and usually has expenses at about 30%, if they paid 20% on gross instead of 25% on net, the government gets $6,000 instead of $5,250. (Math done on the fly, but I think it’s sound. 30% expenses would be high for some artists working in other art forms; for opera singers, that’s the average.)
Spoken as someone who has filed late on more than one occasion…
I just love Tyrone Benskin because he was in 300. Showing my obvious immaturity there. 
There are other Messiaen fans here? Awesome.
A musical interlude: (To the tune of JIngle Bells)
Winter Sucks, Winter Sucks,
make all the snow go away.
All I want is to be able to take my mountain bike out today-ay.
Winter Sucks, Winter Sucks,
I refuse to shovel snow.
Pile it in my driveway, I’ll just order Panago.
All I want to see, is grass upon my yard,
and sun upon my face.
Instead the day is grey,
and snow all over the place.
If I don’t see the Spring,
Insane is what I’ll be,
I may even start to cheer for Calgary-yy,
Oh, chorus…
repeat.
Damn, I need a beer…
One of the coolest moments of my teens - a chamber ensemble from Winnipeg played Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” at the Centennial Auditorium in Brandon on a Sunday afternoon, sometime in January of 1975 (? or so). First time I’ve ever heard anything like that, and I’m totally blown away. The end of the fifth movement, ‘Praise to the eternity of Jesus’, and the cello has that last, long note that just hangs forever, getting quieter and quieter until you can’t tell if he’s still playing or it’s just the natural reverb in the hall. That note has barely faded off altogether when we can all hear, faintly, the sound of a train horn along the valley, perfectly tuned to the note we just heard. It was as though the train was calling back to the cellist. The quartet just waited, until the horn sounded a second time, further off, and then continued.
I’ve heard the piece a dozen times since, but none of them were quite so magical as that unexpected moment.
Saskatoon Police, you are not fooling anyone with that unmarked Crown Vic in the school zone. Maybe consider a Camry or a Grand Cherokee?
I think you’ve had enough. 
Oh, you just wait until I go into full blown Denial and start wearing sandals and shorts next week…Maybe I’ll break out the hawaiian shirts for good measure…
