LPA Firms Offer Wide Ranging Services
What should you look for when hiring the services of a St. Catharines licensed public accountant
(LPA)? The thriving and diverse economy of the Niagara Region affords you a lot of choice when seeking out an
accountant. However, it is important to find a firm whose areas of expertise mesh with your financial needs. These
can vary wildly depending on the size of your business, its corporate status, and goals.
St. Catharines-based Jones & O’Connell LLP, is one firm that is fielding a diverse team able
to handle the range of financial needs of most businesses. It serves the Greater Niagara Region, as well as the
adjacent Golden Horseshoe and Greater Toronto Area.
One of the services in its wheelhouse is satisfying compilation requirements for business. Their
team approach to files ensures that there is continuity at all level of the process.
Bookkeeping is another area of assistance. There, the focus is on both keeping the costs at a
minimum and ensuring that any added services confer an appropriate cost benefit. Jones & O’Connell LLP, has a
bookkeeping specialist on staff with a high certification with QuickBooks.
Financial advisory is another area of expertise, with assistance offered for budgeting and
forecasting, business valuation, purchase and sale of business, computer consulting and systems planning.
Many business entities and organizations are inundated with tax compliance requirements. It’s an
often shifting playing field and the firm is there to satisfy those issues as well.
Income Tax Optimization – How to Achieve It
Hand in hand with satisfying tax compliance requirements is the goal of income tax optimization.
A team-focused LPA firm can ensure that clients avail themselves of a full range of tax planning and strategies.
This is achieved through expertise, experience – and thorough research.
Tax law is an ever-changing beast and a good firm will take a proactive, rather than reactive,
approach to tax services. This necessitates staying current with all new tax laws and legislation on an on-going,
year-round basis.
Typical tax optimization services include personal tax preparation; investment portfolio review;
tax shelter analysis; personal tax planning; estate planning; and business succession planning.
Working From Home – Deductions
One example of the changing landscape of tax law is the issue of working from home. The events
of 2020 have triggered the migration of a huge number of salaried employees to home offices. These waged employees
(as opposed to self-employed workers) must satisfy one of two requirements in order to be able to tax deduct home
office expenses.
First, the home space must be the area where the waged employee mainly spends 50% of his or her
work time. (‘Mainly’ is defined as more than 50% of work time.)
Alternately, the workspace deducted must be there to only earn employment income – a designated
space - and used regularly on a continuing basis in the course of employment duties.
If either criterion are met, a range of costs become tax deductable including rent on the space,
hydro, heating and home maintenance. Employees on commission have an even broader share of eligible deductions.
Your St. Catharines licensed public accountant can assist you in determining your work from home eligibility.