Author: Alison

Getting your business on the Web

Every business needs to be on the web.  At least that is what I keep hearing, but is it true?

Lets think about it.  I have several clients in my bookkeeping practice where it is not true and being on the web would be totally a matter of opinion.  But there are certain reasons for this.

  1. They deal directly with long term clients- they are not looking for new relationships.
  2. They find the clients and bid on jobs- those jobs would never look for them on the web.
  3. They are at capacity and not planning on growing.
  4. They cater to older clients for whom the web is not a source of information yet.

However:

  • If you want to be noticed by clients
  • If you want clients to start finding you
  • If you want to start getting younger clients (especially millennials)
  • If you want clients to be able to contact you through email that is not generic (gmail, telus, shaw)
  • If you want new clients
  • If you want to grow your business
  • If your clients might be helped by getting your information more automatically

We can help by

  1. Getting you your own email address that is linked to your company i.e. – sales@onyxfireonline.ca instead of joebob@telus.net
  2. Getting you a website that can attract business
  3. Making your company available to clients through your website 24 hours a day, so they can answer some of their own questions and then contact you for you to respond to
  4.  Designing something that is unique to you
  5. Helping you figure out if a website is needed – if its not right for your business, maybe just an email address is all you need
  6. Making your advertising dollars stretch by designing a website you can then maintain yourself if you want to

T4 season and Trust Exams

During the trust exam I facilitated this week I learned a few interesting facts that should be noted by anyone with payroll.

Currently the Government has the attitude that if you paid it to the CRA through your payroll account then you must have thought you owed it.  It is getting very hard to prove that you mistakenly overpaid and that you should get your money back.  I have attended several trust exams lately where we need to spend extra time showing why the PD7As were overpaid.  Because of this the government will hold onto the money until you can prove that you should not have paid it, which is more complicated than it sounds.

It being T4 season we need to ensure that exactly what got paid to the CRA is what should have been paid.  If you are out by a seemingly small amount you will get extra brown envelopes from the CRA asking why and wanting details.

Overpaying is just as bad as underpaying and can cost you time, money and effort wasted because you did not calculate the PD7A correctly or changed something after the fact.

Get it done right from the beginning and pay exactly what you should be paying- do not throw an extra $100 in so that you will not be short later.  Its just bad practice and leads to confusion.

Hire a professional bookkeeper and get the work done right.  We at OnyxFire Online can help you with your payroll and T4s.  We can navigate the confusing world of taxable benefits and filing T4s and PD7As so that they balance at year end and you do not get those extra brown envelopes.  And if you do have an issue- we can talk to your trust examiner for you.

More details email – Bookkeeping@onyxfireonline.ca