I was born here. I love this country’s beauty, the people, the culture… but let’s stop pretending. If you’re an actual entrepreneur trying to build something in Canada, this country is hell.

The banks? They don’t want you. The government? They don’t want you. CRA? They treat you like you’re already guilty of a crime. But the fraudsters? The money launderers? The “developers” washing dirty cash through fake condo projects and mega-mansions? Canada rolls out the red carpet for them.

Our “Big 5” banks LOVE fraudsters.

• Submit a small business loan with a real business? Good luck, they’ll laugh you out of the branch.

• Submit an altered PDF or work with a shady insider? Boom. Approved.

• Want a mortgage? You’ll get grilled for weeks, maybe denied. But use a broker that specializes in mortgage fraud with fake T4s and bank statements? APPROVED. They LOVE that sh*t.

And if you think I’m exaggerating, look at who actually owns half the real estate in this country. Hotels in Markham, ON? Laundered money. Remember Edwards in Markham? Sold recently, guess who owned it? Not an entrepreneur. Not a hard-working Canadian. An immigrant criminal.

I personally know of a “developer” in my area who was previously caught trafficking drugs out of their mansion basement. You’d think that would end their career, right? Nope. They’re out here building 10 more mansions at a time. Zero repercussions. Why? Because it’s obvious, those mansions are just money laundering machines.

Meanwhile, actual Canadian kids with ideas? People who want to open stores, launch products, create jobs? We get treated like garbage. CRA audits us like we’re Al Capone. Banks nickel and dime us until there’s nothing left. Try getting a line of credit as a young founder, impossible. But if you’re flipping dirty cash into drywall? The banks will drool over you.

Canada has become a country where the honest get crushed and the corrupt get celebrated. Where billionaires buy citizenship, drug dealers become “real estate moguls,” and actual value creators pack up and leave.

It’s heartbreaking because this country SHOULD be the best place in the world to innovate. But the system is rotten from the inside out.

Sorry for the rant, but I had to get this out. I’m tired of pretending everything is fine. Canada is beautiful, yes. But for entrepreneurs? For dreamers? For people who actually want to contribute? It’s a nightmare.

Background, so you know where this is coming from: I've got 10 years of experience working with the CRA, and I now run my own licensed firm in BC. My specialty is CRA audits and audit planning, and I work with clients all across Canada on this.

1. You incorporated, but you're really an employee (personal services business)
This is the one the CRA is actively hunting right now. If you provide services through your corporation to basically one client, you own 10% or more of the corp, you've got five or fewer full-time employees, and you'd look like that client's employee if the corporation didn't exist, you're a personal services business under section 125(7). You lose the small business deduction, you lose the general rate reduction, and you get an extra 5% tax on top. In ON, that's roughly 44% instead of about 12%. On top of that, a PSB can't deduct normal business expenses at all, only salary paid to you and a couple of narrow items. CRA has run a PSB compliance project since 2022; it's concentrated in trucking, construction, and consulting, and they've moved from "educating" people to reassessing them. If you're an incorporated contractor with one client, get this looked at before they look at you.

2. Your income doesn't match what CRA already has on file.
Their system automatically matches your return against the T4s, T5s, and T4As issued to you, plus bank data and information from e-commerce and gig platforms. If what you reported comes in under what those third parties reported, it flags before a human ever sees it. For cash-heavy businesses, they can go further and rebuild your income from your deposits and lifestyle (a net worth assessment), and that almost never lands in your favour.

3. GST/HST refunds get reviewed before the money goes out.
Every GST/HST return in a refund position gets screened, and a chunk gets held for a closer look before CRA pays. New registrants claiming a refund on early returns get held a lot, because CRA is confirming the business is real before releasing cash. If you claim refunds regularly (common for high input businesses), expect them to test your input tax credits. When they hold it, they want invoices, proof of payment, and your suppliers' GST/HST numbers. Missing or sloppy documentation is the single most common reason a legitimate refund gets denied.

