Choosing an accountant in Maple Ridge, and what to ask first

Why Maple Ridge is a different search

A lot of Maple Ridge works somewhere else. The professional who bills a Vancouver or Burnaby client through a personal corporation, the tradesperson contracted to one builder for a year at a time, the small manufacturer along the Pitt Meadows corridor supplying two customers: these are the businesses that make up much of the incorporated base here, and they share one problem that most accounting websites never mention.

The personal services business rules let the CRA treat a corporation as an incorporated employee when it has one main client and looks like a job. The result is the loss of the small business deduction and of most expenses. The way to avoid that is to be genuinely in business, and the way to know where you stand is an accountant who looks at the facts before the CRA does.

The trades and manufacturing side brings the usual BC set: GST and PST filed separately, subcontractor slips, work in progress and equipment timed against the year-end. A firm that handles those and understands PSB risk is what a Maple Ridge search is really looking for.

The questions that separate firms

1. Will you tell me if my corporation looks like a personal services business?

Ask this first and listen to whether the answer is specific. The signs are one main client, work that resembles employment, and few of the marks of an independent business. Ask what the firm does to assess it and what it would tell you to change. If PSB is new to the person across the table, keep looking.

2. Who does the work, and who signs it?

A one-client corporation is a small file, and in a large practice small files move to whoever is free. Ask who prepares, reviews and signs, and whether that changes. One CPA on the file from first call to filed return is the arrangement that keeps the PSB judgement consistent from year to year.

3. Is the fee fixed and in writing before the work starts?

A small corporation should not carry an uncertain accounting bill. Ask for the number in writing before anything begins and ask what would change it. The fair answers are transaction volume, the state of the books, the number of filings and payroll.

4. How should I pay myself, and when do we decide?

Salary against dividends is the decision that matters most for a one-person corporation, and it has to be made before the year closes, not after. Ask whether the firm plans it with you during the year and whether that conversation is included in the fee.

5. For a trades or manufacturing business: how do you handle the specifics?

Subcontractor slips, work in progress, equipment purchases and the two sales taxes each have a right way to be handled. Ask for the last file the firm did that looked like yours and what the hard part was.

6. What does switching involve?

You authorise the new accountant with the CRA, the new firm requests your file, and work continues from the last filed year-end. You can do this in the middle of a year, and a backlog is quoted separately so the cost is visible first.

How to compare two Maple Ridge quotes

List what each includes: T2, year-end statements, GST and PST, the owner’s T1, payroll if you take a salary, and questions through the year. For a one-person corporation the salary-versus-dividend planning is the part worth paying for; check whether it is inside the fee.

Then compare the answers to the PSB question. The firm that engaged with it is the one that is actually thinking about your situation.

Red flags worth walking away from

• The personal services business rules never come up for a one-client corporation.
• Salary versus dividends is decided after the year-end, from whatever the bank statements show.
• A fee described as an estimate, or tied to an hourly rate.
• PST not mentioned for a trades or manufacturing business.
• You cannot get a name for the person who will do the work.

Where to start

A free thirty-minute conversation covers the client structure, what is filed now and how you are paid. You leave with a fixed fee in writing. The work runs online from Abbotsford, which is a shorter trip than it sounds and one most clients never make.

Book a free consultation See the fixed fees

For Maple Ridge specifically: the Maple Ridge accounting page, incorporated professionals in Maple Ridge, Maple Ridge manufacturers, the personal services business risk check and the salary versus dividends calculator.

Choosing somewhere else? The same questions, with the local specifics, for Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley, Surrey, Aldergrove, Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Mission and the Fraser Valley.