Beware Harried Ontario Tax Auditors!

When the Ontario government repealed the Retail Sales Tax (RST) in favour of the new Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), it transferred audit and collection activities to the Canada Revenue Agency.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean Ontario restaurants can forget about the old RST! Ontario is still responsible for auditing the old RST for periods up to [...]

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CRFA Publishes Licensee Pricing Calculators Using The New HST

Recently, the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA) published three calculators to help restaurateurs determine the effect on the new HST, effective July 1, 2010, on their prices.  The calculators cover wine, spirits and beer.  I’ve included the links, below.  You can read more and find a discussion on their use and potential effects on your [...]

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The Real Threat

Despite what has been published in the press and disclosed by the CRA and the Ministry of Revenue Quebec (MRQ), the use of zappers has not reached epidemic proportions in the restaurant industry.  Zappers have been around since the mid-1990s, though most of the usage seems to have been confined to Quebec.  In fact, the vast majority [...]

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How to Get Caught Using Zappers

This post concerns the use of zappers in restaurant operations.  It is not a “how to” guide in their “proper” use, nor is it, in any way, an endorsement of their use.  In fact, if you are even thinking of employing a zapper to fill your pockets with cash stop and read this post.  It [...]

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Restaurant Tax Fraud – Then and Now

Recently, we’ve begun to hear a lot more about tax evasion in the restaurant industry.  More specifically, we’re talking about technologically-assisted tax fraud, using zappers or phantom-ware.  It made the news, again this past week, when it was disclosed that the Canada Revenue Agency had found more than $40M of unreported tax in the restaurant [...]

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