Bookkeeping for St. Catharines businesses

HST coded once, and claimed in full

An Ontario business carries one sales-tax account. The 13% HST it charges and the HST it pays on purchases net against each other on a single return, and the provincial part is recoverable in exactly the same way as the federal part. The work is in the coding: a credit card receipt with no tax split, a supplier invoice from out of province or an owner’s personal purchase run through the business account are where claims go missing or go wrong.

Your filing period is assigned by revenue. Annual filing applies up to $1.5 million of taxable sales, quarterly up to $6 million and monthly above that. A farm whose sales are mostly zero-rated often files to collect a refund rather than to pay, which is a reason to file more often, not less. Input tax credits explains what can be claimed.

Sales that arrive through several doors

A winery in Lincoln or a restaurant on St. Paul Street rarely has one revenue stream. There is the point-of-sale terminal, a card processor that deposits net of fees, an online store, a wine club billed on a schedule, gift cards and a delivery platform that pays weekly after commission. None of those deposits equals a day’s sales.

We book sales at their gross amount, record the fees and commissions as expenses, and reconcile each clearing account to zero every month. When the ledger shows the full sale and the full cost of getting paid, margins mean something and the HST on the sale is reported on the right figure. See restaurant accounting in St. Catharines and winery accounting in St. Catharines for the industry detail.

Inventory that is counted, not estimated

Wine in tank and bottle, packaging, fabricated parts, raw steel and bagged product all sit on a balance sheet at year-end, and the closing figure moves profit dollar for dollar. We agree a count date with you, set the valuation method once and apply it the same way each year. For a manufacturer or processor the monthly ledger also keeps purchases separate from production costs, so the year-end cost of goods sold is a calculation rather than a plug. The year-end inventory count sets out what the CRA expects to see.

Between counts, the ledger can still tell you something. A contractor carrying materials for several jobs, or a greenhouse holding growing media and containers, benefits from a simple record of what was bought for stock and what was used. When the physical count arrives, the difference between the book figure and the shelf is a question worth asking rather than an adjustment quietly posted.

A monthly close, even in the quiet months

The temptation in a seasonal business is to let January and February slide because nothing much is happening. Those are the months when the numbers are most useful. They show what the season actually earned, what the fixed costs are when revenue stops, and how much cash has to last until spring.

A close every month means reconciled accounts, reviewed receivables and payables, and a short set of statements you can read. When a lender or a buyer asks for numbers, they exist already. What a month-end close covers walks through the steps, and why reconciliation matters explains the one that catches the most errors.

Payroll entries and the Ontario accounts beside them

Payroll does not end at the net pay. Each run creates a liability to the CRA for source deductions, and in Ontario it can also create an employer health tax cost and a WSIB premium, each owed to a different body on a different schedule. We record all three as they arise rather than when a bill arrives, so the ledger always shows what is owed. Where payroll is heading past the employer health tax exemption, accruing through the year avoids a single unbudgeted charge. Payroll in St. Catharines covers the running of it.

Owner draws get the same care. Money taken out of a corporation is either salary, a dividend, a repayment of a loan the owner made, or a shareholder loan that has to be cleared within a year after the year-end. Recording each withdrawal correctly when it happens is far easier than reconstructing a year of transfers when the corporate return is due.

Books behind? Starting from where they are

If the last reconciled month was a year ago, the fix is methodical rather than dramatic. We bring the bank and card accounts up to date, rebuild the HST position, file anything outstanding and then move to the monthly rhythm. Catch-up work explains the order it happens in. On software, we work in the cloud ledger you already have, or help you choose; QuickBooks or Xero compares the two. You keep your own login either way.

Receipts are the other half. A photo taken on the day and sent by secure upload link is worth more than a shoebox in April, because the CRA expects records to be kept for six years and a faded thermal receipt rarely lasts that long.

Remote bookkeeping from Abbotsford

EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, serving St. Catharines clients entirely online. There is no St. Catharines office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone, documents are exchanged by secure upload link and e-signature, and no visit is required at any point. Bank and card feeds arrive electronically, and receipts can be sent from a phone.