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NORTH SAANICH · E-2 FIELD GUIDE

Should a short-term revenue spike be treated as guaranteed continuing capacity?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Explain what produced it and assess the business using the relevant actual record.

Read income in context

A large receipt may be material without establishing recurring revenue. Keep operating results, investment capital and government or professional charges distinguishable.

Funds actually paid or irrevocably committed toward buying and operating the business count; contingent deposits, seller financing secured on the business, and personal moving costs do not. Rent already paid, fit-out at both sites, equipment, and non-refundable deposits are business costs that may form part of the investment picture; refundable or escrowed amounts require fact-specific review before anyone treats them as at risk. Show which line each purchase, lease, or deposit supports, and keep business expenditure separate from immigration-preparation legal costs, whose treatment should be reviewed on the actual facts. Plans understate this in predictable ways: leasehold improvements, licences and permits, insurance, deposits, initial inventory, the first months of payroll before revenue arrives, and professional fees for incorporation and closing. Substantiality is proportional to the total cost of purchasing or establishing this particular business, so a drainage installation company with trucks, trenchers and a crew is measured against its own acquisition cost rather than against any general figure. A purchase price can carry goodwill payable later, a holdback released after a warranty period and an earn-out contingent on results nobody has produced yet, none of which is money placed at risk today.