A Fixed-Fee CPA for Toronto’s Consultants, Agencies & Tech Founders
EverStone CPA is a Canadian accounting firm working with incorporated professionals across Toronto and the GTA — corporate tax, bookkeeping and plain-English advice, delivered by video, phone and secure email, at a fixed fee agreed before we start. Businesses in Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan and Markham are served the same way.
Who we help here: Marketing and creative agencies, management and IT consultants, SaaS founders and finance-adjacent professionals. These are owners who’ve incorporated to access the small-business tax rate and want a CPA who can explain, in plain terms, what that rate actually protects.
Quick answer: Toronto has no shortage of accountants. It has a shortage of ones who reply. EverStone works with incorporated Toronto businesses entirely online from BC: corporate tax, HST, bookkeeping and salary-versus-dividend planning, at a fixed fee quoted up front rather than an hourly meter. Published fees start at $125 for a personal return and $325 a month for bookkeeping.
Toronto industries we work with most: creative agencies, construction and trades and restaurants.
For a one-owner Toronto corporation, our accounting fees for monthly bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements usually run from $500 to $700 a month all-in.
Updated .
Restaurants, cafes and bars carry obligations no other retailer does; they are gathered in the restaurant and hospitality accounting hub.
On this page
- Big-firm rigour, sized for an owner-run Toronto business
- Which return applies to you
- How Ontario’s HST changes the numbers for a Toronto consultancy
- Accounting & tax services for Toronto businesses
- Built around how Toronto’s agencies and consultancies actually bill
- When retained earnings start working against your small-business rate
- Getting started, from anywhere in the GTA
- Working with a virtual small business accountant in Toronto
- Questions from Toronto business owners
- Toronto industries we work with most
- How working with a Toronto business actually runs
- What a Toronto client’s year looks like
Big-firm rigour, sized for an owner-run Toronto business
Toronto’s professional-services market is saturated with accounting firms. Many incorporated owners end up either overpaying a downtown firm for partner-level attention they rarely get, or underpaying a generalist who doesn’t understand how agencies, consultancies and SaaS businesses actually make money. We sit in between: a CPA-led firm that treats your T2, HST filing and year-end statements with real rigour, at a fraction of the overhead, because everything runs online instead of through a leased office downtown.
Every Toronto client is assigned one Chartered Professional Accountant who reviews the file personally, year-round — never a junior associate learning on your return. Meetings happen by video or phone, documents move by secure email and e-signature, and your fee is fixed and confirmed in writing before any work begins.
Get My Fixed QuoteWhat Toronto clients get
- Corporate tax (T2) & year-end statements
- Personal tax (T1) for owners & families
- Monthly bookkeeping & payroll
- Ontario HST filed & reconciled
- Salary-vs-dividend planning
- Fixed fees, confirmed in writing
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: When incorporating starts to pay. General information, not advice.
How Ontario’s HST changes the numbers for a Toronto consultancy
One combined tax instead of two, plus a few Ontario-specific rules that catch growing firms off guard.
One tax, not two
Ontario charges a single 13% HST rather than separate federal and provincial sales taxes. For a Toronto consulting or agency business that means one registration, one return and one set of input tax credits to track. It is simpler than provinces that split GST and PST, provided your bookkeeping captures every credit you’re entitled to 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), layered on top of the 9% federal small-business rate. Getting your salary-and-dividend mix right determines how much of your firm’s profit actually stays inside that lower bracket.
Employer Health Tax
Once a Toronto employer’s annual payroll passes Ontario’s EHT exemption, Employer Health Tax applies on top of CPP and EI. Agencies that start hiring staff or subcontracting heavily often trip this threshold without realizing it — we track it so it’s never a year-end surprise.
Accounting & tax services for Toronto businesses
Everything an incorporated Toronto business needs, under one roof — delivered online.
Corporate Tax (T2)
T2 corporate returns and year-end statements for Toronto’s incorporated consultants, agencies and SaaS founders, with Ontario HST and CRA correspondence handled as part of the file.
Personal Tax (T1)
Personal and self-employed T1 returns for Toronto owners, structured around a salary-and-dividend split that keeps more of your firm’s profit in your hands, not CRA’s.
Bookkeeping & Payroll
Cloud bookkeeping and payroll for Toronto agencies and consultancies, kept current monthly so your numbers are ready the moment a lender, investor or CRA review asks for them.
GST/HST
Ontario’s 13% HST registered, filed and reconciled against your books each period, with input tax credits tracked properly so a service business doesn’t leave money on the table.
Business Advisory
Straight advice on pricing, contracts and structure for Toronto owners, from a CPA who understands how agency and consulting margins actually work.