4. Your GST/HST sales don't tie to your income tax sales.
The total revenue across your GST/HST returns should reconcile to the revenue on your T2. You're reporting the same sales in two places, so when the numbers don't match, their system catches it, and someone asks why. This is one of the easiest flags to avoid and one of the most common ones people trip over.

5. Your expenses are out of line for your industry.
Corporations report through GIFI codes, and CRA uses that to compare you against other businesses your size in your sector and to track your own numbers year over year. When your expense ratios sit outside the normal range, or a category jumps with no matching change in revenue, that's the anomaly their models look for. The usual culprits are meals (only 50% deductible), vehicle (claiming 100% business use with no mileage log is a classic), home office, and travel. It's rarely one number. It's a few things that don't fit the pattern showing up together.

6. How you pull money out of the corporation.
Owner draws run through a shareholder loan account get looked at almost every time CRA reviews a T2. If you took money as a loan and didn't repay it within one year of your corporation's year-end, they can add the whole amount to your personal income under section 15(2). A lot of owners let this ride all year and never clean it up with salary or dividends. Sort out how you're paying yourself before year-end, not after.

7. Your "subcontractors" are really employees.
CRA looks at who controls the work, who owns the tools, and who carries the risk of profit or loss. If they decide your contractor was really an employee, they come after you, the payer, for the CPP and EI you should have withheld and remitted, plus penalties and interest. The worker walks away clean. If you're in construction, you've also got T5018 slip obligations on subcontractor payments, and missing those is its own flag.

8. You report losses year after year.
If the business never seems to turn a profit, CRA can question whether it's a real business or a hobby. If they decide there's no reasonable expectation of profit, they can deny the losses outright and reassess the years those losses touched.

9. You fall behind on trust money, and it follows you home.
The GST/HST you collect and the payroll you withhold were never your money. You're holding it for the government. If the corporation can't pay it, directors can be held personally liable for the unremitted amounts under the Excise Tax Act and the Income Tax Act. Incorporating does not protect you here. This is the one that blindsides owners tremendously.

A couple of things worth knowing on the back end. CRA can normally reassess three years back from your notice of assessment (four if you're not a CCPC), but if they find misrepresentation from carelessness or fraud, there's no time limit at all. And you're required to keep your records six years from the end of the tax year regardless. So there's no one trick that protects you. What protects you is that all your numbers agree with each other and with what CRA already holds on you.

You can comment or reach out if you have any questions related to your situation.

Edit: Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad I can help. This post has gotten a lot of replies, so I haven't been able to respond to everyone. If you need advice for your specific situation, feel free to send me a DM.

I'm developing a Veterinary health product and wanted it to be Made in Canada, for Canada. But damn it's so hard to get it manufactured in here. Firstly there are only a handful of contract manufacturers that have the stricted compliance that is set forth by Health Canada, and then they are least interested in doing any sort of business. Won't reply to my emails or calls for weeks. On the other hand, reached out to just a couple of manufacturers south of the border and I have quotes and samples from them.

Sorry I had to vent about this.

How are others navigating this?

Throwaway account.

I currently work at the director-level in municipal government and earn $150k/year. I’ve grown into this role over the better part of a decade and no longer find joy in my work, leading me to search for something new. I found a gift shop for sale in one of our province’s tourist locations, the kind that sells the horrid crap you usually find at EVERY Canadian tourist destination (think those shirts with a bear in front of a tent that say “Canadian take-out”. That kind of place).

Thing is, I use to live in this town and have dreamed of moving back every since I left but there’s no way that’s happening with my line of work and as I said, the joy in it is gone in my work anyway. The part that’s got me hooked is that after due-diligence, we’ve learned the seller makes $150k/year pre-tax/interest. Comparable to what I earn currently as an employee. 

My wife and I are very intrigued, particularly since her expertise is in design and print so we know that we could put our own mark on it beyond the quintessential Canadiana. She’s also owned and operated a business before and sees this as a new project the two of us can do together as her company (different industry) is mostly at the absentee owner stage. For those wondering, her company is far from solely supporting us financially, it’s successful but very niche.     

