Ottawa Accountant for Government Contractors, Tech & Consultants
EverStone CPA helps Ottawa’s incorporated consultants, tech founders and government contractors with corporate tax, bookkeeping and advice — delivered securely online by a dedicated CPA, at a fixed, up-front fee. Businesses in Kanata, Nepean, Orléans and Gatineau are served the same way.
Who we help here: IT and management consultants working federal contracts, SaaS and tech founders, and professional-services corporations billing through staffing agencies — owners whose biggest tax risk usually isn’t HST, it’s how CRA views the contract itself.
Quick answer: A large share of Ottawa’s incorporated owners are consultants billing government and institutional clients. EverStone handles that structure — corporate tax, HST, and a proper look at personal services business risk — entirely online, at a fixed fee agreed before work begins. Published fees start at $125 for a personal return and $325 a month for bookkeeping.
Updated .
A virtual CFO for an Ottawa business is a separate engagement from the accounting file: fractional CFO services for Ottawa and a fractional controller for the close are described on their own pages.
On this page
- A CPA who understands what a federal-contract structure actually risks
- Which return applies to you
- What Ontario’s HST means for an Ottawa consulting business
- Accounting & tax services for Ottawa businesses
- Built for consultants who bill mostly one client
- Personal-services-business risk for Ottawa’s federal contractors
- Getting started around your contract schedule
- Contract structure is the evidence, not the label
- Ottawa industries we work with most
- How working with an Ottawa business actually runs
- What an Ottawa client’s year looks like
- Questions from Ottawa contractors and consultants
A CPA who understands what a federal-contract structure actually risks
Ottawa has an unusually high concentration of incorporated consultants who bill primarily to one federal department, agency or prime contractor, a completely normal way to build a business, but one CRA scrutinizes closely. We handle your T2 and Ontario HST, and just as importantly, we look at how your contract is structured so it continues to hold up as an independent business relationship, not just a paycheque with extra paperwork.
In Ottawa you work directly with a Chartered Professional Accountant who tracks your file year-round, not just at tax time. Everything is online with video and phone meetings, and the fee is fixed and quoted before any work begins.
Get My Fixed QuoteWhat Ottawa clients get
- Corporate tax (T2) & year-end statements
- Personal tax (T1) for owners & families
- Monthly bookkeeping & payroll
- Ontario HST filed & reconciled
- Contract-risk & PSB review
- Fixed fees, quoted before we start
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 |
| 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 | 13% HST, a single registration and a single return |
Source: Should you incorporate? General information, not advice.
What Ontario’s HST means for an Ottawa consulting business
One combined tax is simple to file — the harder question is whether CRA sees your income as business income at all.
One tax, not two
Ontario’s 13% HST combines federal and provincial sales tax into a single return and one set of input tax credits. It is simpler to file than a two-tax province, provided your invoicing correctly reflects what a contract-based consulting business can actually claim.
Corporate tax rate
Ontario taxes active small-business income at 2.2% provincially for days after 30 June 2026 (3.2% before that date, prorated across a straddling year), on top of the 9% federal small-business rate. Both small-business rates apply only if CRA agrees your income genuinely qualifies as active business income from an independent corporation.
Employer Health Tax
Employer Health Tax applies once an Ottawa employer’s payroll passes Ontario’s exemption threshold — relevant for consultancies that start subcontracting to other consultants or bringing on staff as a contract grows.
Accounting & tax services for Ottawa businesses
Everything an incorporated Ottawa business needs, under one roof — delivered online.
Corporate Tax (T2)
T2 returns and year-end statements for Ottawa’s government contractors, IT consultants and professional-services corporations, with HST and CRA correspondence handled as part of the file.
Personal Tax (T1)
Personal and self-employed T1 returns for Ottawa owners, planned around contract income and a salary-and-dividend mix that holds up to scrutiny.
