The People Behind the Numbers
Sarah Chen, CPA, CA
Founding Partner | Est. 2012
Started this whole thing after spending way too many years at a big-four firm where personality went to die. Sarah's spent 15+ years wrestling with international tax codes - yeah, she's the one who can actually explain BEPS without putting you to sleep. Her specialty? Making sure Canadian companies expanding into the US don't get blindsided by tax compliance nightmares.
Marcus Donovan, CPA, CGA, MBA
Founding Partner | Joined 2014
Marcus came aboard two years in and basically transformed how we approach corporate finance strategy. He's got this weird talent for seeing what's coming down the pipeline - saved more than a few clients from walking into tax traps they didn't even know existed. Before joining us, he did the CFO thing for a mid-sized import/export company, so he gets the operational side, not just the theory.
Priya Mehta, CPA, CA, CFE
Senior Partner | Joined 2018
Priya's our audit guru and fraud detection specialist - honestly, nothing gets past her. She joined after a stint with CRA (yeah, she switched sides), which means she knows exactly how they think and what they're looking for. Super handy during audit season. Her approach to financial statement prep is borderline obsessive, but clients love it 'cause there's never any surprises.
Thirteen Years of Making Sense of the Mess
Look, we get it - cross-border taxation isn't exactly thrilling dinner conversation. But when you're trying to expand your business internationally or you've got operations on both sides of the border, it becomes pretty damn important real quick.
"We started Helion Vexora because we were tired of seeing businesses get hammered with penalties and surprise tax bills just because nobody explained the rules in plain English. The big firms were too busy chasing Fortune 500 clients, and the small shops didn't have the cross-border expertise."
- Sarah Chen, Founding Partner
How We Actually Work
Here's what we learned after working with 47+ businesses across tech, manufacturing, import/export, and professional services - every situation's different, but the problems are usually similar. Company wants to expand into the US or bring US operations into Canada. Suddenly there's withholding taxes, transfer pricing, permanent establishment issues, and a whole alphabet soup of tax forms nobody's ever heard of.
We don't do cookie-cutter solutions. Your tech startup selling SaaS across borders? Totally different setup than a manufacturer with physical operations in both countries. We'll actually sit down, understand your business model, and figure out the most tax-efficient structure that won't blow up in your face three years down the road.
Plus, we're not gonna ghost you after filing season. Tax planning isn't a once-a-year thing - it's ongoing. We're the type to send you a heads-up email when new legislation might affect your business, not just wait till next April to surprise you with bad news.
"The best part about working with mid-sized businesses? They're big enough to have complex problems, but small enough that we can actually make a meaningful difference. We're not Partner #47 on some massive audit team - we're the people you call when something doesn't make sense."
- Marcus Donovan, Founding Partner
What We're Actually Good At
Cross-Border Tax
Canada-US Specialists
CPA Designated
All Senior Partners
Corporate Finance
Strategic Advisory
Audit Support
CRA Specialists
International Tax
Treaty Navigation
Business Valuation
CBV Certified
CFO Services
Fractional CFO
Payroll Expert
Full Compliance
Continuing Ed
Always Learning
Our Three Rules
1. No Jargon Unless Necessary
If we can explain it in normal words, we will. Sure, sometimes you gotta use technical terms, but we'll make sure you actually understand what they mean and why they matter to you.
2. Proactive, Not Reactive
We're gonna bug you about deadlines, new regulations, and planning opportunities before they become problems. You hired us to stay on top of this stuff so you don't have to.
3. Always Available (Within Reason)
Tax emergencies happen. Deals come up. Questions arise at weird times. We're not gonna leave you hanging when you need an answer - though maybe give us till morning if it's 2am and not actually urgent.
"At the end of the day, we measure success by whether our clients feel confident about their financial decisions and tax position. If you're losing sleep over tax compliance or cross-border issues, we're not doing our job right."
- Priya Mehta, Senior Partner
Wanna Work With Us?
If you're dealing with cross-border tax stuff, expanding internationally, or just need someone who actually understands corporate finance strategy, let's talk.
Get In Touch