Fractional CFO
Part-time CFO support for scaling Toronto firms that have outgrown a bookkeeper — forecasting, utilization and margin reporting built for a services business.
Built around how Toronto’s agencies and consultancies actually bill
Toronto is Canada’s largest market for marketing agencies, management consultancies and independent tech contractors — businesses that bill by project, retainer or day rate rather than selling a physical product. That billing pattern creates its own accounting questions. When is retainer revenue recognized? When should contractor income flow through a corporation instead of a T4? How do HST input tax credits stay clean when most of your costs are subcontractors and software subscriptions?
We work with these businesses specifically — corporate tax, HST, payroll and year-end statements, plus the salary-and-dividend and retained-earnings planning that determines how much of what you bill actually ends up in your pocket.
Get My Fixed QuoteWorking with Toronto, wherever you are in the GTA
🖥️ Entirely online — video calls, e-signature and secure email.
Prefer a quick call?
📞 (604) 832-1743 · Mon–Fri 9–5:30
✉️ info@everstonecpa.com
When retained earnings start working against your small-business rate
Many Toronto consulting and agency owners incorporate for one reason above all: the combined federal-and-Ontario small-business tax rate on active business income is dramatically lower than personal tax rates on the same dollars. For the first few profitable years, that’s straightforward — bill clients, pay yourself a mix of salary and dividends, and let the corporation absorb the rest at the lower rate.
The complication shows up once a firm has been profitable for a while and starts accumulating cash or investments inside the corporation. CRA’s rules link the small-business rate to how much passive investment income — interest, dividends from other companies, capital gains on a corporate investment account — the corporation earns each year. As that passive income grows, it can begin reducing the amount of active business income eligible for the preferential small-business rate. A portion of the same consulting revenue that used to be taxed at the low rate is then taxed at the higher general corporate rate instead.
It’s a federal rule, not an Ontario one, but it disproportionately affects exactly the kind of business Toronto has in abundance. Those are the profitable, owner-run consultancies and agencies that build up a corporate investment account rather than reinvesting everything back into the business. We review where your retained earnings are sitting, flag when a holding company or a different investment structure is worth considering, and make sure your salary-and-dividend planning accounts for it. The alternative is finding out at year-end that last year’s success cost you the rate you incorporated to get.
Getting started, from anywhere in the GTA
Onboarding, done entirely online from anywhere in the GTA.
Send an enquiry
A short video call about your agency, studio or consultancy. You leave with a fixed quote in writing — no obligation.
Send your records securely
Upload your books, prior T2s and HST filings through our secure channel; we reconcile and catch up any backlog.
Stay compliant all year
We file on time, watch your HST and instalment thresholds, and flag retained-earnings decisions before year-end.
Working with a virtual small business accountant in Toronto
Working with a CPA outside Toronto changes nothing about what gets filed. Corporate tax, GST/HST and payroll are federal systems, and Ontario’s corporate return is administered together with the federal one, so a single T2 covers both. What does change is how the year runs.
Onboarding happens over one video call and a secure document upload rather than a trip across the city. Questions in June are answered by the same person who prepared the return in March, and nothing sits in a queue behind a walk-in. For a Toronto agency or consultancy the recurring work is usually HST on services billed to clients in other provinces, instalments once the first profitable year lands, and the retained-earnings question that arrives with growth.
If you have not used an accountant at a distance before, the virtual CPA overview sets out what changes and what does not. Province-wide detail sits on the Ontario small business page.
salary vs dividends calculator · work out your T2 filing date · corporate instalment calculator · Work out whether to incorporate
Also serving business owners in online accountant in Vancouver and accountant in Ottawa.
Free tools for Toronto owners: free CRA deadline reminders.
Questions from Toronto business owners
How much does an accountant cost in Toronto?+
Can an accountant outside Toronto file my corporate taxes?+
How do we exchange documents securely?+
Do you understand Ontario tax rules?+
Does my Toronto business lose anything by using a CPA based outside Toronto?+
How does Ontario’s HST affect a consulting or agency business specifically?+
I run a profitable consultancy with cash building up in the company — does that affect my tax rate?+
Could CRA treat my incorporated consulting income as if I were an employee?+
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.
What owners say once the work is done
Rated 5.0 on Google across 21 client reviews.
“…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.”
“…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!”
Toronto industries we work with most
The Toronto owners we work with are mostly agencies, consultancies and independent professionals billing corporate clients, plus e-commerce sellers and a steady stream of newly incorporated contractors. The recurring issues are HST on services sold across provinces, retained earnings building up faster than the owner draws them, and single-client contracts that raise personal services business questions.