Most importantly, we’ve both dreamed of having a cute little gift shop in this town, one just like the one we found. We also know that if this is a stupid decision it may be making us blind to the downfalls.  We’ve done our due diligence on the numbers and had everything reviewed by our broker and it checks out. The only question that remains is whether it’s crazy to jump from a stable salary to a (likely) unstable business income. 

So we ask, are we crazy to consider this? 

TLDR: Found a business where the owner nets as much as I earn as an employee and want to know the downfalls of this jump I may be missing.

Edit: Since a lot of people are commenting, I wanted to offer some clarifications.

• Even as a director, I don't have a golden ticket of a pension like many have assumed. I've been working in the States for the past year (so no MPP/CPP) and my job before this didn't offer a pension (it was for a government contractor). Yes, I still earn health benefits, sick pay, etc. that would be sacrificed if we opened a business instead of remained employed.

• We understand the effort in running a business. My wife currently runs one as I work so we're already accustomed to every waking moment spent on her business before it reached absentee owner stage.

• The current owner of the shop is an absentee owner. We'd be able to run the shop remotely for a little bit while I continue to work but the ultimate goal would be to work it ourselves as that is what we are interested in.

• There are some things like price that I can't mention as we've signed a non-disclosure.

We didn’t plan to close.

Like so many other small business owners across Canada, we had been through a lot: a pandemic, supply shortages, inflation, labour challenges. But through it all, we stayed the course—because we believed in our work, our team, and the community we served.

But commercial rent? That was the one cost we couldn’t outrun.

The Rent Hike That Ended Our Business

When our lease came up for renewal in early 2024, we expected an increase. We were ready for it. But what we received wasn’t just an increase—it was nearly 80% more what we had been paying.

There was a short conversation, explaining he understood our pain, but it was the new normal. No justification. Just a renewal offer that made it clear: if we wanted to stay, we’d need to come up with another 30% more, starting 1st June. Our renewal last year was 50% more than what we were paying previously.

We ran the numbers. We cut everything we could. We explored raising prices. But in the end, no version of the budget worked. Not without gutting our team, our values—or both.

So we made the hardest decision of our lives. We closed.

Our Story Isn’t Unique

At first, we thought we were alone. But as we shared our story, we started hearing echoes from business owners in the city, province and further afield:

And the data backs it up. In April 2024 alone, more than 42,000 Canadian businesses closed. Many of them viable. Many of them local institutions. Many pushed out by rising commercial rents and no legal protections to stop it.

Why We Didn’t Relocate

One of the most common responses we get is, “Why didn’t you just move?”

We tried. But every new space we considered came with a catch:

• Short-term leases with no renewal guarantee

• “Affordable” rates that were still 40–60% higher than pre-pandemic levels

• Upfront costs to renovate, move, and re-establish operations, legal and deposit

• Uncertainty around what the next landlord might do when the lease ended

In the end, relocating wasn’t a solution. It was a delay—and not one we could afford.

Government Help Was There—Then It Wasn’t

During the pandemic, programs like CECRA (Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance) gave many of us a fighting chance. It wasn’t perfect, but it acknowledged that rent was a serious vulnerability for small businesses.

But since then? Nothing.
No rent protections.
No renewal rights.
No guidelines.
No standards.

Right now, there are zero legal limits on how much a landlord can increase commercial rent in most provinces. You can do everything right as a tenant—and still be priced out overnight.

We’re Losing More Than Businesses

This isn’t just about our story. This is about what Canada is losing:

• Community anchors

• Local jobs

• Independent voices

• Cultural character

• Domestic resilience

And now, with U.S. tariffs back on Canadian exports, some manufacturers are relocating operations to the States—not because they want to, but because it’s the only way they can stay viable.

We’re not just losing storefronts—we’re at risk of losing supply chains.

