You don't need to live near Esquimalt to work with us. We have clients across Canada and around the globe, and most of them never come into the office.
How it works from a distance
- Documents go back and forth through secure shared folders. If you're not sure what to send, send what you have and we'll tell you what's missing.
- Everything we file for you sits in your own online folder, encrypted and sorted by year, so you can reach an old return or assessment from anywhere with a connection. There's more on this under how we work.
- Questions and answers stay on file too, so years later you can still see what was decided and why.
- We work in English, Mandarin and Filipino.
- If you're ever in town, the Esquimalt office is open by appointment.
How instructions get checked
Every instruction and document goes through a three-step confirmation loop before we act on it. Every tax client also gets a CCNotes summary, a plain-English breakdown of what went into the return, before you sign off on the filing.
If you live outside BC
Your provincial or territorial tax is based on where you lived on December 31 of the tax year (December 31, 2026 for the 2026 tax year). The CRA uses that province or territory to calculate your tax and credits, so if you lived in Alberta or Ontario on that date, the provincial part of your return follows that province's rules. Our office being in BC doesn't change that.
Quebec works differently. It administers its own tax laws, and residents there may have to file a separate provincial return, so tell us up front if you lived in Quebec. If you've left Canada, filing for non-residents is one of the filings we handle, and our post on filing as a non-resident explains how that works.
Authorizing us with the CRA
With your authorization we can speak to the CRA for you, answer their letters, and handle reviews and audits. For a personal tax account, the CRA describes these ways to give that authorization:
- My Account (fastest). You need to be registered for a CRA account. Sign in, go to Profile, and select Add in the "Authorized representative(s)" section.
- Represent a Client (second fastest). A representative with a RepID submits the request and you confirm it in My Account, or give them information from a notice of assessment for a return processed at least six months ago. If you can't register for a CRA account or provide that information, they may need your signed consent. The CRA may still phone you to check.
- Form AUT-01 by mail (slowest). Form AUT-01, Authorize a Representative for Offline Access, covers phone, mail, fax and in-person dealings only. It doesn't give online access. Mail it to the CRA tax centre listed on the form within six months of signing it.
The access stays in place until you or the representative cancel it, or until an expiry date if one was set. Businesses can add a representative through My Business Account. Our post on CRA advocacy covers what we take on once we're authorized.
How we help
We prepare personal tax returns, including self-employed returns, plus business tax, bookkeeping and CRA work, for clients across Canada and around the globe. The forms on our contact page are the fastest way to get started.