Bookkeeping & Payroll
Monthly bookkeeping and payroll for Ottawa firms, kept current and ready whenever a contract renewal, security clearance review or CRA request needs documentation.
GST/HST
Ontario HST registered and filed on schedule, reconciled cleanly against contract invoicing and subcontractor payments each period.
Business Advisory
Direct advice on contract structure, rates and incorporation decisions for Ottawa consultants, from a CPA who understands government-contracting risk.
Fractional CFO
Part-time CFO support for growing Ottawa practices that need budgeting, forecasting and financing guidance beyond basic bookkeeping.
Built for consultants who bill mostly one client
Ottawa’s economy is unusually concentrated around federal government contracting, technology and professional services. A large share of that work flows through incorporated consultants who bill primarily to one department, one prime contractor, or one staffing agency for extended stretches. That pattern is completely normal, but it puts these businesses closer than most to CRA’s personal-services-business test, and it means contract structure and invoicing matter as much as the numbers themselves.
We handle T2, HST, payroll and year-end statements, and we review how your engagements are structured: control, tools, financial risk, integration into the client’s operations. The aim is a corporation that continues to function like an independent business rather than an employment relationship with extra paperwork.
Get My Fixed QuoteServing Ottawa, entirely online
🖥️ Entirely online, with video or phone meetings, secure email and electronic signatures.
Talk to us directly
📞 (604) 832-1743 · Mon–Fri 9–5:30
✉️ info@everstonecpa.com
Personal-services-business risk for Ottawa’s federal contractors
The single biggest tax issue we see in Ottawa isn’t HST or the corporate rate. It is whether CRA will accept that a consultant working through a corporation, for one federal department or one prime contractor, is genuinely independent rather than an employee with a corporate wrapper. CRA calls this a personal services business, and Ottawa’s concentration of long-term, single-client government and staffing-agency contracts makes it one of the most exposed markets in the country for this exact issue.
The consequences are significant. A corporation reassessed as a personal services business loses access to the small-business tax rate, loses most of the expense deductions an ordinary corporation can claim, and ends up taxed close to the top personal rate on that income. The owner still carries every cost and complication of running a corporation — with none of the tax advantage that was presumably the point of incorporating.
CRA weighs a handful of practical factors. Does the client control how, when and where the work is done? Do you supply your own equipment and tools rather than using the client’s? Do you carry meaningful financial risk on the engagement, such as fixed-price billing rather than hourly time tracking? How integrated are you into the client’s internal reporting structure and day-to-day operations? None of these are decided by what your contract says on paper — CRA looks at how the relationship actually functions.
For Ottawa consultants and IT contractors working long federal or staffing-agency engagements, we review the arrangement against these factors early and flag where the structure is exposed. Where possible we help you document and diversify the relationship so the corporation holds up as a genuinely independent business, before a CRA review makes that determination for you.
Getting started around your contract schedule
Onboarding around your contract schedule, all remote.
Send an enquiry
A short video call about your consulting or federal-contract structure, then a fixed quote in writing.
Send your records securely
Send books and prior filings securely; we get HST, bookkeeping and T2 current and consistent.
Stay compliant all year
We file on time and review your contract structure for personal-services-business risk before CRA does.
Contract structure is the evidence, not the label
Ottawa consultants often assume the wording of a statement of work settles their status. It does not. Where a corporation provides one person’s services to a single client on a long engagement, what matters is how the relationship actually operates. Who directs the work? Whose equipment and systems are used? Is there any real chance of profit or risk of loss? How integrated is the consultant in the client’s organization?
For public-sector and government engagements that assessment has a practical wrinkle. Security clearance, mandated tools, on-site presence and fixed reporting lines are often contractual requirements rather than choices, but to an outside reviewer they can read as markers of control. That is not fatal, and it does not mean the arrangement is wrong. It means the file needs to show why those terms exist and what genuinely remains within your discretion. The time to capture that is when the contract is signed, while the reasoning is fresh and the documents are to hand, not two years later under review, reconstructing intent from memory.