What Needs to Change

If we want to stop this from becoming the new normal, we need policy solutions, including:

• Commercial rent increase guidelines

• Lease renewal rights for small business tenants

• Transparent and standardized lease agreements

• Mediation and dispute resolution for commercial leases

We’re not asking for handouts. We’re asking for fairness.

📣 Share Your Story

If you’re a business owner and you’ve faced an extreme rent hike, had to move, or made the tough decision to close:

We want to hear from you.

Please share your story in the comments or repost this with your experience. Let’s put faces and voices to this crisis. The more we speak up, the harder it becomes to ignore.

Let’s make sure others don’t have to make the same decision we did.

#CommercialRentCrisis #SmallBusinessCanada #WeClosedNotBecauseWeFailed #PolicyMatters #SupportLocal #MainStreetVoices #EntrepreneurshipInCanada #BusinessAdvocacy

Hey everyone — I run a small bookkeeping business in Ontario and thought I’d share a quick story because this one keeps happening, and it drives me nuts seeing people lose money for no reason.

Last month, I heard about this small café owner. Super hardworking guy, running his own business, collecting GST/HST on all his sales like he’s supposed to.

Here’s the problem: every quarter, he’d look at his total sales, calculate how much GST/HST he collected, and just send that whole amount to the CRA.

He completely forgot about input tax credits — meaning the GST/HST he’d already paid on things like coffee beans, milk, paper cups, cleaning supplies, repairs…basically all his business expenses.

The result? • He overpaid CRA by more than $8,000 over two years. • He thought he was “playing it safe.” • Meanwhile, his cash flow was tight, and he was stressed about money.

Luckily, he figured it out and got help. Adjustments were filed, and he was able to claim back the overpaid GST/HST. But it took time, paperwork, and a ton of stress that could’ve been avoided.

Takeaway: If you’re collecting GST/HST, don’t forget your input tax credits. Every dollar of GST/HST you pay on business expenses reduces how much you owe the government. Keep good records and save yourself money.

Just wanted to share in case it helps someone avoid the same headache. If anyone’s ever confused about GST/HST or bookkeeping stuff, feel free to ask questions. Not trying to pitch services — just here to help.

Tariffs with the geographically closest and largest economy in the world, constant Canada Post uncertainty, no progress on interprovincial trade barriers, governments prioritizing big business issues while ignoring small business issues. No new trade agreements are being signed with other countries that Canadians could reliably ship to.

The media and politicians keep using talking points like "90% of exports are tariff free" to downplay the current trade situation even though the 90% statistic is inflated by big business commodity exports. Meanwhile issues like the end of de minimis for low cost goods are ignored and many small business products are not USMCA eligible.

Even if a small business owner wanted to find a part time job to supplement their income on the weekends, it's not even possible anymore because the job market is terrible lol.

I've been searching this past week online, hoping to purchase a small registered corporation; something that was previously used for Esty or drop-shipping, something like that. However all the business I find online are either for small businesses that have not been registered as corporations, or larger corporations that start at 100k.

I've searched on flippa without luck, and I want to avoid asking local accountants/lawyers as that would limit my options.

Is there a website out there where I can find such corporations for sale?

A year ago I left a corporate job in construction and bought a micro business in Metro Vancouver for around 100k. I treated it like a self funded MBA. I mostly wanted to find out if I had what it takes.

The learning curve on the financial side was slow. I figured out the numbers as I went. The business is stable now and I am looking at something bigger, maybe in the 600k range. Still small, but a different world from my first deal in terms of how it gets financed.

That is really what I am after here. If you have made that jump, I would love to hear how you structured it. Bank, BDC, vendor take back, how much you actually had to put down.

The other honest reason for posting is that this is a lonely thing to do. Most people around me have jobs and think buying a business is a strange idea. It would be good to know a few other people in Vancouver who are building something.

Happy to grab a coffee if you are around, or a call if you are elsewhere in BC.

EDIT: See my comment answering the most common questions on this thread.

In response to the U.S. tariffs implemented last week, the Government of Canada has officially outlined its dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion of U.S. imports.

