Accountants Welcome!

Accounting professionals play a key role in overall operations of any organization. They keep documents in order and accounts reconciled allowing senior management to focus their attention on more complex undertakings.

Accounting professionals are advised to review the Government of Canada disclaimer, where it is clearly stated that Accounting Offices operating under the jurisdiction of Canada are exclusively advised to retrieve a written permission from Canada Revenue Agency prior to commencing disposal of NPPI (Non Public Private Information) TAX Records. 

Section 230 of the Income Tax Act requires books and records be kept in a format that allows assessment and payment of taxes. The Excise Tax Act, Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan legislation also elaborate on this requirement. 

As an Accounting and Tax office, should you “want to destroy your books of account and records earlier than the retention period specified in “How long to keep your records”, you first must get written permission from CRA.

To get this permission, you or your authorized representatives can do either of the following:

• Complete Form T137, Request for Destruction of Records
• Apply in writing  to your tax services office”

Head over to the MGCS - Ministry of Government and Consumer Services to learn more about the current standardized retention periods.

Failure to produce such documents in the event of an audit and disposed earlier than specified can lead to serious litigation!