Mississauga, Ontario
Corporate tax and bookkeeping for Ontario contractors and clinics
We are a two-person firm. Most of our clients are incorporated trades businesses and health clinics, so we already know the rules that catch those two out.
T2, the owner's T1, HST, payroll and QuickBooks, all handled in one place, at a fixed fee agreed before we start.
What the niche actually buys you
Two examples, both routine, both commonly missed
Neither of these is obscure. Both come up on nearly every file in their industry, and both get handled wrong often enough that we check them on any new client before we look at anything else.
You invoice $100,000 on a job and hold back $10,000 under the Construction Act. The HST on that holdback is not due when you bill it. It becomes payable on the earlier of the day the holdback is actually paid to you and the day the holdback period expires.
Remitted with the rest of the invoice instead, you are paying CRA money you have not collected, on every job, several months early. Over a year of jobs it adds up to a meaningful cash flow problem that nobody can see in the P&L.
A physiotherapist and a registered massage therapist work out of the same clinic, share a front desk and appear on the same invoice. The physiotherapy is exempt from HST. The massage therapy is taxable at 13%.
Massage therapy is a regulated health profession in Ontario and receipts are accepted by insurers, and none of that matters. It is not named in Schedule V, Part II of the Excise Tax Act. Most booking software codes both appointments the same way, so the split has to be handled in the books.
Services
Everything an incorporated business needs, from one firm
Having the same people do the books and the return means the dividend on the T2 and the dividend on the T1 agree. Where two firms split the work, they often do not, and the reassessment lands on the owner personally.
| Service | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Corporate tax (T2) | Year-end statements, the return, CRA correspondence, instalments |
| Personal tax (T1) | Owner and family, matched to what the corporation declared |
| GST/HST | Registration, filing, input tax credit review |
| Payroll, T4 & T5 | Remittances, year-end slips, taxable benefits |
| Bookkeeping | QuickBooks Online, monthly or quarterly, closed by the 12th |
| Advisory | Salary versus dividend, cash flow, CFO-level reporting |
Two things you can use without talking to us
When is everything due?
Put in your fiscal year end and it returns your T2 date, your balance date, HST, instalments and slips, with the penalty attached to each.
Self-checkIs anything being missed?
Twelve things worth having from an accountant if you run an incorporated business. Tick the ones you get. Most people land around seven.
Neither asks for an email address. Nothing reaches us unless you decide to book.
Worth saying up front
Some things we do not do
We would rather you find this out here than after a phone call.
- We do not compete on being the cheapest T2 in town. If that is what you want there are firms that do it well and we would only disappoint you.
- No audit or review engagements, and no public companies.
- We will not take an aggressive filing position to win the work.
- If your industry has a body of rules we do not know, we will say so on the first call. It happens a few times a year.
Capacity between January and April is limited, so if you are thinking about moving, earlier in the year is easier for both sides.
Questions we get asked
What does an accountant cost for a small Ontario corporation?
Our monthly packages run $350 to $2,000. What moves it is transaction volume, how often you file HST, how many people are on payroll, and whether we are doing the bookkeeping or you are. We quote a fixed fee in writing after a 20-minute call, so you know the number before anything starts.
Do I still have to file if the corporation had no activity?
Yes. A T2 is required for every tax year whether or not the company did anything. Skipping it creates penalties, and an unfiled return can hold up financing or lock you out of your CRA business account. A nil return costs very little to prepare.
Can you take over partway through the year?
Yes, we do it regularly. We ask for last year's financial statements, the T2, the notices of assessment and your bookkeeping file, then check the opening balances before touching anything. Switching accountants does not restart your fiscal year or trigger anything at CRA.
Do you do the bookkeeping too, or only the tax?
Both, and most clients use us for both. QuickBooks Online monthly or quarterly, HST filed on schedule, payroll and the T4 and T5 slips at year end.
Where are you and who do you work with?
We are in Mississauga and most clients are in Mississauga, Brampton, Oakville, Etobicoke and Milton. The work happens over email, document exchange and video calls, so anywhere in Ontario is fine.
Twenty minutes on the phone
We ask what the business does, what shape the books are in, and what your last accountant did or did not do. You get a straight answer on whether we can help, and a rough number, on the call.
Daytime, evening and Saturday appointments.