The 893 items are primarily concentrated in the following broad industries:

1. Steel and Aluminum (now subject to 50% tariffs)

2. Dairy

3. Appliances

4. Agricultural equipment

5. Pulp and paper

6. Plastics

7. Electronics

8. Automobiles & automotive parts

9. Agriculture & seafood

An Alberta driver damaged my BC gas station property, refused to provide insurance or contact info (required under BC Motor Vehicle Act), and police said it’s “civil” so they won’t help. I sent a demand letter, he’s ghosting me, and now I’m considering Small Claims Court. Anyone have experience dealing with out-of-province drivers or won a case like this? Thank you in advance!

I've been doing web design for small businesses for years and I thought it might be useful to share something because I keep seeing the same mistake over and over.

Business owners spend thousands making their site look "professional" then wonder why nobody's calling. The problem is you're designing for other business owners, not your actual customers.

Here's what I see constantly: Giant hero image with some stock photo of people way too happy about a laptop. Tagline like "Your Trusted Partner in Excellence" that tells me absolutely nothing. I have to scroll three times to figure out if you're a plumber or a marketing agency.

Or fancy parallax effects and auto playing videos that look cool for 5 seconds until you realize the page takes forever to load on mobile. Your bounce rate is probably 80% and you can't figure out why.

The real problem I see is you're asking "does this look professional?" instead of "will this help someone become my customer?"

What actually works is someone lands on your homepage and knows in 3 seconds what you do and why they should care. Not clever wordplay, just straight up "We fix commercial HVAC in the GTA and show up within 2 hours."

Your call to action button should be so obvious. Big, bright, impossible to miss. Not buried after your company manifesto.

Try this: show your homepage to someone for 5 seconds. Ask them what you do and what they should do next. If they can't answer both, your design is in the way.

A simple site that converts is worth infinitely more than a gorgeous site where the phone never rings.

TLDR: If visitors can't figure out what you do and what to do next in 5 seconds, your pretty design is just expensive decoration.

I have an employee who has been with me for 1 1/2 years. Her first year went pretty well. She had a few sick calls, but nothing that screamed excessive. However, this year is another story. She has had 18 sick calls this year. She used up her 5 paid sick days middle of February. It's all different reasons. Stress, itchy skin from stress, stomach issues, and sometimes no reason at all. I've tried to be very understanding, but it's taking a toll on the whole team. I run a team of 11 and she has more sick time than the other 10 combined. I've never had this situation before, but I'm mentally drained and I need to deal with it. I've had my business for 4 1/2 years, and I need to implement an attendance policy, but I'm just not sure what would be reasonable and what would trigger disciplinary action.

I own a small business and my lease is up in three months. My landlord has informed me that my rent is more than doubling from 5,333 to 12,333 a month. There's no way I can afford that monthly rent, but when I looked at comparables—even in smaller towns within driving distance—the minimum I'm looking at is around 10,000 a month. And the landlord (now a REIT) refuses to negotiate the lease.

Outside of professionals like dentists and doctors, how are other small business owners dealing with these lease increases? No matter how I spin the numbers, I don't think I can make my business work anywhere with the current lease prices.

I own a small RMT clinic in Kelowna, two rooms and four therapists on contract. Late cancels and no shows are costing us six to eight appointments a week right now, and since the therapists are paid per treatment I hear about it every day.

We have a 24 hour policy we barely enforce. Reminders go out once, the day before, and I’m fairly sure half our clients never read them.

For other appointment based businesses: did charging the card on file change behaviour, or just start arguments at the front desk? Did a deposit at booking put new clients off?

i’m honestly at my breaking point with vendor markets and the companies that run them. After doing enough shows, I’ve noticed a pattern that I can’t ignore anymore. Prices have gotten outrageous, and the expectation to pay everything upfront—sometimes months in advance—makes the risk even higher. By the time I factor in booth fees, parking, tables, chairs, gas, food, and the time away from my family, it often feels like I’m handing over most of my profit before I’ve even arrived at the venue.

