AUDIT DEFENCE MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

Canada TaxResources, Inc. (Canada–TRI) will provide the audit defence services for the tax return described on the membership certificate in return for the applicable membership fee and compliance with all applicable terms of this agreement.

CLARIFICATION OF TERMS

In this agreement, “you” and “your” refer to the member(s) shown on the membership certificate. “We”, “us” and “Canada–TRI” refer to Canada TaxResources, Inc., the company providing audit defence services. “CRA” refers to the Canadian Revenue Agency and “Province” refers to your Provincial or Territorial income tax authority.

Audit: Audit means any communication, including telephone calls, initiated by the CRA or Provincial income tax agency that wishes to audit, examine, review, investigate or verify any item or items on the CRA income tax forms and Provincial equivalent listed on the membership certificate.
Audit Defence: Audit Defence means that Canada–TRI will represent you through the completion of any income tax audit for the tax return year identified on the membership certificate. Audit notification must be dated after the acceptance date listed on the membership certificate, subject to the limitations and exclusions listed in this membership certificate and agreement.

Audit Defence also includes:

1. Handle all communications, including letters and/or telephone calls with the CRA or Province regarding the audit.
2. Assign the Audit Representative(s) to manage your case.
3. Develop a strategy with you and then correspond or meet with the CRA or Province on your behalf.
4. Negotiate with the CRA or Province through Appeals and pre–litigation Appeals review prior to trial in The Tax Court of Canada (TCC).
5. No settlement will be reached with the CRA or Province without your final approval and consent.
6. Two hours of collection assistance is available on request if your covered audit results in additional tax due.

Acceptance Date: Acceptance Date is the date Canada–TRI receives your membership application and payment in full and your application is approved. Your Acceptance Date appears on the membership certificate.
Statute of Limitations: Statute of Limitations means the time the CRA or Province has to audit your tax return.
Period of Membership: Period of Membership is the period commencing with the Acceptance Date and ending with the expiration of the normal statute of limitations period.
Audit Representative(s): Audit Representative(s) means your Canada–TRI audit representative(s) who will be assigned to your audit case. These individuals will ordinarily be assigned to you according to their area of expertise, subject only to Canada–TRI’s experience with each representative in actual past audits.

CONFIDENTIALITY

As a member of Canada–TRI, your name, address, and any other personal information will not be disclosed or sold to any persons or firms. Only Canada–TRI’s Audit and Technical staff will have access to your tax information.

PRIVACY

Canada TaxResources, Inc. supports the right to privacy, including the rights of individuals to control the dissemination and use of personal data that describes them, their personal choices, or life experiences. Canada TaxResources, Inc. supports domestic and international laws and regulations that seek to protect the privacy rights of such individuals, including The Protection of Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) enacted by the federal government of Canada. Canada TaxResources, Inc. is a subsidiary of TaxResources, Inc, a US company. United States laws and regulations protecting personal data, including Internal Revenue Service codes are also supported.

MEMBER BENEFITS

Audit Defence– Canada TaxResources, Inc. will professionally defend a covered income tax audit from the time of the first notice to its completion, subject to the Audit Defence Plan Limitations and Exclusions described below. This includes any audit that arises during the period of membership as defined on the membership certificate. All scheduling of appointments, telephone calls and correspondence will be handled by the assigned audit representative. We will meet with the auditor on your behalf and will defend you through the highest level of appeals, if necessary.
Assistance with CRA and Provincial Income Tax Notices – Canada TaxResources, Inc. will assist the member to resolve any notice received for the tax return listed on the membership certificate during the period of membership.

MEMBER OBLIGATIONS

Our Responsibility: We are responsible to provide you with the highest calibre audit defence service available.

Your Responsibility: You are responsible to perform or provide the following:

1. Upon receipt of any communication from the CRA or Province, promptly call Canada–TRI first! Do not contact the CRA. To ensure effective service regarding your audit, you must use your assigned Canada–TRI Audit Representative(s) as your only contact with the CRA or Province. If you do not contact Canada–TRI within 15 days of the date of the first notice, additional charges may apply. If you wait too long you will impede our ability to defend your case.
2. Provide your signature(s) on the required CRA Form T1013 and return to the Audit Representative(s) in a timely manner. This will enable your Audit Representative(s) to communicate with the CRA or Province on your behalf.
3. Provide in a timely manner the information and documentation necessary to substantiate the various items of income and expense in question so that your Audit Representative(s) can prepare your defence.
4. We ask that you comply with the audit procedure and strategy actions recommended by Canada TaxResources, Inc. and any of the Audit Representative(s) working on your behalf. If you are unable to maintain this commitment, Canada TaxResources, Inc. cannot be responsible for the outcome of your audit and reserves the right to cease providing service where reasonably warranted.

AUDIT DEFENCE PLAN LIMITATIONS

Canada TaxResources, Inc. is dedicated solely to legitimately protecting the rights and assets of our members in the event of an audit. The following defines our service limitations:

• Canada–TRI does not provide legal assistance, nor represent our members in Federal or Provincial Court, including Tax Court.
• Canada–TRI does not provide legal assistance in defending issues of civil or criminal fraud.
• Canada–TRI does not prepare or amend our members’ Federal, Provincial or local income tax returns.
• Canada–TRI will not reconcile checkbooks, organize records or do record keeping or bookkeeping for our members.
• Canada–TRI does not provide assistance for collection notices when we did not defend the audit. If you have a collection notice from the CRA or Province it is not considered an audit or notice and is not covered by your Canada–TRI Audit Defence Membership.

AUDIT DEFENCE PLAN EXCLUSIONS

Certain audits, tax returns, and issues of audit may be excluded from the Audit Defence Plan for any of the following reasons:

Pre–existing conditions – If the date on the notice of audit from the CRA or Province is prior to the Acceptance Date of this Agreement, audit defence services for that audit are excluded.
Large Businesses – Business entities with gross receipts exceeding $5 million and/or 10 partners/stockholders/beneficiaries/members are not eligible for membership.
Ownership interest in other tax entities – If you have an ownership interest in a Corporation that has been contacted for an audit and is not a Canada-TRI member, audit defence services for that tax entity are excluded. Membership is not available for other tax entities.
Late or delinquent filers – If a tax return is filed later than the calendar year that it is due, then Canada–TRI’s audit defence for that tax return is excluded. An additional one–time fee may be paid to eliminate the exclusion for any year that was filed after the period described above. If a fee has been paid to include audit services for a normally excluded year, that year will be listed on the membership certificate. If not, please call (866) 581–9695 to add this service.
Tax protestors – Canada TaxResources, Inc. will exclude anyone protesting the taxing of income on economic, religious, legal or constitutional grounds, or other frivolous claims.
Criminal Investigations Program– If you are currently under investigation by the Criminal Investigations Program, you are excluded from audit defence services. For any audit that Canada–TRI is defending in which the Criminal Investigations Program enters the audit, Canada–TRI will cease working that audit and will exclude the member from further audit defence services until completion of the Criminal Investigations Program investigation. When the Criminal Investigations Program investigation is completed, Canada–TRI will resume working on the audit.
Other taxes – Your Audit Defence Plan is limited to the type of income tax return listed on the membership certificate. Detailed financial audits, GST/HST, and other non–income tax audits and reviews unless the issues are ancillary to the income tax review itself, are excluded from the Audit Defence Plan.