| name | cfo-canadian-tax-prep |
| description | Use when preparing Canadian tax review packets for T4 employment income, rental income, sole proprietorships, corporations, GST/HST, payroll, or slip season. Anchors the workflow in CRA source pages, uses Taxtips only for secondary checklist ideas, and produces human-review tax prep packages instead of compliance claims. |
CFO Canadian Tax Prep
Use this skill when the task involves Canadian tax preparation work such as:
- T4 slip driven personal returns
- rental income workpapers and T776 support
- year-end prep for a Canadian sole proprietor or CCPC
- T1/T2125 support packages for self-employed operators
- T2 prep packages, GIFI mapping, or corporate year-end checklists
- GST/HST return support, ITC support, or filing-deadline verification
- payroll remittance, T4 season, or dividend and slip prep review
Do not use this skill to invent rates, make filing decisions without source support, claim compliance, or drift into credit-optimization work unless the user explicitly asks for it.
Guardrails
- Treat all outputs as review packets for the owner or licensed tax professional.
- Pull rates, thresholds, and elections from the ledger jurisdiction pack first. Use CRA pages to verify obligation type, form, and timing.
- Verify exact filing and payment dates on the current CRA page for the tax year in scope. Do not rely on memory.
- Keep source evidence and workpapers separate from proposed ledger changes.
- Use
references/taxtips-source-map.md only as a secondary checklist and edge-case finder. If Taxtips and CRA wording differ, follow CRA.
- If the books are incomplete, say so plainly and produce a missing-items list instead of guessing.
Workflow
1. Classify the filer before doing any tax work
Start by pinning down:
- entity type: sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation
- tax year or fiscal period
- province or territory of operations
- registered accounts in scope: GST/HST, payroll, import/export, etc.
- whether the package is for planning, quarter-end, or year-end filing prep
If any of those are unclear and they change the form set, stop and ask.
2. Load the authoritative source set
Read the source map in references/cra-source-map.md and use the smallest relevant subset:
- T4 / employment income work: T4 slip page, line mapping, due dates
- rental work: T4036, T776, rental expense guidance, due dates
- self-employed/T1/T2125 work: T4002, T2125, personal due dates, business records
- corporation/T2 work: T4012, T2 filing due dates, balance-due day, GIFI
- GST/HST work: RC4022 and GST/HST filing deadline pages
- payroll/slip work: T4001 and RC4120
Then use references/taxtips-source-map.md for extra checklist coverage around filing flow, rental-property edge cases, and change-in-use/rent-part-of-home issues.
Use CRA pages for obligations and dates. Use the jurisdiction pack for any actual tax computation that CFO Stack performs.
3. Build the prep packet from evidence, not from forms
Collect or confirm:
- T4 slips and any other income slips already issued
- notice of assessment and installment reminders
- year-end summary of employment benefits, reimbursements, and deductions if the slips look incomplete
- rental income ledger or rent roll by property
- rental property invoices, mortgage-interest summaries, property tax bills, insurance, utilities, and repairs
- year-end trial balance or ledger export
- bank, credit card, and loan reconciliations
- sales detail and invoice support
- payroll reports, remittance confirmations, and prior slips
- fixed asset additions/disposals with invoice support
- shareholder loan continuity, dividend resolutions, and owner draws
- GST/HST working papers for collected tax, ITCs, and adjustments
- vehicle logs, home-office support, and other mixed-use allocations where relevant
- prior-year notices of assessment, reassessment, and installment reminders
If the source trail is weak, produce a blocker list before preparing any tax summary.
4. Map the obligation set
For a personal return driven by employment and rental activity, usually prepare around:
- T1 due date and balance-due check
- T4 slip review mapped to line 10100 and related pension/EI boxes
- rental income summary with T776 support
- property-level expense allocation and personal-use split if part of the home is rented
- CCA review only if relevant and only with an explicit note about downstream implications
For self-employed individuals, usually prepare around:
- T1 filing deadline and payment check
- T2125 for each business or professional activity
- GST/HST return support if registered
- installment review if payments are required
- home office, motor vehicle, and CCA support where applicable
For corporations, usually prepare around:
- T2 return package for the fiscal period
- balance-due check and installment history
- GIFI-ready balance sheet and income statement mapping
- shareholder loan, dividend, and compensation review
- GST/HST and payroll support
- T4 or T5 slip season support if compensation or dividends were paid
Do not assume every item applies. Mark each as required, not applicable, or needs confirmation.
5. Build workpapers in the order that catches errors fastest
Preferred order:
- Slip completeness: confirm the return has the expected T4 and other core slips before drafting anything
- Employment income mapping: reconcile T4 boxes to the T1 line mapping and note any missing explanations
- Rental income completeness: reconcile rents received to leases, deposits, and property-level tracking
- Expense support: confirm rental, business, or mixed-use expenses with receipts and purpose
- Cash and liability completeness: reconcile banks, credit cards, loans, payroll liabilities, and sales-tax liabilities
- Fixed assets and CCA: separate capital items from current expenses and preserve CCA support
- Owner/shareholder flows: classify draws, reimbursements, wages, dividends, and shareholder-loan activity
- Filing overlays: only after the books tie out, prepare the T1/T776/T2125, T2/GIFI, GST/HST, or payroll packet
This avoids doing form work on top of dirty books.
6. Flag the Canadian risk areas explicitly
Always call out:
- missing or inconsistent T4 slips
- T4 boxes that imply follow-up support is needed for benefits, CPP, or EI handling
- rental expenses that look capital rather than current
- personal-use allocation issues for partial-home rentals
- change-in-use facts that may trigger separate review
- mixed personal/business expenses
- missing GST/HST registration or incorrect ITC support
- weak vehicle logbooks or home-office support
- owner compensation misclassification
- unreconciled shareholder loans
- capital assets expensed directly without CCA review
- late remittances, slips, or installment exposure
- province-specific payroll or corporate filing assumptions that need confirmation
7. Produce a review packet, not a filing claim
Preferred output structure:
tax/canada/<tax-year>/
overview.md
obligations-checklist.md
missing-items.md
workpapers/
employment-income.md
revenue-reconciliation.md
gst-hst.md
payroll.md
rental-income.md
fixed-assets.md
owner-shareholder-flows.md
filing/
t1-income-summary.md
t776-rental-summary.md
t1-t2125-summary.md
t2-gifi-summary.md
slips-summary.md
Each summary should separate:
- confirmed facts from the books
- assumptions that need sign-off
- proposed treatments
- exact CRA pages used to support the workflow
Output Standard
Every Canadian tax prep deliverable should end with:
Open questionsMissing supportDeadlines to verify on CRAItems for CPA/bookkeeper review
Never end with “ready to file” unless a human reviewer explicitly confirmed that status.
