According to one tax consultant, many companies unknowingly overpay sales taxes such as GST, HST and PST, or duties for products they import or export.
Khaled Jamalalldeen - a tax consultant with Sheldon and Milstein Tax Consultants of Markham, Ont. - has been working with Planit and Homag Canada for several years getting money back for their customers through various tax recovery programs. He said businesses may also qualify for substantial cash benefits through various government incentive programs including funding for research and development.
The government’s Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) program, unlike what the name might suggest, is not limited to the scientific community, but rather accessible by anyone who advances knowledge or improves a product.
Jamalalldeen said it has been the experience of their auditors, that more than 90 per cent of the companies they have worked with found they were entitled to cash refunds they were previously unaware of. He said it’s not uncommon for their clients to recover or receive hundreds even thousands of dollars through these programs.
In fact, according to the company, if a business is “improving upon product design without absolute or conclusive advance knowledge of the exact technological outcome, your company is likely performing qualified SR&ED activities.”
