Incorporating an Accountant Professional Corporation in Calgary
Contact our law firm for your incorporation legal work at 403-400-4092 or Chris@NeufeldLegal.com
Given that chartered professional acountants by their education and training are well aware of the tax advantages associated with operating through a corporate entity, many chartered professional accountants choose to operate their accounting practice through a professional corporation under the Business Corporations Act (Alberta) and the Chartered Professional Accountants Act (Alberta). The incorporation of the professional corporation is undertaken in conjunction with the accounting profession's provincial regulatory body, CPA Alberta, and follows very particular specifications as to the incorporation of an accountant's professional corporation.
Our law firm routinely advises Calgary professionals, including accountants, on the establishment of their professional corporation, together with other corporate and legal strategies and structures to optimize the business potential of their professional practice, while limiting their exposure to legal liability and other challenges arising from engaging in their profession and developing their own commercial business. In this regard, our legal work intersects with your own tax and accounting work, as we are providing the legal structure through which you are seeking to capitalize on the tax advantages available to a corporate entity through the Income Tax Act (Canada).
Nevertheless, from a legal standpoint, the professional corporation that you are permitted to utilize for your accounting practice does not share the non-tax benefits that are available to regular corporations that you are regularly engaged with during the course of your accounting practice. Instead, professional liability remains for yourself personally even when you've incorporated as a professional corporation. This was the trade-off associated with incorporating a professional corporation and attaining the associated tax advantages, with the accountant not attaining the benefit of the corporate veil with respect to their professional activities, such that you remain personally liable for your professional malpractice and negligence. As such, your personal assets remain at risk for any professional malpractice claims that exceed your insurance coverage (which is really no different from undertaking your accounting practice in your personal capacity, with no professional corporation).
At Neufeld Legal, we have the experience and insight to assist you in structuring your professional accounting practice as a Professional Corporation. As such, when you are looking to incorporating a new professional corporation or dealing with its ongoing corporate development, we welcome you to contact our law firm at 403-400-4092 or via email at Chris@NeufeldLegal.com.