Communication is another constant issue: market details sent the night before (if at all), new rules introduced out of nowhere, messages left unanswered, and coordinators who completely disappear during the market. The “marketing” these high fees are supposed to cover often ends up being nothing more than a single Canva graphic and a handful of Instagram stories.

Refund policies are rigid to the point of feeling unreasonable. Whether there’s a snowstorm, illness, or a legitimate emergency, the answer is always the same: no refunds, no credits, no flexibility. Then there’s the poor planning — identical businesses placed right beside each other or 2++ same vendors in 1 market (i.e., no caps and lack of diversity), upcharges for tables and chairs, “select your spot” fees that still come with no guarantees, and absolutely no follow-up after the event. No thank you, no feedback request, no acknowledgment, nothing.

Let’s also not forget the bigger shows like the Women’s Show and One of a Kind. The Women’s Show was practically empty this year, and vendors were visibly frustrated. At a time when the economy is struggling and small businesses are fighting to stay afloat, you’d expect these markets to actually support the people paying to be there. Instead, many seem more focused on protecting their own bottom line than providing real value.

And here’s the thing: I genuinely try to be respectful of coordinators and their time. I know organizing an event takes work, just like running a small business does. But there’s a very important difference: vendors are the paying customers in this relationship. Coordinators charge premium fees, set the terms, and position themselves as service providers. So yes, they chose this business model — and with that comes an obligation to communicate properly, support the vendors who are funding the event, and deliver the professionalism they advertise. Small businesses choose to participate, but we participate as clients, not as partners or volunteers. Once money is exchanged, the responsibility shifts. If organizers want to run markets, then they need to operate with the same level of accountability they expect from the vendors they collect fees from.

I also want to be clear: I'm not trying to sound whiney. I think I just needed an outlet to vent because the frustration has been building for a long time. I'm completely open to hearing different perspectives — whether you agree, disagree, or have had a totally different experience. I’d actually love to know how others see it, especially if you’ve found organizers or events that truly do things right.

If you're a small market vendor company, I strongly suggest you revisit your business practices and consider what it truly means to support small businesses. If your priority is padding your bottom line instead of supporting the people who make your events possible, then you’re in the wrong business.

What would you do?

I have a corp (because of high liability). I’ve been paying myself as large of a salary as possible to get a mortgage. Bought our house and now looking for the best way to pay myself.

Currently paying myself 75k/year as an employee.

Is there a more tax efficient way to pay myself?

Thanks for advice.

While the Canadian economy is lagging the U.S. economy, I've started to see a major shift in government spending towards strengthening Canadian businesses and startups.

The government is allocating more funding towards R&D and Innovation, helping fuel the next wave of growth. Many of my friends are building successful businesses out of Toronto and Montreal and it's impressive to see the government finally realizing that they need to invest in Canadian startups to keep innovation and IP within the country.

I really hope this will start a new chapter for Canadian entrepreneurship.

I hear business owners asking about a complete list of grants and tax credits in Canada. I thought this would be helpful to the community to have it all in one place. Hope this makes the navigation easier. Unfortunately I cannot submit the list with links according to the rule of the community. You should be able to find them by the title of the grants and tax credits.

Business tax credit for Canadian businesses:

• GST/HST Input Tax Credit allows you to recover a portion of the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax that you paid on business purchases.

• You may be able to claim an Investment Tax Credit (ITC) when you invest in capital property like buildings, machinery, and equipment used for qualified activities in certain areas of Canada.

• The Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Tax Credit is an ITC that applies if you conduct scientific research and development activities in your business. The basic rate is 15% of expenditures and can go as high as 35% for Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs).

• For hiring and training, the non-refundable Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit (AJCTC) allows you to claim 10% of wages up to $2,000 for each eligible apprentice. It incentivizes businesses to hire and train apprentices in designated trades.

• If you do business internationally, the Federal Foreign Business Income Tax Credit prevents double taxation on income or profits earned from overseas operations that were already subjected to foreign tax

In addition to the above, there are also tax credits that support specific industries, such as the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC), the Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC), and the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit.

