Contractor accountant in Halifax

Updated September 2026.

When HST on a progress billing is owed

Construction work in Nova Scotia carries 14% HST, and on a job billed in stages the tax follows each billing rather than the end of the job. As a general rule, HST becomes payable on the earlier of the day you are paid and the day the payment is due, and an invoice sets the due date. A draw issued on the 28th of the month belongs to that reporting period even if the cheque comes in six weeks later, so the tax is remitted before the money arrives. On a large residential or commercial job that gap can be serious. The billing schedule and the HST calendar need to be planned together, especially for a quarterly or annual filer. See the input tax credits guide for the recovery side.

Holdbacks, on both sides of the ledger

Nova Scotia’s builders’ lien legislation lets owners and general contractors hold back part of each payment until the lien period passes. For your books, the holdback you are owed is revenue you have earned but cannot yet collect, and it belongs in receivables in the period the work was done. The holdback you retain from your own subtrades is a cost already incurred. HST on a holdback has its own timing: it is generally not payable until the holdback itself is paid or becomes payable. Tracking holdbacks by project, with their expected release dates, is the difference between a clean year end and a margin that swings for no reason. See construction holdbacks.

T5018 slips and the subtrade question

If construction is your principal business and you pay subcontractors for construction services, you report those payments on T5018 slips. You can report on a calendar-year or fiscal-year basis, and the return is due six months after the end of the period you choose. The slip only works if you have each subtrade’s legal name, address and business number before the first payment, not at year end. It also raises the underlying question: whether someone is really a subcontractor or an employee. Control over the work, who owns the tools, and whether they carry a chance of profit or loss decide it, and the cost of getting it wrong falls on you as the payer. See T5018 reporting and the subcontractor tracker.

WCB Nova Scotia and your subtrades

Construction employers in Nova Scotia carry coverage with the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, and the premium is assessed on payroll at a rate set for your type of work. The part that catches contractors out is the subtrade. Where a subcontractor you hire is not in good standing with the board, you can end up responsible for premiums on that work. Asking the board to confirm a subtrade’s standing before paying them, and keeping the confirmation in the job file, is cheap protection. Premiums are accrued as wages are paid, so the year-end reconciliation is not a surprise. See payroll in Halifax.

Job costing across the municipality

A Halifax contractor may have a renovation in the south end, a new build in Bedford and a commercial fit-up in Dartmouth running at once. Each needs its own job in the books, with materials, labour, subtrades and equipment charged to it as they happen, or there is no way to tell which job made money. Work in progress at year end — costs spent on jobs not yet billed — has to be counted, and the winter slowdown means cash is tightest just as the corporate balance comes due. A strong building season can also set corporate instalments that start before the next season’s receivables do. Bookkeeping in Halifax covers the monthly side.

Sole proprietor or company

Many Halifax trades start as sole proprietors and incorporate once profit outgrows what the owner needs to live on. The reason is the rate. Since April 1, 2025 a Nova Scotia company pays a low provincial rate on active business income up to the provincial limit. That means profit left in the company for equipment, a second truck or a slow winter is taxed far more lightly than the same profit taken personally. Incorporating also brings a T2, a separate bank account, a shareholder loan account and the yearly Joint Stock Companies renewal. It is worth doing when the retained profit justifies the added cost, and not before. The incorporation calculator runs the comparison, and corporate tax in Halifax covers the rates.

Trucks, equipment and what the bundle covers

Pickups, trailers, excavators and tools are capital assets written off through capital cost allowance, and a vehicle claim is only as good as the log that separates business from personal kilometres. For an incorporated contractor, one CPA handles the whole file: job-costed bookkeeping, HST returns, payroll and remittances, T5018 slips, and the year-end T2 with financial statements. That typical trades bundle usually runs $450–$650 a month, fixed in writing before work starts. See the vehicle log and published pricing.

Remote contractor accounting from Abbotsford

Contractor accounting for Halifax clients is delivered remotely from 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford. There is no Halifax office and no local team. Meetings are virtual, documents are signed electronically, and you deal with the CPA directly rather than an intake desk. Subcontractor payments, equipment and vehicle costs are tracked as they happen rather than reconstructed at year end, and supplier bills and draw schedules come in through a secure upload link.