Additional planning detail.
Tax planning and preparation
Tax planning and tax-preparation support is available where scope and capacity fit, with document routing, retirement, investment, business-owner tax context, and U.S./FinCEN triage handled case by case.
Tax questions often affect investment, retirement, estate, insurance, and business decisions. Stiller Financial keeps tax context visible so clients can understand what needs attention before filing season or a major financial event.
Tax preparation availability is capacity-limited and may not be available for every standalone return, especially near filing deadlines. Where we do prepare returns, the goal is accurate filing and better planning context, not simply last-minute data entry.
Tax preparation capacity
Existing planning or tax clients
Priority is generally given to existing relationships and already-open workflows.
New tax-only clients
Limited and reviewed before acceptance, especially close to filing deadlines.
Complex U.S. or cross-border files
Reviewed before acceptance and may require a qualified cross-border professional.
Sensitive documents
Do not send tax slips, SINs, passwords, or full returns by ordinary email, public website notes, or unconfirmed channels.
Tax support types
Document path
Tax support starts with scope, checklist, and secure routing.
General note
Low-risk routing only. Sensitive, urgent, account, tax, or identity details should start by phone.
Phone first
Urgent account actions, withdrawals, trade requests, identity details, or secure-route questions.
Secure route
Tax slips, statements, policy documents, estate records, and completed worksheets with sensitive data.
Planning call
Retirement, advisor review, business-owner, estate, tax, insurance, or investment context.
Tax scope matrix
Separate filing, planning, routing, and referral.
Tax support is clearer when each item is labelled as preparation, planning, secure document routing, case-by-case triage, or referral to another professional.
Personal return
Tax prepAccepted only where scope and capacity fit.
Tax document routing
WorkflowUse public checklists first, then confirm secure delivery.
Retirement withdrawals
PlanningReview tax timing before RRSP/RRIF, pension, CPP, or OAS decisions are set.
Investment income
Planning + prepCapital gains, interest, dividends, T3/T5/T5008, and reporting records may matter.
Rental/self-employed records
Prep supportWorksheets help organize details before a file is accepted or reviewed.
U.S./FinCEN triage
Case-by-caseMay require a U.S. CPA, EA, or cross-border tax lawyer.
Business-owner coordination
PlanningCoordinate with the accountant before salary/dividend, corporate, sale, or succession decisions.
Referral required
Outside professionalLegal tax disputes, complex cross-border issues, or filings outside scope should be referred.
The matrix should clarify whether the next step is tax planning, tax preparation, secure document routing, or referral/coordination with another professional.
Fit for tax support
Tax preparation is capacity-limited and generally works best when connected to broader planning, retirement, investment, business-owner, or family decisions.
Often a better fit
- Existing or prospective planning client
- Retirement-income planning
- Business-owner tax coordination
- Investment income or capital-gain questions
- Estate or inheritance tax questions
- Multi-year tax planning
Often a poor fit
- Same-day filing
- Lowest-cost return preparation
- Complex cross-border tax requiring specialist advice
- Legal tax disputes
- Bookkeeping cleanup emergencies
When this path fits
Tax support is not only about filing a return. For many clients, the tax question shows up because something else is changing: retirement income, a business decision, rental property documents, self-employed income, work-from-home details, U.S. reporting, or an estate-related matter.
The goal is to organize the facts early enough that filing season does not become the first time the issue is discussed.
Useful tax support areas
- RRSP vs TFSA decisions
- RRIF withdrawal planning
- OAS recovery-tax exposure
- Pension splitting
- Capital gains and non-registered investment income
- Rental-property reporting
- Self-employment records
- U.S. filing and FinCEN fact gathering where applicable
- Charitable giving and estate-related tax coordination
Existing tax clients and planning clients
Tax-season support works best when the office knows which return, schedule, or reporting item is involved and which documents are still missing. New planning conversations may begin with tax context, but detailed documents should only be shared after the office confirms the correct process.
How tax connects to planning
Tax information can affect RRSP/RRIF withdrawal timing, OAS recovery-tax exposure, non-registered investment income, capital gains, rental property reporting, self-employed income, business-owner compensation, and estate or beneficiary questions.
Keep documents organized
The downloads section includes public worksheets and questionnaires that can help organize common tax and client-onboarding details before a meeting.
Questions worth asking before tax season
- What changed this year?
- Which documents are likely to be missing or delayed?
- Are there self-employed, rental, cross-border, or business-owner details to flag?
- Does a retirement, investment, insurance, or estate decision affect the tax conversation?
- Should the next step be a checklist, a call, or a deeper planning review?
If the matter involves sensitive documents, account numbers, SINs, or detailed financial records, contact the office before sending anything through a general website channel.
