Payroll Tax Changes - April 1, 2009

The government has announced payroll tax changes effective for April 1. You will need to update your Payroll system accordingly to accommodate these changes.

Changes in Personal Tax Credits

The TD1 form has been revised for April 2009 to reflect a change in Basic Personal Tax Credits (Federal and Yukon).

· The Federal government has retroactively set the basic personal tax credits for individuals at $10,320 (formerly $10,100) effective January 1 2009. The prorated amount for April 2009 for basic personal amount is $10,375.

·For more information about all the tax changes, or to obtain any updated federal/provincial April TD1 forms or instructions …

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/formspubs/forms/td1-e.html

You will need to update your Payroll Tax Tables and adjust your employee records where necessary.

After you finish processing all payroll for March 2009, but before you begin your payroll for April 2009, adjust your employee records in Payroll system to reflect the new tax credit amounts:

1. Adjust employees’ federal personal tax credit claims, if necessary.

2. For employees of Yukon, adjust their territorial personal tax credit claims, if necessary.

CAUTION: Once you have updated an employee’s personal claim amount for April 2009, you will have to adjust the employee’s claim amount when processing any cheques dated prior to April 2009 for that employee.

Pam

You can turn the “recession” around for your business by doing the following:

During the recession the smart minded entrepreneur uses this opportunity to capture market share from their competitors that are leaving the business. Their customers aren’t disappearing. They still need their needs, wants and desires filled… and it’s now yours for the taking.
1) Follow your competitors.
Follow your competition and watch for who is leaving the market place.
a) Contact them and try to make a deal to get access to their customer list, along with their endorsement. Offer your new partner a percentage of any deal done to make him happy (after all, it may be one of the only sources of revenue he’ll get from going bust).
b) Take over their phone numbers and web site domains. Here’s an example why:” a drycleaner in the last recession (early 90s) was able to get 6 of his competitor’s phone numbers simply by waiting till they went out of business and then calling the phone company and reserving the number. Whenever someone called the line, he’d say “Drycleaner” and then redirect the potential to one of his locations. Brilliant!”

2) Introduction Selling
The Turnaround Guy Neil Godin uses this. Choose your top 10 customers and ask them for a referral to someone who might need your help. However, instead of just getting a name and phone number, you specifically ask your client to introduce you to their friend before you follow up yourself. This “primes the pump”,  greatly increasing your chances of getting a positive response when you call and ultimately close the deal.

3) Advertise more!
Many business owners rely too much on one or two media to generate new customers for them. Now is the time to be brave. As many businesses cut back on their advertising, media is getting hungry to fill the advertising spots. I recently placed ads in my local paper (in colour) for less than I would have paid for smaller and Black and White a few months ago.

There are many more ideas out there. So I say: “Lets not participate in the Recession!!”

Click the link below to go to an article written in the E-Myth newsletter. If you have questions or need help hiring give me a call.

http://www.e-myth.com/cs/user/print/post/hiring-your-first-employee

I wrote Dalton McGuinty the Premier of Ontario  with my views. Watch for future items and explanations but for now here is the link to the section of the budget that deals with this tax harmonization.

Feel free to e-mail me any questions you have and I’ll get the answers.

www.ontario.ca/taxsavings

Pam

If your company’s e-mail address is owned by your internet service provider (ISP), e.g. you@yourISPname.com, you risk the same problem. Should you leave your ISP because of high prices or poor service, or should the ISP go out of business, your e-mail address goes “out of business”, too. Every business card you’ve handed out, every Yellow Pages ad, every directory, every flyer leads your clients and prospects to a dead end.

Each e-mail equals a potential sale; can you afford to miss one? Smart business owners control their prime contact channels–phone numbers, faxes, and now in the 21st century, e-mail and e-mail addresses.

Take control of your e-mail. Create and promote your own branded e-mail (e.g. you@yourDOMAINname.com). You’ll own a secure e-mail address that won’t change.

As an extra benefit, you advertise your business with every e-mail. You wouldn’t advertise another business on your flyer; why advertise your ISP in your e-mail address? Branded e-mails are memorable—as good as handing out a business card.

Your new e-mail address can redirect mail to your old e-mail address. E-mails you send can display your new address by making a simple change to your e-mail configuration’s “return address” or “reply address”. Your promotional materials can be updated at your convenience, as you reorder, providing an inexpensive and seamless transition.

The switch isn’t costly. The benefit to your business, however, could be priceless.