Deducting Legal, Accounting and Other Professional Fees
Many startups do not realize that their legal and accounting fees can be deducted as a business expense for tax purpose. Here is the CRA’s full archived guide to deducing legal and accounting fees.
The CRA’s breif summary guide states:
Deduct the fees you incurred for external professional advice or services, including consulting fees.
You can deduct accounting and legal fees you incur to get advice and help with keeping your records. You can also deduct fees you incur for preparing and filing your income tax and GST/HST returns.
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You cannot deduct legal and other fees you incur to buy a capital property. Instead, add these fees to the cost of the property.
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John Wires
Founder at Wires Law
John Wires is a business and technology lawyer and the founder of Wires Law, a boutique firm that helps startups, e-commerce companies, and SaaS businesses navigate Canadian law. He’s appeared before the Ontario Superior Court and the Court of Appeal, but today focuses on helping founders build, grow, and exit their companies with smart legal foundations.
John is the author of The Law for Founders: Canadian Edition — a practical legal guide for entrepreneurs available at https://founderlaw.ca. He graduated from law school with first class honours, specializing in international trade and corporate commercial law.
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