Practically, that means keeping the statement of work, any subcontracting or substitution rights, evidence of other client relationships, and records of your own equipment and overhead in one organized place. We set that structure up at onboarding so it accumulates as a by-product of normal bookkeeping.
Ottawa industries we work with most
Ottawa’s owner-managed economy leans heavily on independent consultants, IT and engineering contractors, and professional services firms working to institutional and government contracts. That produces a distinctive tax profile: long single-client engagements, contract structures written by the client rather than the contractor, and income that is stable but concentrated. Concentration is exactly what raises Personal services business risk: why a single-client contractor is exposed risk, and it is the first thing worth reviewing for an incorporated Ottawa consultant.
Independent consultants on institutional and government contracts are the largest group we work with here. See accounting for Ottawa consultants. Realtors and personal real estate corporations sit outside that consulting profile. See realtor accounting in Ottawa.
Where a client is based often says a lot about the contract they hold. Kanata is the tech corridor — incorporated software and engineering contractors, frequently billing one prime for years at a time. Nepean and Stittsville carry more trades, construction and local professional practices. Barrhaven and Orléans are heavily residential and produce independent consultants and contractors working from home offices rather than premises. We work with all of them online rather than in person, so none of it depends on being nearby.
How working with an Ottawa business actually runs
An Ottawa file is handled at a distance on purpose, because a CPA who answers matters more than one who is nearby. You start with a call by video or phone. Paperwork travels through a secure upload, never a drop-off, and you sign electronically. Mid-year questions by email or phone carry no extra charge, since your fee is agreed in writing before the work begins. That matters most on contract decisions, where the helpful advice comes before you sign, not after.
From onboarding to filing, a single CPA works your file, and that same person answers your emails. Owners in Kanata, the Glebe or Orléans lose nothing by the distance and gain an accountant they can reach without hesitating.
What an Ottawa client’s year looks like
For most Ottawa clients the year runs on the contract cycle rather than the season. We keep books current, review the client mix and contract terms while there is still time to change them, and plan the salary-and-dividend split against actual income rather than a default. HST files on its own frequency. The corporate return and the balance owing follow the fiscal year-end, and the balance is due before the return itself — the deadline owners most often miss.
The same service reaches owner-run businesses throughout Ontario. Read accounting in Ontario for the province-wide view, or how a virtual CPA engagement works for the process.
Free tools for Ottawa owners: free CRA deadline reminders.
Questions from Ottawa contractors and consultants
How much does an accountant cost in Ottawa?+
Can an accountant outside Ottawa file my corporate taxes?+
How do we exchange documents securely?+
Do you understand Ontario tax rules?+
Does it matter that my accountant isn’t physically in Ottawa?+
I bill almost entirely to one federal department through a staffing agency — is that a problem?+
What happens if my corporation is reassessed as a personal services business?+
How does Ontario’s HST work for a consulting business specifically?+
Does working with a BC accountant from Ottawa create scheduling problems?+
For the year end itself, Ottawa financial statements covers unbilled time, revenue concentration and personal services business exposure.
See how corporate tax and sales tax work province-wide in our Ontario accounting guide — provincial rates, GST/HST/PST and filing for Ontario businesses.
Reviews from EverStone clients
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!”
“Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!”
“…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.”
Bookkeeping, tax and advisory: working with a virtual accountant in Ottawa
Ottawa’s incorporated-consultant economy has one accounting characteristic that shapes everything else: a large share of owners bill a small number of clients, sometimes only one, often on long government or public-sector contracts. That pattern is exactly what the personal services business rules examine, and it is the first thing worth reviewing properly rather than discovering at year-end.
The rest of the engagement runs online end to end — secure document exchange, video meetings scheduled around contract work, e-signature approvals. Ontario corporate tax is administered with the federal return, so there is no separate provincial filing to coordinate, and HST on consulting fees follows the place-of-supply rules rather than where your desk happens to be.
