Accountant for Small Business in British Columbia
We look after incorporated businesses across BC — corporate tax, the province’s GST-plus-PST system, bookkeeping and planning — entirely online, wherever you are. That includes counselling and therapy practices across the province.
Related: Accounting for BC businesses by industry.
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Updated .
Quick answer: British Columbia corporations file a T2 return six months after fiscal year-end and may also need to collect both 5% GST and 7% PST, which are registered and filed separately. EverStone is a CPA practice preparing T2 returns, GST/PST filings and year-end statements online for a fixed, pre-agreed fee. Published fees start at $125 for a personal return and $325 a month for bookkeeping.
Every engagement runs online, by email, video call and e-signature. See how working with a virtual CPA works.
The year-end covers the T2 with Schedule 1 and Schedule 50, the CCA schedule, the small business deduction, T4 or T5 slips for the owner’s pay, and the instalments for the year ahead.
On this page
- BC’s GST-plus-PST split, and where contractors get it wrong
- Who we serve across BC’s building & resource economy
- Everything a BC corporation needs under one file
- The PST question that costs BC service businesses the most
- British Columbia accounting FAQ
- Why clients stay with EverStone
- Working with us in Vancouver
- Cities we serve in British Columbia
BC’s GST-plus-PST split, and where contractors get it wrong
British Columbia pairs the 5% federal GST with a separate 7% provincial sales tax (PST) — unlike HST provinces, the PST is filed separately to the province, and it applies differently (many services are exempt). Getting the PST treatment right is one of the most common things BC owners get wrong.
On the corporate side, BC has one of the country’s more competitive small-business rates. Active business income eligible for the small-business deduction is taxed at a combined 11% (9% federal + 2% BC), up to the $500,000 limit.
PST is where most BC corporations trip up, because the exemption list is not intuitive. Most services are exempt from PST, but a defined list is not: telecommunication services, and a growing category of software and SaaS subscriptions, are taxable. Getting the taxable-versus-exempt call wrong on an invoice means either undercharging a customer or over-remitting tax you never should have collected.
Contractors selling installed goods face a related wrinkle: labour to install materials into real property is generally treated differently for PST purposes than a straight retail sale, which changes how PST should be applied on a renovation or build contract. On the employer side, once a BC business’s annual payroll passes the province’s employer health tax exemption threshold, Employer Health Tax applies alongside CPP and EI. It catches growing BC firms much the way EHT catches growing Ontario ones, just calculated against a different threshold and rate.
| Sales tax | 5% GST + 7% PST (PST filed separately) |
|---|---|
| Small-business corporate rate | 11% combined (9% federal + 2% BC) |
| General corporate rate | 27% combined |
| Small-business limit | $500,000 |
Rates current as of 2026 (source: Canada Revenue Agency). General information, not advice specific to your situation.
Need the full set rather than the summary? The British Columbia tax facts tables set out the corporate rates, the sales tax position, the provincial payroll levies, the workers’ compensation authority and the registry filing, each with its government source and the date it was checked.
Who we serve across BC’s building & resource economy
The province’s economy skews toward two very different PST realities. The Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland’s building trades sell installed materials and labour, largely PST-exempt on the service side but taxable on many materials. BC’s software, e-commerce and professional-services sector increasingly sells taxable digital products and subscriptions. We work with both, and it’s exactly this contrast that makes correct PST coding matter so much for a BC file:
Construction & trades
Holdbacks, work-in-progress, subcontractor T5018 reporting and equipment, plus PST correctly split between exempt labour and taxable materials on the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland building projects that are our backyard.
Professional corporations
Consultants, medical and legal professionals incorporating to access BC’s 11% small-business rate, then structuring owner pay around a salary-and-dividend mix that keeps the rate working for them.
Tech & online business
SR&ED-adjacent startups, SaaS platforms and e-commerce sellers who need PST correctly applied to software and digital subscriptions, and GST tracked cleanly across the provinces they ship into.
Agriculture & food
Fraser Valley farms, greenhouses and food producers managing seasonal cash flow, equipment capital cost allowance, and the PST exemptions that apply to specific farm inputs.
Everything a BC corporation needs under one file
One CPA handles it all, coordinated instead of scattered across a bookkeeper, a tax preparer and a payroll service:
- T2 corporate tax returns & BC year-end statements
- BC GST + PST filed and reconciled correctly
- Bookkeeping & payroll on the cloud, PST-coded from day one
- Personal T1 returns coordinated with your BC corporation
- Salary-vs-dividend planning built around BC’s small-business rate
- CRA & BC PST correspondence handled year-round
The PST question that costs BC service businesses the most
BC owners who’ve operated in an HST province before consistently underestimate how differently PST treats a service business. Because most services are exempt from PST by default, it’s tempting to assume software, consulting deliverables and digital tools carry no PST exposure at all, and for a genuine consulting fee, that’s usually correct. The exposure shows up at the edges: a subscription to project-management or accounting software, a bundled software-plus-installation contract, or a purchase of taxable equipment for the business. All carry PST that many BC corporations either forget to self-assess on out-of-province purchases or apply inconsistently on their own invoices.
