For some weeks now, the news has been dominated by the worldwide spread of the novel Coronavirus which causes COVID-19. While none of us know the exact trajectory of this public health event, we at Crowe Soberman have been preparing and adjusting our operations out of an abundance of caution.
We have employed multiple sanitation strategies, including eliminating personal contact such as handshakes, supplying sanitizer to all firm members and throughout our premises, as well as redoubling office-cleaning efforts. We have encouraged our people to work or hold meetings remotely rather than meet in groups whenever possible. We have restrictions in place concerning travel and have measures in place to allow firm members to work remotely if they have essential travel requirements.
We have successfully completed a test during which essentially all of our firm members logged in simultaneously from home or another remote location; we have had robust policies in place that provide for secure and efficient remote work for some time.
As you all know, it is personal tax season, and we are committed to ensuring that all returns are filed on a timely basis. In the unlikely event that there are restrictions placed on movement in the City of Toronto, there may be challenges in our receiving and processing of tax returns based on paper documentation. We strongly urge anyone who has not been using our portal for the transmission of documents to contact his or her advisor to have a portal set up. It is easy, completely secure, and will ensure that we are able to process your return on a timely basis.
We have also set up a remote personal tax processing centre if access to our building is restricted. Should it become necessary to use this alternate site we will provide further information to you.
We welcome any questions at any time. Please feel free to contact your own advisor, or our Chief Operating Officer and Partner, Susan Hodkinson, at [email protected] or Managing Partner Jerry Cukier at [email protected].
We are confident that we will get through this together – and, as always, wish the very best of health to you and your loved ones.