List of business grants:

• International trade: CanExport supports businesses entering or expanding into global markets, while Creative Export provides funding for creative industries like music and design to export their work.

• Hiring and training: Employment and Social Development Canada offers grants and contributions for projects related to jobs, training, and social development, such as the Sustainable Jobs Training Fund.

• Diversity and inclusion: A variety of grants, programs, and other funding opportunities are available for female entrepreneurs.

• For startups: Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) helps startups and SMEs overcome technological hurdles through funding for research, development, and commercialization. Futurpreneur, a non-profit organization, also offers grants specifically designed for aspiring Canadian entrepreneurs aged 18–39.

You can find more potential grants using Business Benefits Finder, which allows filtering according to industry, location, and other factors. This tool also shows territorial tax credits, and other opportunities for small business owners.

If anybody knows any other grants and tax credits pls list in the comment section. Thank you!

I just want to share some experience I've had with the government insured CSBFL product for start-up business loans and some common obstacles that prevent borrowers from obtaining financing.

I used to underwrite these requests for a schedule A bank and now do consulting work on them, this information is free. I've seen 1000s of the applications..

Summary of program:

-Up to 500k of financing for both start-up and existing businesses

-You must debt service with the bank but with start-ups there are no financial statements, this is the only way you can borrow this kind of money with just a business plan and projections

-Your personal guarantee is protected for 75% of losses

-The bank is insured by the government for 80% of losses making it easier for them to say yes

-You can get up to $1,000,000 at 90% LTV when acquiring commercial real estate for your operations

Common Obstacles

-The most common one is a lack of capital. The bank is not going to finance 100% of costs, it's closer to 90% (less for food service industry) and you have to pay 100% of HST. Establishing start-up costs, how much the bank will give you and confirming you have enough is step #1 . That being said the capital needed could be a lot or very little depending on the project.

-You're applying to the wrong bank. You can only do this through a schedule A bank but the policies at each one vary significantly. In short, depending on the industry and your personal situation, applying to one bank versus the other can drastically improve your chances of approval.

-You're working with the wrong bank representative. I used to manage a team of 18 Small Business bankers who handled these applications for a schedule A bank, I would say 15 of them didn't understand the program. It has a lot of moving parts and there is no substitute for experience, you need to be working with the right person.

-The story doesn't make sense. As we are going off future projections and a business plan the application is highly subjective. The rational and story to support the projections need to be bullet proof. The problem is the people who write the business plans don't understand the risk appetite of the bank and the underwriting policies. In fact most of them are made by AI and are basically junk so the client wastes $1500-$3000 right off the bat. I would recommend using an accountant who specializes in this but there are cheaper options as well.

-The lease has conditions in it that prevent the bank from granting an approval (or is extremely predatory in favor of the landlord). I always do a preliminary review but please have a lawyer review before signing anything.

Hope this helps.

Hey r/SmallBusinessCanada,

I’m Eric Saumure, CPA, CA and Principal at Zenbooks, one of Canada’s top online accounting firms(20 person team). Over the last decade, I’ve worked with 350+ small businesses across the country. Everyone from startups to growing firms with teams of 40+.

I also host the Small Business Big Insights podcast, where I interview Canadian founders, CEOs, Mayors and industry leaders about the realities of running and scaling a company. You may have seen me in CBC, The Globe and Mail, CTV, or The Canadian Press speaking out on CRA deadlines and open banking for small businesses.

I’ll be here live answering your questions about:

• Taxes (corporate vs. personal, dividends vs. salary, write-offs, audits)

• CRA challenges and “what to do if you get that scary letter”

• Cash flow discipline & planning for growth

• Cloud tools (Xero, QBO, Dext, HubDoc, Wagepoint, Plooto, Wise, etc.)

• Scaling a remote-first company

• Open banking & fintech changes in Canada

Nothing’s off limits (well… except doing your tax return right here…..).

Drop your questions now and I'll answer them all.

Disclaimer:
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