I was so excited to actually be able to put some of my law knowledge to work. Julian was musing about a small business he's started and make the big decision to buy a new computer as I fell asleep. "I'll be able to write it off!" he said.

"Oh no," I murmured. "That's a capital cost, baby." (Okay, maybe I didn't say baby.) "You've got to subtract the proceeds of disposition, the prior recapture and any prior capital cost allowance and then multiply all that by the rate of depreciation." With that, I fell asleep, visions of CRA bulletins dancing in my head.

Today he called me, having looked up the rate of depreciation on a new computer. "45%" he told me. "So can I take the whole 45%?"

"Nope," I said. "Apply the half year rule."

Yay! The $10,000 I spend a year will actually help my family save a few pennies. Or I could have not told him, he'd have written off the whole thing, and ... we might not have gotten audited. Oh well.

P.S. Don't worry, I made him sign a waiver of liability before I told him any of that stuff.