What are the income tax and financial statement requirements for a new C-Corp that didn't have any revenue during the year?

That is a LOUSY return. You'd be better off putting the money in a savings account in the bank. I do not know your industry well, but in mine (Marketing Agency) I aim for a net profit of 15% after paying corporate taxes, wages and all overheads.

If your looking for financing and not wanting to give up equity you could try to get venture debt. Check out Hercules http://www.htgc.com/ and their competitors these companies can provide big loans. Be ready to provide a lot of info on your company and your financial health. Be aware these companies exist to make money so make sure you end up with payments you can handle. You'll also have loan covenants which will outline certain financial performance metric you'll need to hit. If you miss covenants your loan terms will change for the worse and it can even end up with bank taking control of your company. Obviously a worst case scenario, but you need to be aware and make sure you are very comfortable with the covenants you agree to. - mike

Since some new business owners get excited about revenue, instead of gross profit, it is always wise to show the difference. Let us consider as an example, that your business makes $10,000 (revenue) in revenue in one month, and has a cost of goods (or services rendered) of $7,000. This means that you have to pay someone (e.g. a vendor) $7,000 to make $10,000. Then, you are faced with general expenses for the month that amount to $2,000 (utilities, etc.). The excerpts that you quoted from the article mean that you should NOT think that you are spending $2,000 from the $10,000 (revenue), but that you are spending $2,000 from the $3,000 (gross profit: $10,000 - $7,000). As you can imagine, you will be much more cautious when you realize that you are spending 66% of your gross profit on expenses, and not simply 20% of your revenue. While this is certainly common sense, the reason for his pointing it out is that sometimes people do not keep it in mind.

I will answer this is the simplest form I can. Basically in every country to conduct business in you will need to pay taxes in that country. If you have an office, employees or your revenue comes from that country you have to pay taxes. These taxes will include State, Federal and Sales Tax. Moreover, this at the beginning will make you think you are paying double tax since this income also has to be paid with your local government, but it isn't so bad. This could be a great opportunity to build a tax strategy where you can take advantage of multi country taxation which can lower your overall tax bracket. There are several steps you have to do to conduct business in the US, such as incorporating first as a foreign corporation in the state you chose (Preferably one with no state tax) then filing your taxes. Your tax preparer in Canada will have to take this in consideration since there are forms he has to fill out to cancel either you Canadian Income Tax or your US tax preparer to fill out the return not to pay taxes here but in Canada... whichever tax you have to pay depending on the international treaties they have.

If your concern is from an ethical standpoint or a concern over a segregation of duties, there is no problem at all having your tax person handling your bookkeeping. The bigger issue is something that few people understand about accountants. There are different specialties within accounting, and you should go to the right specialist for the right task. Tax accountants are experts in tax law, filling out tax returns and finding ways to minimize taxes. They must immerse themselves in the field to maintain their expertise. Financial accountants (which include bookkeeping) are experts in debits and credits and keeping all your transaction straight in your accounting software so that you can get good financials each month. Financial accountants have to immerse themselves in your day-to-day accounting so that they can keep it accurate and up to date. Full disclosure, this is the work that my firm specializes in, we don’t do any taxes. Because each type of accountant must immerse themselves in their individual fields of expertise, they don’t have the time to focus on the other expertise. Not that they are both not great accountants, they just have a different specialty. Here’s a good analogy. If you developed a heart condition, would you go see a neurologist? No, you’d go see a cardiologist. They are both outstanding physicians and know a lot about the human body, but the cardiologist spends all their time thinking about, studying, and treating heart conditions and is going to be the best equipped and most knowledgeable about treatments for your heart condition. The last point I’ll make is that tax work is very seasonal and requires incredible focus and incredibly long hours leading up to major tax deadlines. This is not only during the period from January to April 15th, but also leading up to major deadlines on August, September and October 15th. Companies I have worked with that used tax accountants in the past for their bookkeeping find during these periods their tax accountants are forced to put all other work besides taxes on hold until their tax work is complete. What often happens in these situations is that these company’s bookkeeping falls three or four months behind. This can be devastating for a small business that needs to know if they are making money or losing money on a very up to date basis. So my suggestion is to find yourself a good bookkeeper that can handle your books. Your tax person may even be able to suggest a good resource, and deep down may be glad to do so because her first love is taxes, not bookkeeping. My firm could likely handle the work as well. Hope my thoughts above are helpful and addressed your question, but feel free to reach out to me if you have any follow up questions.