Bookkeeping for Coquitlam businesses

Monthly bookkeeping for Coquitlam businesses starts from $300 a month, and the GST and PST returns are filed inside that fee. The books then feed every filing that follows: the T2 or the T2125, the GST34 return and its input tax credits, the CCA schedule and the T4 slips.

What the monthly fee covers

Each month the bank, credit card and processor accounts are reconciled to the statements, not just categorised from a feed. Receipts arrive through a secure upload link, usually photographed on a phone. Sales tax is posted to its own accounts as it is collected and paid, so the return is a report rather than a reconstruction. Owner draws and shareholder loan entries are tracked as they happen, because a loan left open past the deadline after year-end can become taxable income. At year-end the ledger is closed and handed to the same CPA for the T2. If you are deciding between a bookkeeper and something more, which level of finance support you need sets out the difference.

Choosing a GST filing period that fits

Most small Tri-Cities businesses file GST annually or quarterly, depending on revenue. Annual filing means one return, but it also means a full year of collected tax sitting in the bank account. For a builder who collects a large draw in spring, that balance can look like profit until the return is due. We usually suggest moving GST and PST collected into a separate savings account each month, whatever the filing period. PST has its own schedule set by the province. Both dates go on the deadline reminders list so nothing is filed late.

Builders and trades: draws, holdbacks and subtrades

Burke Mountain’s hillside lots and the denser sites near the Millennium Line stations are built on progress draws. Each draw is an invoice, and GST is generally due on the earlier of invoicing and payment. The holdback retained on a draw is earned but not yet collectible, so it sits in its own receivable rather than in revenue you can spend. A builder who retains holdbacks from subtrades carries the mirror image on the payable side. The holdbacks guide explains the entries.

Subtrade payments are coded separately from materials at entry. That one habit produces the T5018 information return almost automatically, and it keeps job costs readable when a framing crew and a drywall crew bill the same project in the same month. See contractor accounting in Coquitlam for the year-end side.

PST belongs in its own ledger

BC’s 7% PST is administered by the province and filed on its own return, apart from the 5% GST. In the ledger that means separate accounts, never one combined “sales tax” line. GST paid on purchases comes back as input tax credits. PST paid on most business purchases does not, so it belongs in the cost of the item. A Port Coquitlam electrical company that installs fixtures pays PST on those materials as the end user, and that PST is part of the job cost. Rates are on the BC tax facts page, and the BC PST guide covers who registers.

Restaurants and shops: the daily close

A kitchen on North Road or a boutique in City Centre produces one point-of-sale summary a day. That summary is posted as a single entry showing sales by tax category, tips, discounts and payment type. Card settlements arrive a day or two later, net of processor fees, and are matched against it through a clearing account. Cash variances show up by shift rather than as a mystery at year-end. Delivery platform payouts get the same treatment: the gross sale and the commission are both recorded, never just the deposit. Retailers add a stock count, at least at year-end, so the cost of goods sold is a real figure.

Port Moody’s brewery tasting rooms and Coquitlam’s family restaurants have one more layer: liquor. PST applies to liquor sales but not to most prepared food, so the point-of-sale categories must match the ledger accounts. When the menu changes, the categories are checked again. A mismatch here shows up as PST under-collected, which the province can assess years later.

Realtors: commissions and the corporation

Commission income in the Tri-Cities follows the presale calendar and the spring market, not the month. A realtor working through a personal real estate corporation needs the brokerage statements reconciled to deposits, GST tracked on every commission, and the salary or dividends paid out recorded properly. Marketing, vehicle and staging costs are coded as they arrive, so the year-end does not depend on a shoebox. See realtor accounting in Coquitlam.

Behind on the books?

Many new clients arrive with months to catch up, often after a busy building season or a first year of payroll. Catch-up work is quoted separately as a fixed fee, then the monthly routine takes over. The catch-up bookkeeping page explains the order the work is done in. Once you have staff, payroll in Coquitlam becomes part of the same monthly file.

Remote bookkeeping from Abbotsford

EverStone is a one-CPA firm based in Abbotsford, serving the Tri-Cities entirely online. There is no Coquitlam office and no local staff. Bank, card and processor feeds arrive electronically, documents come in through a secure upload link, and questions are answered by email. The person reconciling your accounts is the CPA who will prepare the return from them.