Those are file-level problems, not local ones, which is why distance from Toronto changes nothing about how we handle them. A large share of them are agencies, studios and consultancies billing project work rather than hours. See accounting for Toronto agencies and studios. Restaurants and hospitality operators are a distinct group again. See restaurant accounting in Toronto.
How working with a Toronto business actually runs
No part of a Toronto engagement asks you to cross the city. The first conversation happens on a video or phone call, records arrive through a secure upload instead of a courier, and returns are approved by e-signature. Questions during the year are covered as well. An email about a new hire or a client contract does not start a meter, since the fee was set in writing at the outset. Asking early is the whole idea, because the useful question comes before the decision.
One CPA stays on your file from the first call to the filed return, so whoever prepared it is also who picks up when you ring. For owners downtown or out in the GTA, that takes away the commute and the second-guessing about whether a question will cost you.
What a Toronto client’s year looks like
A Toronto client’s year is shaped by their fiscal year-end rather than the calendar. Books stay current month to month; we raise planning decisions — bonus versus dividend, timing a large purchase, whether to leave profit in the company — before the year closes, when they can still be acted on. HST returns file on their own cycle. The corporate return follows, and the balance owing comes due before the filing deadline, which is the detail that most often catches owners out.
Owner-managed companies elsewhere in Ontario are served the same way. The provincial overview is at accounting in Ontario, and the mechanics are set out in how a virtual CPA engagement works.
For year-end work specifically, Toronto financial statements covers retainer revenue, unbilled project work and client concentration disclosure.
Services in Toronto
Two service pages go deeper for Toronto: personal tax (T1) for incorporated owners in Toronto, and accounting for Toronto trades and construction businesses. Both run remotely.
Two filings recur so often for Toronto companies that each has its own page. If you employ anyone, payroll services in Toronto covers Ontario employer health tax and the exemption rules. If you charge sales tax, GST/HST filing in Toronto covers a single 13% HST and the Quick Method question.
Written for particular industries: tech startups in Toronto and realtors in Toronto.
Related services and local guides
Other cities we serve, more of our work for Toronto companies, and the reference material this page draws on.
Nearby in Ontario
The same fixed-fee service, online, for owner-run businesses in Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, Oakville and Richmond Hill. 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 agency and consulting margins?
Work with a CPA who understands project revenue, contractor costs and Ontario HST — without a Bay Street retainer. Email enquiry, fixed quote, fully online.
Remote accounting
EverStone works online and serves Toronto at a distance. No office or staff are located in Toronto. Calls, video and secure document exchange carry the whole engagement, so being nearby never matters. The CPA who answers you in March is the one who prepared your return in June, a continuity that bigger offices often 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 essentially nothing about how the return is prepared or filed.
- Access through CRA, not forms. You add us under CRA’s Represent a Client from your My Business Account, which takes a few clicks and nothing by mail. From then on we read your filings, balances and CRA letters ourselves instead of asking you to forward each one.
- Records arrive through a secure upload link. Statements, payroll registers and year-end packages come in through the upload link rather than as email attachments, and a phone is enough to send them.
- You sign on screen. The T183 and the engagement letter are signed in a browser window, with no printer, scanner or courier involved.
- Calls happen by video or phone. Enquiries, planning talks and the year-end review are all booked around your calendar, not around a trip along the 401.
- Returns go where they always went. We transmit to CRA electronically. If a province runs a return of its own, that return goes to the provincial authority electronically as well.
What is specific to Ontario
Ontario harmonized its sales tax with the federal GST, so there is no separate provincial sales-tax return to file — one HST return covers both, which makes Ontario simpler on that axis than BC or Manitoba. The provincial corporate return is administered through the federal T2 rather than filed separately. Employer Health Tax is the main standalone provincial account for Ontario employers, with its own exemption and filing schedule.
If you are comparing firms first, what to ask an accountant in Toronto before you sign covers the questions worth putting to any firm.
Current Ontario rates and thresholds live on the Ontario tax facts page. Every number on that page cites its source and the date it was last verified, and it lives there alone so it cannot drift out of date elsewhere.
Ontario questions we get
Does it matter that you are not in Ontario?+
For a corporate return, no. The T2 carries the Ontario schedules and is transmitted federally; nothing about the filing depends on where the preparer sits. Provincial employer accounts are registered and filed online in either case.
Do you work with Toronto tech and software businesses?+
Do you work with businesses outside Toronto itself?+
Talk to a CPA about this
A single Chartered Professional Accountant from the first call to the filed return. The fee is fixed in writing before work begins, and a first conversation commits you to nothing.
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”