A fixed-fee CPA for Quebec City businesses, working in English
A business in the capital answers to two tax administrations, files two corporate returns and runs a payroll unlike anywhere else in Canada. EverStone serves Quebec City owners remotely from Abbotsford, British Columbia, at fees fixed in writing. The work is done in English. Businesses in Lévis are served the same way.
Quick answer: A Quebec City business charges 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both reported to Revenu Québec for most businesses. A corporation files the federal T2 and the Quebec CO-17, its owners file a T1 and a TP-1, and payroll runs on QPP, QPIP and RL-1 slips rather than the CPP-only pattern of other provinces. EverStone handles all of it remotely, in English, at a fixed fee agreed before work starts. Published fees start at $100 for a personal return and $300 a month for bookkeeping.
Owners in Lévis, Sainte-Foy and the rest of the Capitale-Nationale region are served the same way. The provincial picture is set out on the Quebec accounting page.
Two sales taxes, one administrator
Most of Canada splits sales tax by level of government: the CRA takes the GST or HST, and a provincial ministry takes any separate provincial tax. Quebec is the exception. For most Quebec businesses, Revenu Québec administers both the 5% GST and the 9.975% QST, so a Quebec City company files its sales tax with a provincial body even for the federal portion. The combined 14.975% appears on the invoice as two lines, and both are generally recoverable on business purchases through input tax credits and input tax refunds. In the books that means two tax accounts, reconciled separately, and a filing calendar set by Revenu Québec rather than the CRA.
Two corporate returns, not one
Ontario and most other provinces collect corporate tax inside the federal T2. Quebec does not. A Quebec City corporation files the T2 with the CRA and a separate CO-17 with Revenu Québec, each with its own schedules and its own assessment. The two returns start from the same financial statements, so the real risk is not the extra form but the two drifting apart. That can be an adjustment made on one and forgotten on the other, or a notice answered federally and ignored provincially. EverStone prepares both from one working file, so the numbers stay tied together. See corporate tax for Quebec City corporations.
The 5,500-hour condition on the small business rate
Federally, a Canadian-controlled private corporation claims the small business deduction on active business income. Quebec adds a condition of its own: the provincial deduction depends on the corporation having 5,500 paid hours in the year. A one-person consultancy or a holding structure with few employees can qualify federally and still miss the Quebec reduction. Whether hours of associated corporations or of a shareholder count is a technical question, and it is worth answering before the year closes, when salary and staffing decisions can still change the result.
Payroll with a Quebec shape
A Quebec City employer does not deduct CPP. Employees contribute to the QPP instead, pay QPIP premiums for parental insurance, and pay EI at a reduced rate because QPIP covers what EI covers elsewhere. Provincial income tax withheld is remitted to Revenu Québec, not the CRA. At year end each employee receives an RL-1 slip alongside the T4, both by the end of February. The employer also pays the Health Services Fund contribution and CNESST premiums, and an employer whose payroll passes $2 million faces the 1% workforce skills development requirement. Payroll services in Quebec City covers the run in detail.
Built around how the capital actually works
Quebec City is a seat of government, a tourist destination with a strong seasonal swing, and a growing base of software and game studios. Each shape brings its own file.
- Construction contractors work under an RBQ licence and CCQ rules on regulated sites, with T5018 slips, holdbacks and progress billing.
- Restaurants and hospitality run on tips, POS reconciliation and a summer and winter-carnival calendar that moves cash sharply.
- Consultants, many contracting with public bodies, face the personal services business question when one client looks like an employer.
- Tech startups in software, video games and insurtech claim SR&ED on Form T661 and manage grants and stock options.
- Retailers count inventory, measure shrinkage and plan around the tourist and holiday peaks.
What EverStone handles for a Quebec City business
One CPA keeps the file year-round. The core services each have their own page:
- Monthly bookkeeping, with GST and QST reconciled and filed; published fees start from $300 a month.
- The T2 and CO-17, with year-end statements, quoted after a free consultation.
- Personal returns, the T1 and TP-1 prepared together; published T1 fees start from $100 and the quote is fixed in writing.
- Payroll, including RL-1 and T4 slips, QPP and QPIP.
- Fractional controller work from $1,500 a month, and fractional CFO work from $2,500 a month, once the reporting needs to support decisions.
Every fee is fixed in writing before work begins. The pricing page lists the published fees, and a single 45-minute Advice Call is a flat $200 + GST.
Working in English, remotely from Abbotsford
EverStone works in English. For a Quebec City owner who prefers to discuss the company’s tax in English, or an anglophone team in the capital, that is the point. Returns and slips are still filed with Revenu Québec in the ordinary way; the conversation around them happens in English. The firm is a one-CPA practice at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford. There is no Quebec City office and no local staff. Meetings are by video or phone, documents arrive through a secure upload link, and the CPA who answers the first question is the one who files the return. Working with a CPA outside your province explains what changes and what does not.
Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, an Abbotsford CPA firm working with small businesses and incorporated contractors across the Fraser Valley and Canada. Updated September 2026. About the firm · Book a free consult
What a Quebec City client’s year looks like
| When | What is filed |
|---|---|
| End of February | T4 and RL-1 slips to employees, T5 slips for dividends |
| April 30 | T1 and TP-1 balance owing; returns due unless self-employed (June 15) |
| Two or three months after year-end | Corporate balance owing, federal and Quebec |
| Six months after year-end | T2 filed with the CRA and CO-17 filed with Revenu Québec |
| Sales tax where you operate | 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, both generally filed with Revenu Québec |
Source: All CRA deadlines. General information, not advice.
Questions from Quebec City business owners
Do you work in English or French?+
Who do I file GST with in Quebec City?+
Does my corporation really file two returns?+
Why might I miss Quebec’s small business deduction?+
Do you have a Quebec City office?+
Can you take over part way through a year?+
What does an accountant cost for a Quebec City business?+
Do you work with businesses outside Quebec City itself?+
Related services and local guides
Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for Quebec City businesses, and the reference pages behind this one.
Ready for a CPA who handles both Quebec City returns?
GST and QST, the T2 and CO-17, and a Quebec payroll, handled by one CPA in English. Free consult, fixed quote, fully online.
How a remote engagement works in Quebec
Working with a CPA in another province is ordinary now, and for a Quebec City corporation it changes nothing about what is filed or where it goes.
- Authorisation, not paperwork. You authorise us on CRA’s Represent a Client through your CRA My Business Account, a few clicks on your side, no forms in the mail. Revenu Québec has its own authorisation, given separately, so both administrations can speak to us directly.
- 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 authorisations are signed in a browser. Nothing is printed, scanned or couriered.
- Meetings are video or phone. Year-end review, planning conversations and the free consultation all run this way, in English, on your schedule rather than during a drive.
- Filing is electronic to the same place it always was. Federal returns are transmitted to the CRA electronically; the CO-17, the TP-1, the QST and GST returns and the RL slips go to Revenu Québec the same way.
What is specific to Quebec City
Quebec City sits three hours ahead of Abbotsford, so a morning meeting in the capital is an early start on the Pacific side, which is our problem rather than yours. Questions sent at the end of your day are usually answered before your next one begins.
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.