Curious how the whole year runs without an office visit? Start with the remote engagement walk-through. For rules that apply province-wide, see accounting for Ontario businesses.
our salary and dividend tool · find your filing and payment dates · corporate instalment calculator · company car benefit calculator
Also serving business owners in accountant in Vancouver and Toronto small business accountant.
Services in Ottawa
Two service pages go deeper for Ottawa: personal tax (T1) for incorporated owners in Ottawa, and accounting for Ottawa trades and construction businesses. Each is delivered remotely.
Two recurring filings for Ottawa businesses get pages of their own. If you employ anyone, payroll services in Ottawa covers staff on the Quebec side of the river. If you charge sales tax, GST/HST filing in Ottawa covers selling across the Ontario and Quebec border.
Written for particular industries: tech startups in Ottawa and restaurants and hospitality in Ottawa.
Related services and local guides
More cities, more of what Ottawa businesses hire us for, and the references this page relies on.
Nearby in Ontario
The same fixed-fee service, online, for owner-run businesses in Kingston. Every city is on the Ontario page.
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 CPA who understands contract-structure risk?
Have a CPA review your federal-contract structure for PSB risk and keep your Ontario HST clean. Email enquiry, fixed quote, fully online.
Remote accounting
Accounting for Ottawa clients is delivered remotely. There is no Ottawa office and no local team. Meetings are virtual, documents are signed electronically, and you deal with the CPA directly rather than an intake desk. Whoever takes your question in March also prepared your June return, the continuity a larger office structure tends to lose.
How a remote engagement works in Ontario
Ottawa has an unusually high concentration of incorporated consultants, and that shapes which parts of a remote engagement actually matter here.
- Online authorization replaces forms. From your CRA My Business Account you grant us access under Represent a Client in a couple of minutes. We then see notices, balances and past filings directly, so nothing has to be forwarded.
- Uploads, not attachments. Bank and card statements, payroll reports and year-end material reach us through a secure link. Sending them from your phone works fine.
- E-signature for approvals. The engagement letter and the T183 authorizing the e-file are signed online, so nothing needs printing or scanning.
- Video and phone meetings. Your consultation, mid-year planning and the year-end review are set at times that suit you, with no drive downtown.
- Electronic filing, as before. CRA receives the returns electronically from us. Any return a province administers itself is sent to that province electronically in the same way.
What is specific to Ontario
Ontario’s sales tax is harmonized, so one HST return covers federal and provincial together and the Ontario corporate return rides along with the federal T2. The live issue for Ottawa consultants is rarely sales tax. It is personal services business risk, where a one-client incorporated consultant can be reassessed as a PSB and lose the small-business deduction along with most deductible expenses. Working across the provincial border into Quebec adds a second layer, since Revenu Québécois administers its own sales tax and corporate return.
If you are comparing firms first, what to ask an accountant in Ottawa before you sign was written for owners at that stage.
Where the decisions have outgrown the reporting, fractional CFO work in Ottawa is the next step.
Current Ontario rates and thresholds live on the Ontario tax facts page. Each value is cited and dated on that page, which is kept as the single copy so the figures never go stale across other pages.
Ontario questions we get
I consult through my corporation for one client. Is that a problem?+
One-client consulting through a corporation is the exact fact pattern the personal services business rules target, and it is worth assessing deliberately rather than discovering on reassessment. The free PSB risk check walks through the conditions.
I have clients in Gatineau. Does that change things?+
Gatineau clients can change things: Quebec administers its own sales tax and corporate return through Revenu Québécois, and place-of-supply rules decide which system applies. We will say plainly if a Quebec firm is better placed for your situation.
Do you work with businesses outside Ottawa itself?+
Talk to a CPA about this
You deal with one Chartered Professional Accountant throughout. Fees are fixed in writing before the work, and talking to us first creates no obligation.
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”