January 16th, 2016 Tax Solutions Seminar
On the coldest day of the winter, 102 guests attended this ground breaking event in Regina... 20 travelling between 2 to 6 hours to be there.
The purpose of the seminar was to explore proactive strategies to solve the impending Canada Revenue Agency collections activities. While it's true some tax shelter participants have settled their CRA debts or have resolved that payback is their only option, many more have not.
In the morning the attendees heard presentations from 4 separate groups with, admittedly, differing styles and beliefs in what can be accomplished in this situation.
Presenters included Tony Merchant of Merchant Law Group, Regina; Warren Orlans and David Young of inTAXicating Tax Services, Toronto; Marla Adams of Deloitte Partners, Saskatoon; and Michael Clark of Masters Protection Group, Indiana USA.
Tony Merchant gave an hour long review of the class action and soon-to-be issued Statement of Claim. The commitment of his team, the due care of getting this done right, and his confidence in the merits and chances of recovery were expressed.
However, don't be confused in that, though we all have high hopes for success, the length of time is not known and so the class action should not be considered a proactive strategy to deal with CRA knocking on our doors in the coming months.
The common factors between the presenters (and we understand these make little sense to individuals who believe the assessments are justified):
* Sincere concern for all of us in this difficult situation
* Agreement that it is not illegal to not pay one's tax debt. For discussion click HERE
* CRA is the toughest of all unsecured creditors... but can be negotiated with, delayed and/or otherwise managed
After lunch, the group of attendees were separated into 4 smaller groups who rotated through a series of 4 workshops. As the seminar workshop notes are privileged materials, we can only share them if you request by email, in person or by phone.
It's estimated that an attendee could have noted between 100 and 150 separate points of strategy over the course of the 7 hours... so in this space there can be LITTLE JUSTICE in attempting to provide a detailed analysis of the seminar and workshops. However, requesting and reviewing the workshop notes should cover as much ground as possible.
More discussion of these strategies is provided at another page of this site HERE.
An exit survey of attendees indicated high satisfaction of the event overall and strong enthusiasm for some or all of the presented solutions.
The takeaway for those who attended, for those who could not and, particularly, for those who are not throwing in the towel...
1) There is no need to settle for financial failure at CRA's hands (start by assessing your potential and profile with this exercise)
2) Take action now to optimize your integrated solutions plan involving some or a combination of the strategies
3) Consider tax coaching to guide you (contact Global SaveTax for discussion of how this process works)