The CRA allows Taxpayers to amend their personal taxes for 10 years. Most people and even most accountants are unaware of this. We conduct 10 year personal tax reviews for refund purposes. We provide our service on a contingency basis, meaning if there’s no refund, there’s no fee. So far, we’ve facilitated more than $60 million in refunds. That’s a drop in the bucket as we estimate $30 billion that belongs to Taxpayers is parked the CRA.
Tell us about yourself?
I’m a serial entrepreneur and this is my 5th start-up. An accountant reviewed my personal taxes in 2015, and he amended one line of one year’s taxes. I received a large refund and soon realized this could be a great opportunity.
If you could go back in time a year or two, what piece of advice would you give yourself?
Many of our customers are lower income earners and they were hardest hit economically by COVID. In hindsight, I’d prepare for and expect higher bad debt along with greater demand.
What problem does your business solve?
We provide cash, which everyone needs or wants. The money we find belongs to the Taxpayers and is at the CRA. People (and their tax program, accountant or tax preparer) aren’t aware they may be entitled to a refund. Of course the refunds are tax free, because the money belongs to the Taxpayers in the first place.
What is the inspiration behind your business?
An accountant can only conduct one or two reviews a day. To pay an accountant for a 10 year tax reviews would be very expensive, and there’s no guarantee of getting a refund. Only the super wealthy would undergo such a process. We’ve developed a Tax Engine which features automation to allow many tax reviews, every day. Since we offer to conduct the reviews on a contingency basis, many thousands of people that couldn’t otherwise afford to pay for a tax review, now have access to their refunds.
What is your magic sauce?
With $30 billion at the CRA which could be refunded, we expect an industry of competitors will form. The only other people conducting 10 year personal tax reviews are ex-licensees and ex-employees who tried to copy our model.
What is the plan for the next 5 years? What do you want to achieve?
We are planning for accelerated growth. Our corporate partner base is growing and that, together with growing consumer trust we are hoping for great things ahead.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
The biggest issue for us is getting the upper middle class and wealthier taxpayers to sign up. Again it’s just a matter of building consumer trust and having the right corporate partners.
How do people get involved/buy into your vision?
We’d like many more of the 30 million tax filers in Canada to claim their refunds. The $ billions available at the CRA belongs in to the people. www.familytaxrecovery.ca