Illustrative scenario: a Montreal practice filing with two tax administrations
A Montreal firm answers to two tax administrations for the same client: the CRA for the federal T2 and Revenu Québec for the CO-17. Revenu Québec administers both the GST/HST and the 9.975% QST in Quebec, so a single client generates parallel federal and provincial obligations on parallel clocks.
The firm in this scenario
An archetype, not a client. The figures below describe the shape of the practice being modelled — they are inputs to the scenario, never results.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Archetype | Bilingual practice managing two tax administrations |
| Location | Montréal, Quebec |
| Firm size | Six staff |
| Client profile | Corporate clients filing both the federal T2 and the Quebec CO-17, with QST alongside GST |
- Multi-obligation services
- SLA dashboard
- Aggregated reminders
- Branded client email
The problem
Every corporate client carries a matched pair of obligations. Two administrations mean two sets of correspondence, two portals and two sets of dates — which in most firms means two lists that slowly disagree with each other.
The disagreement is invisible until one list is wrong. A CO-17 tracked only in the Quebec list is a filing nobody sees when the federal board is the one on screen.
The workflow, step by step
- 1
Model each obligation separately
The T2, the CO-17 and the GST/QST return are distinct services on the client record, each with its own cadence, rather than one line called 'year-end'.
Services catalogue
- 2
Put both administrations on one board
Parallel federal and Quebec deadlines appear as separate tickets ranked together, so the earliest date wins regardless of which administration set it.
SLA dashboard
- 3
Fire reminders per obligation
Each obligation reminds on its own schedule; the CO-17 does not inherit the T2's reminder and quietly go missing.
Aggregated reminders
- 4
Communicate in the client's language
Client-facing emails and engagement letters carry the firm's own letterhead and branding, which matters in a market where French-language client communication is an expectation, not a preference.
White-label branded emails
What this changes
Firms with dual filings typically stop maintaining duplicate calendars that disagree with each other. One board holding both administrations' dates is the whole point — the CO-17 and the T2 are visible in the same glance, ranked by which is actually closest.
About this scenario
Related reading
Where this applies
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