Tax recovery is a vital consideration for Indigenous communities and organizations in Canada faced with navigating complex layers of taxation. BDO’s indirect tax team has deep understanding and experience with indirect tax issues facing Indigenous organizations, their members, and their commercial and socio-economic investments. Our team works with Indigenous communities and their businesses to understand the nuances of tax exemptions, and to minimize and recover indirect taxes—with the goal of maximizing financial benefits for Indigenous Bands and their communities.
Indigenous communities have invested extensively in commercial and socio-economic programs for the benefit of their communities. These investments may include natural resources ventures, healthcare, social supports, and affordable housing. By recovering taxes, we can help further strengthen these vital programs.
The layers of taxation in Canada
Canada has multiple layers of indirect taxes that apply at the federal and provincial levels, The most notable being the Goods and Services Tax / Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) and the federal Carbon Tax. Certain provinces such as BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec also levy their own indirect taxes, including provincial / retail sales tax (PST/RST), Quebec sales tax (QST), as well as carbon, fuel, and other education and health levies. Provincial indirect tax systems are unique and vary by province.
Indigenous-led ventures face unique challenges when operating within Canadian and provincial frameworks of indirect taxation and their associated exemptions. Navigating tax exemptions for Indigenous individuals and organizations can be complex and nuanced. To effectively recover taxes, a comprehensive grasp of tax laws at all government levels is essential. From the planning, compliance, and recovery, we can help Indigenous-led businesses navigate to a point of least taxation.
BDO’s approach to tax recovery
At BDO, we focus on helping Indigenous communities and organizations acquire goods and services in the most tax-efficient way, reducing the impact of GST/HST and applicable provincial sales taxes and levies. We offer a comprehensive understanding of the legislation and a practical, two-phased approach to risk management and recovery projects. Our services include full support for audits and compliance issues, and an experienced team with unique skillsets for an exceptional client experience.
We deploy a two-phased approach to tax recovery:
- Comprehensive analysis of the Band and Band-related and Band-owned entities, including structure and economic activities
- Highlight areas that require attention and improvement, or carry risk
- Detect areas of non-compliance, including instances of non-collection of tax or underclaimed receivables
- Identify potential tax recovery opportunities
- Customized deep dive analysis to quantify unclaimed refunds
- Execute the recovery review utilizing data, analytics, and insights acquired from the Phase 1 review
- Identify and quantify overpayments of tax, and claim them as a refund for the Band and/or related entity
- Provide recommendations for maximizing tax exemptions at the time of purchase
How we provide value to First Nations:
- Swift project completion with efficient turnarounds
- Proficient use of data analytics for efficient project completion
- Comprehensive risk management expertise
- Minimal disruption to daily work routines during service delivery