01
For the 2025 tax year the CRA wanted your return by 30 April 2026, or by 15 June 2026 if you or your spouse were self-employed, and it wanted the money by 30 April either way. That split catches people every year, because the later filing date does not move the payment date. I prepare personal and corporate returns, do the crypto cost base work most preparers hand back, and answer the CRA letter myself when one arrives.
02
Most of the bookkeeping work that goes wrong goes wrong quietly. A receipt under $150 that never captured the supplier's GST number, so the input tax credit behind it will not survive a review. A remittance posted on the 16th instead of the 15th. A quarter closed without noticing the sales tax money had already been spent. I close the month, reconcile it against the filings, and tell you what I found.
03
Planning is worth paying for when a decision is large enough that being wrong about it costs more than the advice does. Incorporating. Buying out a partner. Taking a first employee. Selling. Most of these have a tax consequence that is fixed the moment you act and cannot be argued about afterwards, which is why the useful conversation happens before, not at the return. Each session is one decision, worked through with your actual numbers.