A fixed-fee CPA for Hamilton businesses
EverStone CPA is a Chartered Professional Accountant firm serving Hamilton remotely — corporate tax, bookkeeping, payroll and personal returns, delivered by video, phone and a secure upload link, at a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Businesses in Burlington, Stoney Creek, Ancaster and Grimsby are served the same way.
Who we help here: Fabricators and food processors, construction contractors, carriers and owner-operators, restaurants and realtors — owner-run Hamilton businesses that want one CPA who understands how their kind of work actually makes money.
Nearby, EverStone also serves Kitchener-Waterloo.
Quick answer: EverStone serves Hamilton businesses remotely: T2 corporate returns, monthly bookkeeping with the 13% HST return included, payroll with Ontario employer health tax and WSIB, and personal T1s for owners. Fees are fixed in writing after we review your enquiry, and one CPA handles the file from start to finish. Published fees start at $100 for a personal return and $300 a month for bookkeeping.
Ontario tax, from a Hamilton point of view
Ontario is simpler than most provinces on sales tax and busier on everything else. A single 13% HST replaces separate federal and provincial taxes, so there is one registration, one return and one set of input tax credits. Corporate income tax is calculated inside the federal T2, with no separate provincial return. Around that sit the Ontario pieces a Hamilton owner has to watch. There is employer health tax once Ontario payroll passes the exemption, and WSIB coverage reported to a separate board.
There is also an annual return filed through the Ontario Business Registry within six months of the year end. Contractors add the Construction Act, with its 10% holdback. Realtors add the option, available in Ontario since 2020, of earning through a personal real estate corporation. Current rates and thresholds are kept, with sources, on the Ontario tax facts page.
What we do for Hamilton businesses
Most Hamilton owners need some mix of four services, and each has its own page for this city.
- Corporate tax (T2) in Hamilton — the federal and Ontario return, the registry filing, CCA on equipment and SR&ED where it applies.
- Bookkeeping in Hamilton — monthly books with job costing, holdbacks and inventory, from $300 a month with GST/HST filing included.
- Payroll in Hamilton — CRA remittances, employer health tax, WSIB, tips and year-end T4s.
- Personal tax in Hamilton — owners’ T1s from $100 and coordinated with the company’s return.
Above that, a fractional controller starts from $1,500 a month and a fractional CFO from $2,500 a month, for businesses whose questions have outgrown the monthly close. Published pricing sets out what each covers.
Hamilton industries we work with most
Hamilton’s economy still carries the shape of its steel heritage, and the businesses that come to us reflect it.
Manufacturers and food processors. Job shops, fabricators and processing plants live on inventory, work in progress, equipment and a shop payroll. SR&ED on process improvement is often missed. See accounting for Hamilton manufacturers.
Construction contractors. Holdbacks, progress billing, T5018 slips and WSIB clearances run through every job, from lower-city infill to new subdivisions on the Mountain. See accounting for Hamilton contractors.
Trucking and logistics. Carriers on the QEW and 403 corridor and around the port deal with IFTA, IRP, equipment CCA and the owner-operator question. See accounting for Hamilton carriers.
Restaurants. Food cost, tips, POS reconciliation and HST on meals, for dining rooms from James Street North to Locke Street. See accounting for Hamilton restaurants.
Realtors. Commission income, brokerage statements, HST on commissions and the PREC decision. See accounting for Hamilton realtors.
What a Hamilton client’s year looks like
The year is set by your fiscal year end, not by the calendar. Books close monthly, and HST returns file on the cycle the CRA assigns from your revenue. Before the year end we look at the decisions that can still change the result: whether to buy that piece of equipment now, how to split salary and dividends, whether the shareholder loan account needs clearing.
After it, the balance of tax is due in two or three months, the T2 and the Ontario annual return in six, and T4 slips by the end of February. None of those dates wait for a reminder from the CRA, so they go in your calendar at the start. Deadline reminders can send them to you as well.
Serving Stoney Creek, Ancaster, Dundas, Burlington and Grimsby
The work is the same whether your business sits below the escarpment in the lower city, on the Mountain, in Stoney Creek or Ancaster, in Dundas, across the bay in Burlington, or out along the lake in Grimsby. Burlington sits in Halton and Grimsby in Niagara, but Ontario’s rules are the same on both sides of those lines, and a remote engagement does not care which exit you take off the QEW. For owners further into Niagara, accounting in St. Catharines covers the same ground, and accounting in Toronto covers the east end of the lake.
Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, a CPA firm working with small and midsized businesses in BC, Ontario and Manitoba. Updated . About the firm · Send an enquiry
Which return applies to you
| If you are | You file |
|---|---|
| A sole proprietor | A T1 personal return with form T2125 for the business |
| An incorporated business | A T2 corporate return, with financial statement schedules, plus the Ontario annual return |
| A partnership | A T5013 partnership return where required, plus each partner’s own return |
| An employer | Payroll remittances, T4 slips, employer health tax where it applies, and WSIB |
| Sales tax where you operate | 13% HST, a single registration and a single return |
Source: When incorporating starts to pay. General information, not advice.
Questions from Hamilton business owners
How much does an accountant cost in Hamilton?+
Can an accountant outside Hamilton file my corporate taxes?+
How do we exchange documents?+
Do you handle the Ontario Business Registry annual return?+
Can I get a quick answer before booking anything?+
You are in BC and I am in Hamilton — does the time difference matter?+
Do you work with businesses outside Hamilton itself?+
Related services and local guides
Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for Hamilton businesses, and the reference pages behind this one.
What clients say
Reviews EverStone clients left on Google. Read all reviews
★★★★★“Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!”
Corrin SkalbeckVerified Google Local Guide
★★★★★“…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.”
Matt HildebrandtVerified Google review
Ready for a CPA who knows how Hamilton businesses work?
Work with a CPA who understands equipment, holdbacks, payroll and Ontario HST. Email enquiry, fixed quote, fully online.
Remote accounting
The firm serves Hamilton remotely. There is no Hamilton office and no staff based there. Everything runs by video call, phone and secure document exchange, so nothing about the engagement depends on being nearby. The person who answers your question in September is the one who prepared the return in the spring, which is the part a larger office structure tends to lose.
How a remote engagement works in Ontario
Working with a CPA in another province is ordinary now, and for an Ontario corporation it changes nothing about how the return is prepared or filed.
- Authorisation, not paperwork. You authorize us through your CRA My Business Account, a few clicks on your side. That lets us see filings, balances and notices directly rather than asking you to forward them.
- Documents move by secure upload link. Bank statements, payroll records and year-end files are sent by secure upload link, never as email attachments. You can send from a phone.
- Signatures are electronic. Engagement letters and filing authorizations are signed in a browser. Nothing is printed, scanned or couriered.
- Filing is electronic. The T2 goes to the CRA and the annual return to the Ontario Business Registry online, exactly as they would from down the street.
Talk to a CPA about this
One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation.