Okotoks small business accountant for owner-run companies
EverStone CPA works with incorporated and self-employed owners in Okotoks entirely online — corporate tax, bookkeeping, payroll, GST and clear advice from one Chartered Professional Accountant, at a fee fixed in writing before any work starts. Businesses in High River, Black Diamond, Turner Valley, De Winton and the rest of Foothills County are served the same way.
Who we help here: consultants and professional practices, home-based businesses, trades and construction companies, healthcare practices, food and beverage producers, and the farms and ranches around town. Most are owner-run, many are young companies, and almost all of them want an accountant who explains the numbers rather than just filing them.
Quick answer: An Okotoks corporation files two income tax returns — the federal T2 with the CRA and the Alberta AT1 with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration — but only one sales tax, the 5% GST. EverStone prepares both returns, keeps the books and files GST for Okotoks businesses fully online. For an Okotoks owner, published fees start at $100 for a personal return and $300 a month for bookkeeping with GST filing included.
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A CPA who knows the file all year, not just in April
Okotoks has grown into a town where a lot of people run their own business: consultants who left a Calgary employer and incorporated, tradespeople with a truck and a crew, practitioners in healthcare and wellness, and makers selling food and drink well beyond town limits. What these owners tend to have in common is that the business and the household are closely tied. The money the corporation earns becomes the family’s income through salary or dividends, and a decision made for one side changes the other.
That is why every Okotoks client works with one Chartered Professional Accountant who holds the whole picture — the corporate return, the owner’s T1, the books and the payroll — rather than a different preparer each spring. The work runs by video, phone and email, documents move through a secure upload link, and the fee is agreed in writing before anything starts.
Get My Fixed QuoteWhat Okotoks clients get
- Corporate tax (T2) and the Alberta AT1
- Personal tax (T1) for owners & families
- Monthly bookkeeping & payroll
- GST filed — no PST return required
- Salary and dividend planning
- Fixed fees, agreed up front
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 federal T2 with the CRA and an Alberta AT1 with Tax and Revenue Administration |
| A partnership | A T5013 partnership return where required, plus each partner’s own return |
| Employed with a side business | A T1 that reports both the T4 income and the T2125 business |
| Sales tax where you operate | 5% GST only. Alberta levies no provincial sales tax |
Source: When incorporating starts to pay and Alberta tax facts. General information, not advice.
Lighter on sales tax, heavier on the corporate filing
Alberta removes one tax regime entirely and adds a second corporate return. Both shape how an Okotoks file is run.
No provincial sales tax
Alberta charges no PST at all, so an Okotoks business selling within the province charges 5% GST and nothing else. There is one registration, one return and no provincial tax buried in the cost of what you buy — until you start selling into a province that does charge one.
The lowest general corporate rate
Active business income eligible for the small business deduction is taxed at 11% combined (9% federal plus 2% Alberta) on a $500,000 threshold. Income above it is taxed at 23% combined, with Alberta’s 8% general rate the lowest of any province.
Two corporate returns
Alberta collects its own corporate income tax, so an Okotoks corporation files the AT1 with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration as well as the T2 with the CRA. Both come from the same closed year end, and we prepare them together.
Accounting & tax services for Okotoks businesses
Everything an owner-run Okotoks business needs from an accountant, under one fixed fee — delivered online.
Corporate Tax (T2 and AT1)
The federal T2 and the Alberta AT1 prepared from one year-end file, with instalments planned and the small business deduction protected where the structure allows.
Personal Tax (T1)
Owner and family T1 returns, built alongside the corporate return so the salary-and-dividend mix is decided before the year closes rather than reported after it.
Bookkeeping
Monthly bookkeeping in cloud software you hold your own login to, reconciled each month, with GST filing included in the fee.
Payroll
Pay runs, source deductions, Alberta general holiday pay, WCB-Alberta reporting, records of employment and the T4 slips each February.
Year-End Statements
Compiled financial statements that a bank, a landlord or a buyer can read, prepared from the same figures as both corporate returns.
Fractional CFO
Forecasting, pricing and lender reporting for growing Okotoks companies that need senior financial judgement without a full-time hire.
Accounting built for a town of small, growing companies
Okotoks sits along the Sheep River in the Foothills, just south of Calgary, and the Town identifies its key business sectors as professional, scientific and technical services, healthcare, agro-business, and innovation and technology, alongside food and beverage manufacturing and independent retail. A large share of local businesses operate as home occupations, and many residents work in professional services, business and finance, or the trades.
That mix produces a recognisable set of accounting files. Consultancies with one or two major clients and very few assets. Trades companies with vehicles, equipment and subcontractors. Clinics and practitioners with staff on payroll. Small producers carrying inventory and selling across provincial lines. We build the bookkeeping, GST and corporate tax around whichever of those you are, rather than one template for everyone.
Get My Fixed QuoteServing Okotoks, entirely online
🖥️ 100% online — video and phone meetings, secure email and e-signature.
Prefer to write it down?
✉️ info@everstonecpa.com · Mon–Fri 9–5:30
📞 (604) 832-1743
The consultant who incorporated and never reset the plan
A common Okotoks story runs like this. An engineer, project manager or IT specialist leaves a salaried job, incorporates, and keeps billing much the same work to a former employer or one large client. The first year is filed in a hurry, owner pay is whatever felt right at the time, and the structure is never revisited. Three issues are usually hiding in that file.
The first is the personal services business question. A corporation that looks like an employee of its only client can lose the small business deduction and most of its ordinary deductions if the CRA reclassifies it. The second is owner pay: a salary-versus-dividend mix chosen once and left alone, without anyone checking RRSP room, CPP, or whether the household actually needed the cash that year. The third is instalments: a corporation coming off a strong first year owes instalments on two schedules, federal and Alberta, and missing the provincial one is easy when the owner has only ever seen CRA correspondence.
None of these is complicated to fix early. We review the contract terms, the client concentration and the way the work is actually done, model the owner’s pay on real figures, and set both instalment streams against the year you are actually having. The salary and dividend calculator gives a first look before a conversation.
Getting started, on your schedule
Three steps, handled securely online around your schedule.
Send an enquiry
Tell us about your Okotoks business by email or in a short video call, and we come back with a fixed, no-obligation quote.
Send your records securely
Share your books and prior filings by secure upload, and authorize us through your CRA My Business Account — we take over GST, bookkeeping and both corporate returns from there.
Stay current all year
We file on time with the CRA and Alberta, keep instalments in line with the actual year, and revisit owner pay before each year end.
Okotoks businesses we work with most
Professional and technical services make up a large part of the client base in and around Okotoks: engineering and geoscience consultants, IT and project specialists, designers, and independent advisors who chose a shorter commute and a home office. Their files are light on assets and heavy on judgement — the home office claim, the vehicle log, the split between personal and business spending, and whether the corporation is a genuine business or a disguised employment relationship.
Trades and construction businesses are the second large group, working across the town’s residential neighbourhoods and the wider region. For them the questions are equipment and capital cost allowance, subcontractor payments reported on T5018 slips, WCB-Alberta coverage, and job costing that shows which jobs actually made money. See trades accounting in Okotoks.
Healthcare and wellness practices, food and beverage producers, retailers and the farms and ranches of Foothills County round out the picture. Practitioners usually need payroll and a clean year end. Producers need inventory tracked properly and GST charged at the right rate when they ship to customers outside Alberta. Farms have their own rules entirely, covered on farm accounting in Okotoks.
Licences, home occupations and the business that grew in the basement
The Town of Okotoks requires a business licence for every business providing goods or services in Okotoks, with separate categories for businesses located in town, in Foothills County, and outside both. Home-based businesses operate as minor or major home occupations, depending on things like client visits and non-resident employees. Licences expire at the end of December and are renewed each year, so the renewal belongs on the same calendar as your year-end tasks.
The municipal licence and your CRA accounts are separate systems. A licence does not register you for GST, open a payroll account or set up your corporation’s tax accounts. Those are federal and provincial steps that we handle through My Business Account and Alberta’s own system once you incorporate or start hiring. Where a home occupation grows into a company with staff, the sensible order is payroll account first, first pay run second — not the other way round.
What an Okotoks client’s year looks like
Books stay current monthly, GST is filed on the schedule the CRA has assigned, and payroll remittances follow your RP account’s cycle. A few months before the year end we look at the numbers together: what the corporation has earned, what the owner needs personally, whether a bonus or dividend makes sense, and whether any equipment purchase should land before or after the close. The corporate balance owing is generally due three months after the year end for a Canadian-controlled private corporation claiming the small business deduction, and the T2 and AT1 follow within six months.
With no provincial sales tax to file, an Okotoks compliance calendar is lighter than its equivalent in British Columbia, Manitoba or Ontario. What it does have is the second corporate return and its separate instalments, and that is the part we keep in front of you. We work with owner-managed businesses throughout the province — see accounting in Alberta for the provincial picture.
Free tools for Okotoks owners: free CRA deadline reminders and the T2 deadline calculator.
Questions from Okotoks business owners
How much does an accountant cost in Okotoks?+
Is there an EverStone office in Okotoks?+
Does my Okotoks corporation really file two returns?+
Do I charge PST on sales from Okotoks?+
Does my Okotoks business licence register me for GST?+
Do you work with businesses outside Okotoks itself?+
Real reviews from real clients
Rated 5.0 on Google across 21 client reviews.
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”
“…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.”
Working with a virtual accountant in Okotoks
For most Okotoks owners, the only thing a local office ever offered was a place to drop off a box of receipts. A remote engagement replaces that with something more useful: bank and card feeds that arrive automatically, a secure upload link you can use from a phone, and a CPA who answers by email the same day rather than at the next appointment.
You authorize us through Represent a Client in your CRA My Business Account, which lets us see notices, balances and filing history directly. Alberta corporate tax accounts are handled on the provincial side in the same way. Returns are signed electronically, including the T183 for your personal return, and transmitted to the CRA and Alberta. One person holds the file, so the CPA who answers your question in March is the one who prepared the return.
salary and dividend tool · when your corporate return is due · corporate instalment calculator
Related services and local guides
Every other Okotoks service page, the nearest big-city page, and the reference pages behind this one.
Elsewhere in Alberta
The same fixed-fee service, online, for owner-run businesses in Calgary, Airdrie, Red Deer and Lethbridge. Every Alberta city we serve is on the Alberta accounting page.
Ready for a CPA who knows the whole file?
One accountant for your corporate return, your personal return and the books underneath both. Email enquiry, fixed quote.
Remote accounting
The firm operates virtually and serves Okotoks remotely. There is no Okotoks 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.
How a remote engagement works in Alberta
- Authorization, not paperwork. You authorize us through Represent a Client in your CRA My Business Account, a few clicks on your side and no forms in the mail.
- Documents move by secure upload link. Bank statements, payroll records and year-end files are sent by secure link, never as email attachments.
- Signatures are electronic. Your T183 and engagement letter are signed in a browser. Nothing is printed, scanned or couriered.
- Filing is electronic. The T2 goes to the CRA and the AT1 to Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration, both transmitted electronically.
What is specific to Alberta
Alberta has no provincial sales tax and no employer health tax, so there is no PST registration and no provincial payroll levy. What it does have is a separately administered corporate income tax and its own AT1 return, plus an annual return with the Alberta Corporate Registry to keep the corporation in good standing. Current rates and thresholds live on the Alberta tax facts page.
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.
“Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!”