Compliance

The valuation of major industrial facilities is highly governed by provincial regulation and incorporates subjective valuation standards. Alberta’s assessment legislation requires that all construction project costs are reported to the assessing authority, and failure to comply can result in losing the right to appeal an assessment. This can increase the probability of being over assessed for the life of a plant or facility, resulting in overpaid taxes and lower profitability. 

Ryan’s Canadian Property Tax practice leverages years of industry expertise and advanced technology to analyze major construction projects and ensure that all reporting requirements have been met, all available tax reductions have been quantified, and all facilities are assessed as low as possible under existing provincial legislation. Our professionals fully understand all of the valuation issues relating to the analysis of an industrial project from conception to completion and provide outstanding value and tax savings through comprehensive construction cost reports that form the basis for current and future valuations of our clients' facilities.

Services Provided
Ryan ensures the lowest assessed value possible for our clients' facilities by utilizing a proven construction cost reporting methodology, which includes:

• A review of all project general information to set valuation parametres
• A draft analysis outlining expected results and additional informational requirements
• Ongoing site inspections with the assessor to provide net assessable cost estimates for municipal budgeting purposes
• A detailed analysis of all project scope changes and reworks, to determine the correct associated costs for the determination of the lowest net assessable value possible
• An independent valuation of buildings using costing manuals to ensure true market value is determined
• The analysis and removal of all interference costs as being abnormal in nature for assessment purposes
• The removal of excess labour costs beyond standard labour productivity rates from the net assessable cost base
• A review of indirect construction costs to ensure that construction management costs are discounted at similar rates to direct labour reduction claims
• The provision of ongoing and regular client and assessor status reports
• A final formal valuation report outlining all non-assessable costs and the rationale behind the claims presented to the assessing authority 

Ryan understands that a critical element of tax administration is risk mitigation. Accordingly, Ryan’s Complete Sales Tax Solution™ includes an exposure review that identifies errors and areas of non-compliance, so clients can correct them before potentially incurring costly penalties in the future. Ryan’s reviews may cover all transactions, or simply a specific area of concern. 

Our consultants leverage the most advanced proprietary tax review software in the industry to conduct the deepest, broadest, and most accurate sales tax reviews. Utilizing this program, we can examine more than one million transactions at a time, identifying any critical issues, exposures, and potential areas of concern. 

Services Provided
Ryan’s seasoned professionals employ a comprehensive approach to exposure identification reviews, which includes: 

• Generating and evaluating random invoice samples
• Reviewing sales tax billing, collection, and remittance procedures
• Evaluating the effectiveness of any internal controls and compliance processes
• Delivering a comprehensive report summarizing our findings
• Quantifying the sales tax liability in each jurisdiction
• Recommending ways to address any sales tax issues and improve compliance

Strategic Tax Planning Services

Ryan’s Strategic Tax Planning services focus on our client’s overall tax performance, creating greater opportunities to measure and improve efficiency, develop a more strategic approach to tax, and deliver outstanding shareholder value. Through benchmarking current performance, identifying best practices in relation to peer and historical performance, and measuring the delta between reality and the potential of our client’s tax department, Ryan provides a clear strategic plan for transforming the tax function into a Tax Competency Centre.

Ryan professionals help our clients plan and implement processes and technologies that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their tax operations. We assess tax positions and develop strategic plans that include transaction structuring, business reorganization, and alternative filing positions. And we ensure that the efforts of our clients' tax departments are positively impacting the overall strategic objectives of their organizations. 

Services Provided
Ryan leverages years of experience and best practices to help our clients design and implement proven planning strategies for mitigating risk, minimizing tax liabilities, and improving efficiency and effectiveness through a suite of services, including:

• Alternative filing positions
• Business reorganization
• Risk mitigation planning
• Strategic business planning
• Tax automation
• Total performance assessments
• Transaction structuring
• Workflow assessments and solutions

Ryan’s Voluntary Disclosure and Registration services assist corporations in negotiating voluntary disclosure agreements (VDAs) with the most favourable results possible. We have experts in each tax specialty who have assisted clients with VDAs in many jurisdictions. We assist clients with single or multiple negotiation requirements, involving one or multiple tax issues. Ryan professionals have years of experience and maintain constant contact with the tax jurisdictions to ensure the most up-to-date VDA information is readily available to our clients. 

As part of any engagement with a client, we first analyze all of the facts attributed to the business and activities taking place in a respective jurisdiction. We then work with our client to determine potential exposure and possible methods to minimize that exposure. This process might entail determining whether a client’s customers have accrued and remitted tax, the customers’ current audit status, and possible back billing of taxes. We customize each project to maximize client value and simultaneously interact with multiple jurisdictions, so we can efficiently complete the engagement. In all instances, our clients receive a closing agreement or a signed agreement with each tax jurisdiction to clearly define their exposure.

Ryan assists clients in registering and settling past taxes, if applicable, and paying the correct amount required under each jurisdiction’s VDA program. We are often able to negotiate prospective agreements when our client’s fact pattern presents the opportunity. Our Voluntary Disclosure and Registration services include:

• Customer examinations for tax accrued, remitted, and audit status
• Exposure identification and calculation
• Payment remittance
• Prospective agreement negotiation
• Registration and past tax settlement
• Tax minimization strategies