Bookkeeping for Vancouver businesses

Monthly bookkeeping for Vancouver businesses starts from $325 a month, with payroll and GST/PST filings handled in the same package. The books feed every filing that follows: the T2 or T2125, the GST/HST return and its input tax credits, the CCA schedule and the CRA instalments.

Foreign currency is recorded twice

A US-dollar invoice paid weeks later is two Canadian amounts, not one. The sale is recorded at the transaction-date rate and the receipt at the rate when the money arrives. The difference is a foreign exchange gain or loss in its own account, not buried in revenue. That separates what the business earned from what the currency did, the only way to tell whether a margin really moved. Foreign exchange gains and losses covers the treatment.

Payment platforms deposit a net figure

A processor pays out several transactions at once, less fees and sometimes refunds and chargebacks, on its own cycle. Recording that deposit as revenue understates sales and expenses and cannot be tied back to the orders. Use a clearing account: gross sales in, fees, refunds and deposits out, returning to nil. If it does not, something is missing — which is the point. With more than one processor, it becomes essential.

Revenue billed before it is earned

Subscriptions, retainers, annual licences and deposits are cash for work not yet done, not revenue on arrival. Recorded as deferred revenue and released as the service is delivered, they give a monthly result that reflects the business. Recorded on receipt, they create a spike followed by apparent decline, overstating income whenever a large annual invoice lands. For a Vancouver business with recurring contracts, the deferred revenue schedule separates usable monthly figures from noise.

Sales tax on services that cross a border

GST on a service depends on place-of-supply rules. Services to non-residents can be zero-rated in defined cases, which differs from exempt because input tax credits can still be claimed. Coding those sales as tax-free blurs this and can weaken the input tax credit claim, so settle it once for customers outside Canada. Zero-rated versus exempt supplies explains the difference.

PST in a service business

British Columbia’s 7% PST is a separate tax with its own registration and returns. Service businesses usually meet it on purchases: PST on software, telecommunications, hardware and office equipment is generally not recoverable, so it belongs in the expense or asset. Some services are themselves taxable, a registration question. Keep separate accounts for the two taxes.

Contractors, and getting the paperwork before you pay

Vancouver businesses use a lot of contract labour — designers, developers, editors, consultants — and the bookkeeping consequences start at the first payment. Payments to non-residents for services performed in Canada can carry withholding, and payments to individuals raise the classification question that decides whether source deductions were required. Collecting the business number, address and terms at onboarding costs nothing; reconstructing them across a year of payments is hard.

Remote bookkeeping

EverStone is a fully virtual, one-CPA firm with no Vancouver office or local staff. Feeds arrive electronically, documents move securely, and clearing and deferred revenue schedules are kept monthly. The CPA reconciling the merchant account prepares the corporate return, so revenue is settled once.

The moment there are employees, payroll in Vancouver becomes the recurring obligation.

Keeping the books accurately and knowing what they mean are different jobs, and it is worth being deliberate about which level of finance support you actually need.

For CFO support in Vancouver and GST/HST filing in Vancouver, the scope and the fixed-fee approach are the same.