Contractor accountant in Quebec City

Contractors working from Lévis, Sainte-Foy or anywhere in the Capitale-Nationale region are served the same way. The national contractor accounting page covers what the CRA looks at on a construction file.

The RBQ licence and what it asks of your books

A contractor who takes construction work in Quebec needs a licence from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec. The licence is a regulatory matter rather than a tax one, but it touches the accounting file. The licence sets which categories of work you may take on, and growing into new categories usually coincides with bigger contracts, a bonding company and a lender who all want financial statements that hold up. Books kept monthly, with jobs costed and liabilities recorded, are what make those statements quick to produce when the request arrives with a deadline attached.

CCQ rules on regulated sites

Much construction work in Quebec falls under the Commission de la construction du Québec. On regulated work, who may be hired, what they are paid and what is reported are governed by CCQ rules, on top of the ordinary Quebec payroll of QPP, QPIP, RL-1 slips, the Health Services Fund and CNESST. The accounting consequence is a payroll that has to follow two rulebooks at once and records that tie the hours on each job to what was paid and reported. A contractor who does both regulated and unregulated work needs the split clear in the job costing, because the payroll treatment follows the work, not the worker’s title. Payroll in Quebec City covers the provincial side.

Progress billing and two sales taxes

Large jobs are billed in stages, and each progress bill carries 5% GST and 9.975% QST, both generally reported to Revenu Québec. The tax is owed on what is billed in the period, whether or not the client has paid, so a slow-paying general contractor can leave you remitting tax on money you have not received. Input tax credits and input tax refunds on materials and subcontracts offset that, but only when the supplier invoices are in the books for the right period. Registration is mandatory once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, which a working contractor reaches quickly.

Holdbacks and when revenue is actually earned

Part of each progress payment is commonly held back until the work is accepted. The work is done and billed, but the holdback is not yet payable. Treating it as revenue on the invoice date can push profit into a year before the cash exists; ignoring it understates the year the work was done. With several jobs open at the year end, the cut-off is the item most worth getting right, for the T2 and the CO-17 alike. Construction holdbacks works through the entries.

Subcontractors and T5018 slips

A business whose main activity is construction reports payments to subcontractors for construction services on T5018 slips. The return is due six months after the end of the reporting period. Behind the slip sits a harder question: whether each worker is genuinely a subcontractor. Control over the work, who supplies tools, the chance of profit or loss and the ability to send a substitute decide it, not how the invoice is addressed. Reclassifying a subcontractor as an employee brings QPP, QPIP and EI with interest, and on regulated work it can raise CCQ questions too. T5018 reporting and the subcontractor tracker help keep the record.

Winter, equipment and the year-end purchase

Quebec City winters slow exterior work and shift crews to renovation and interior jobs, so revenue and payroll swing across the year. Instalments built on a flat projection miss that shape. Trucks, trailers and tools are capital assets recovered through capital cost allowance at their class rates; an asset has to be available for use before the year end to be claimed in that year. Timing a purchase is real planning only when the year’s income can absorb the deduction. CCA classes lists the categories.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front. The typical trades-corporation bundle of bookkeeping, payroll and a year-end T2 with statements is usually $450 to $650 a month on the published list, with the CO-17 prepared from the same file.

• T2 and CO-17 corporate returns and year-end financial statements
• Holdbacks and work in progress reviewed at the cut-off
• T5018 subcontractor information returns
• GST and QST on progress billings, filed with Revenu Québec
• Quebec payroll with RL-1 and T4 slips
• Equipment and vehicle CCA schedules
• Compilation statements for lenders and bonding

Contractors put off changing accountants because there is never a quiet week on site. The handover runs in the background: prior returns and working papers are requested, opening balances are checked against the last T2 and CO-17, and the filing calendar is picked up wherever it stands. See moving your file and your first 90 days. When a lender or surety asks for statements, lender readiness explains what they usually expect.

Remote contractor accounting from Abbotsford

Contractor accounting for Quebec City is delivered remotely from 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford. There is no Quebec City office and no local team. EverStone works in English. Meetings are virtual, documents are signed electronically, and you deal with the CPA directly rather than an intake desk. Subcontractor payments, progress billings and equipment costs are tracked as they happen rather than reconstructed at year end.