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Financial Post
Jonathan Chevreau: Are There Any Secrets Left?
Books promise to save money and survive audits
Saturday, April 19, 2008
“With just two weeks until the annual filing deadline, you can be sure the taxman is watching to see if you'll file an accurate tax return in time. I've borrowed that phrase from the title of one of the feistier tax books clogging bookstore shelves this time of year.
The Taxman is Watching (HarperCollins, 2008) is adversarial in tone. Tax lawyers Paul DioGuardi and son Philippe DioGuardi argue you can never keep the taxman happy for long. Instead, they provide a wake-up call on the Canada Revenue Agency's "police-like powers," drawing on Paul's insider experience as advisor to the tax litigation section of the Department of Justice.
Owing to a high-profile advertising campaign, Dio-Guardi Tax Law is one of Canada's best-known negotiators of tax amnesty settlements. It's clientele includes tax filers who seek to get back into the system, often out of fear that disgruntled former spouses or business partners may use the CRA's Snitch Line to expose their tax evasion.
The DioGuardis believe a healthy dose of fear and suspicion is a rational taxpayer response to the CRA, which it dubs the "Agency." The book begins with the observation that the most common reaction when Canadians receive the Agency's brown envelope in the mail is to have an involuntary jump in their heart rates -- even those who are scrupulously honest and punctual.
The book argues we should "be very afraid," as it summarizes the top 10 tactics the Agency uses against us. Then it guides us through the maze of tax audits, tax appeals and the tax amnesty alternative, which is the core of the authors' business.
If you've been hiding under-ground fearing discovery by the CRA, this book is an essential guide on how to come clean. It's primarily for those already in trouble, or potential trouble, with the taxman. For those who are not, and wish to retain that status, other guides aim to help us keep as much money for ourselves as possible -- within the letter of the law.”
Read the review at The National Post/Financial Post site.
CBC NEWS
Peter Vincent: Review of ‘The Taxman is Watching’
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
“Paul and Philippe DioGuardi are a father and son team of tax lawyers who have written a must have book entitled The Taxman is Watching - subtitled “What every Canadian taxpayer needs to know and fear”. The authors have laid out in everyday language just how much power Revenue Canada has to extract financial information and to what extent they can go to collect. And it's frightening...”
“...My best advice is to buy the book and even if you don't read it, tuck it away in the safe next to your will. That's how important this book could be to your future financial health if the taxman comes a knocking.”
Read the review at CBC.ca
The Globe & Mail
Rebecca Dube: The taxman is watching, lawyers warn
January 7, 2008
“The father-and-son team say they hope to disabuse Canadians of the notion that the Canada Revenue Agency is on their side. Armed with horror stories about overzealous tax agents and naive taxpayers (or tax non-payers), they're on a mission to incite what they say is a healthy fear of the taxman...”
“...In an interview at their Toronto office, the DioGuardis explained why the CRA is like a shark and why you should trust lawyers over taxmen.”