For a contractor, the PST question is different again. Labour to install materials into real property is generally not taxed the way a retail sale of goods is, but the materials themselves usually are. A single renovation contract can therefore carry two different PST treatments depending on how the invoice is structured. Getting this wrong in either direction is expensive — undercharge, and you’re personally on the hook for the PST you should have collected; overcharge, and you’ve made your quote less competitive for no reason.
We code PST correctly into your bookkeeping from the first invoice, flag whether your specific deliverables are taxable or exempt before a quoting mistake becomes a filing problem. The BC employer health tax threshold is tracked as your payroll grows, so it’s never a year-end surprise.
Keep exploring British Columbia tax topics
Keep exploring, or run your own numbers first.
British Columbia accounting FAQ
Does BC’s PST apply to the software and subscriptions my business uses?+
How does PST work on a construction contract where I supply both materials and labour?+
What is BC’s small-business tax rate, and does all my income qualify for it?+
When does BC’s Employer Health Tax start applying to a growing business?+
Do you work with BC businesses outside the Lower Mainland?+
Do I need a BC PST number if I sell online to customers in BC?+
What provincial filings does a BC corporation have on top of its T2?+
What does an accountant cost for a British Columbia business?+
Which parts of British Columbia do you serve?+
Why clients stay with EverStone
Rated 5.0 on Google across 21 client reviews.
“…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!”
“…He is very knowledgeable and has saved me tons in taxes by restructuring my group of companies — the best accountant I’ve worked with in the last 10 years, after switching from three different firms.”
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”
Working with us in Vancouver
If your business is in or around Vancouver, the virtual accountant in Vancouver page covers how a remote engagement works there, the local industries we see most, and the British Columbia specifics that come up. You can also read about working with an accountant in Vancouver if you have not worked with a CPA at a distance before.
Two Vancouver sectors have their own pages because the tax questions differ so much from a general small business: realtors and commission income in Vancouver, and e-commerce sellers handling PST and multi-province sales tax.
Related reading
Cities we serve in British Columbia
The work is remote, and the same everywhere in the province; what changes from city to city is the kind of business. Each city page below is written for the industries that city runs on.
- Accountant in Vancouver — with pages for e-commerce sellers, realtors, trades, tech startups and restaurants and hospitality.
- Accountant in Victoria — with pages for construction contractors, restaurants and hospitality, tech startups, realtors and consultants.
- Accountant in Kelowna — with pages for wineries, restaurants and hospitality, construction contractors, realtors and tech startups.
- The Fraser Valley and the Lower Mainland: Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Aldergrove, and the valley as a whole.
- The rest of Metro Vancouver: Burnaby, Richmond, Coquitlam and the Tri-Cities, Delta, North Vancouver, New Westminster and White Rock.
- Vancouver Island beyond Victoria: Saanich, Langford and the Westshore and Nanaimo.
- The Interior and the North: Kamloops, Prince George, Vernon and Penticton.
- Accountant in Fort St. John — with pages for bookkeeping, contractors, corporate tax, farms, mining services, payroll, personal tax, restaurants and trucking
- Accountant in Cranbrook — with pages for bookkeeping, contractors, corporate tax, farms, mining services, payroll, personal tax, restaurants and trucking
- Accountant in Courtenay — with pages for bookkeeping, contractors, corporate tax, farms, payroll, personal tax, realtors, restaurants and trades
- Accountant in Campbell River — with pages for bookkeeping, contractors, corporate tax, fishing, payroll, personal tax, restaurants, trades and trucking
Starting fees
Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins.
- Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing includedfrom $325 a month
- Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEsincluded in monthly bookkeeping
- Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together$500–$700 a month
- Corporate year-end and T2 returnfixed fee, quoted in writing
- Personal tax return (T1)from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500
- Catch-up bookkeepingfrom $2,200 per year of records
- Controller or CFO supportcontroller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month
- One-off advice call with a CPA$225 plus GST
Ready for a BC CPA who knows the province?
Send an enquiry — corporate tax, GST/PST, bookkeeping and advice at a fixed fee, anywhere in British Columbia.
“…He is very knowledgeable and has saved me tons in taxes by restructuring my group of companies — the best accountant I've worked with in the last 10 years, after switching from three different firms.”
Most of our work in this province is with owners in its larger centres. See a remote CPA for Vancouver companies.