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A boutique tax consulting firm in the Greater Toronto Area led by some of Canada’s top tax minds.
Click here to learn more about our tax leaders.

TZR Tax™ has one focus, to apply its mastery of tax law to design tax strategies for business and personal clients with a presence in Canada, the United States and worldwide.  Our client base includes private corporations ranging from owner-managed businesses to multi-national corporations, public corporations, and high-net-worth individuals.  For decades, we have also supported other Chartered Professional Accountants and lawyers that do not have their own in-house tax departments.

We specialize in estate planning including litigation support, corporate reorganizations, Canada-U.S. cross border tax planning, real estate tax planning, mergers and acquisitions for public and private companies, and much more. Through our extensive professional network, we collaborate with tax experts around the globe to ensure that your tax planning is seamlessly optimized.

Our TZR Tax services

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Tax Support for Other CPAs and Lawyers

Our tax team has supported accounting firms and law firms without their own in-house tax departments for decades.  This end of our specialty practice developed from our ability to deliver top notch tax advice at an efficient cost to your clients, never imposing ourselves in your relationships with them.

We regularly assist other professionals with tax planning in non-routine areas including estate planning, business sale and purchase planning, mergers and acquisitions for public and private companies, corporate structuring and corporate reorganizations including Canada-U.S. and international cross border tax planning, tax residency matters including immigration and emigration planning, tax disputes resolution, and complex tax compliance matters.

Estate Litigation Support

We apply our estate planning expertise in a wide range of scenarios, having acted as trusted tax advisors for both trustees and beneficiaries in litigious situations and for estate values in excess of billions of dollars.

Just as important as designing tax advice to maximize estate value for the beneficiaries, is the ability to deliver it clearly and obtain concurrence from parties that may have competing objectives.

Real Estate Tax Planning

Working with clients who built their wealth in the real estate industry and those seeking to invest their wealth generated elsewhere, we understand that real estate is a major component of many successful enterprises.

We specialize in tax planning for residential and commercial real estate developers, real estate investors, apartment building owners, hotel owners, condominium projects, retirement homes, and U.S. real estate investments.  Common real estate tax structures include corporate real estate structures, partnership real estate structures, joint venture real estate structures, and frequently involve the use of family trusts.

Canada-U.S. Cross Border and International Tax Planning

A significant portion of our client base has a presence in the United States and worldwide.  They rely on our expertise in the area of cross-border tax planning where we work to ensure that the global enterprise minimizes tax during all stages of its component businesses’ cycles, including start-up, ongoing operations, sale or liquidation, owners’ death, succession, and repatriation of profits to the owners in their home countries.

Through our extensive professional network, we work closely with tax experts in the United States and worldwide to ensure that our advice is not only in tune with current tax law, but also with local tax authorities’ administrative practices and audit trends.

Foreign Investment in Canada

We are frequently approached by individuals and businesses seeking to establish themselves in Canada.  It is critical to establish an efficient tax structure and tax compliance process at the outset, to ensure that tax is minimized and issues with Canadian tax authorities averted.

Our tax team works closely with Truster Zweig Raithatha’s accounting and advisory departments and law firm affiliates, to ensure that companies with little to no experience doing business in Canada are provided with comprehensive service under one roof.

Corporate Reorganizations

The optimal corporate structure should work to minimize tax during the various stages of your business and life cycles, including start-up, ongoing operations, exit by sale or succession, and owners’ death.  It should also serve to protect business assets and wealth from creditors to the extent possible.

We specialize in corporate reorganizations, to get to the corporate structure that is optimal in your circumstances.  Our structures are designed as robustly as possible to avoid unnecessary and costly restructuring down the road when life’s circumstances inevitably change.  Common structures involve the use of corporations, joint ventures, partnerships, and trusts.

Estate and Succession Planning

The estate planning and succession planning areas are a major focus of our specialty practice highlighted by our client relationships spanning generations.  We offer a comprehensive suite of estate planning and succession planning services including:

  • Minimizing tax on death including estate freezes
  • Family trust planning
  • 21-year trust planning
  • Minimizing tax on the transfer of wealth across generations
  • Multiplying the lifetime capital gains exemption (LCGE) on death or succession
  • Estate tax filings including terminal tax returns and estate and trust tax returns
  • Graduated rate estate planning
  • Post-mortem tax planning
  • Planning to avoid double tax
  • Probate tax planning
  • Estate litigation support

We work closely with your lawyers to ensure that your wills mesh with your tax and succession planning objectives.

Business Sale and Purchase Planning

Whether you are looking to capitalize on the sale of a mature business, new technology, or start-up, or are seeking to purchase a business, tax is always a major consideration. 

We specialize in planning for these events in advance and as they occur.  Planning techniques include maximizing and multiplying the lifetime capital gains exemption (LCGE), leveraging “safe income,” and structuring hybrid transactions.

Public Mergers and Acquisitions and IPOs

We perform tax planning for transactions involving public corporations including mergers and acquisitions and going public transactions.

Our law firm affiliates are able to assists with the legal and regulatory aspects of these transactions.

Tax Disputes Resolution

We routinely help clients through disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  Our services in this area include negotiations with the CRA, support through CRA audits, and filing tax appeals and objections.  Where the dispute is escalated to the tax court level, we often provide technical support to our clients’ lawyers who are able to litigate the matter or stop it before it gets to court. 

Involving trusted tax professionals early on in a dispute will provide the best prospect for success, as well as minimize professional fees and alleviate aggravation.

Personal Tax Planning

We offer a broad range of personal tax planning services including:

  • Tax planning for self-employed individuals
  • Tax residency planning
  • Income splitting under the Tax on Split Income (TOSI) regime
  • Divorce tax planning
  • Estate tax planning
  • Retirement tax planning
  • Tax planning for high-net-worth families
Indirect Tax

Businesses and individuals are regularly faced with issues related to good and services tax/harmonized sales tax.  We are able to assist with respect to whether these taxes apply to the supply of goods or services, which provincial or federal rates apply, and their applicability to real estate transactions.

We also include all types of specialty requests and services. Contact us with your direct request and we will work to accommodate your needs.

Our TZR Tax publications

The TZR team has authored numerous papers and articles which have been cited in the Practitioner’s Income Tax Act (Canada) 22 times.  Click here to learn more.
 
We were also part of the group that launched the annual publication CPA Canada Federal Budget Commentary.  Click here to learn more.