E-commerce accountant in Vancouver

The year-end covers the T2 with Schedule 1 and Schedule 50, the CCA schedule, the small business deduction, T4 or T5 slips for the owner’s pay, and the instalments for the year ahead.

Setting up an e-commerce company in Vancouver starts with the GST/HST registration decision, and that is where this engagement usually begins. That is why a CPA for ecommerce company setup looks at registration before inventory, platform fees or the year-end.

The ecommerce accounting hub indexes the sales tax, inventory and reconciliation guides that apply to any online seller.

Sales tax across provinces

Online you sell everywhere, and sales tax follows place-of-supply rules: broadly, where your customer is, so rates vary by province. Registration is generally required past the $30,000 small-supplier threshold over four consecutive quarters, and some marketplaces collect for you. It is the most error-prone part of e-commerce accounting.

Inventory and cost of goods sold

For product businesses, inventory drives cost of goods sold and therefore tax, so it must be valued and tracked properly, including stock in warehouses or fulfilment centres. We keep inventory, COGS and margin reliable.

Platform fees, processors and the rest

Online sellers carry extra costs: platform commissions, payment-processing fees, advertising, software and shipping, all deductible if captured. Linking store and processor to proper bookkeeping turns payout reports into an accurate corporate tax return.

The sales-tax trap for online sellers

Sales tax is the biggest accounting risk for a growing Vancouver online store, because e-commerce breaks the one-local-rate assumption. A sale to Ontario can carry different tax than one in BC or Alberta. A large marketplace may collect the tax for you under facilitator rules. Cross the small-supplier threshold and registration is mandatory whether you noticed or not.

Mistakes often surface only once volume is high and exposure has compounded over thousands of orders. So: register on time, charge by destination, know which channels collect tax for you, and reconcile collections to remittances. We set this up early, and clean it up methodically for sellers who arrive late.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee quoted up front, everything below covered:

• T2 corporate tax return and year-end financial statements
• GST/HST registration and multi-province place-of-supply setup
• Inventory and cost-of-goods-sold bookkeeping
• Platform, processor and advertising costs captured
• Reconciliation of sales channels to your books
• CRA correspondence handled for you

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is a CPA firm, and every engagement runs online by video, e-signature and secure document exchange. You are not billed by the hour or call: the fee is fixed before work starts, so you can ask a question in June without watching a meter. The same CPA handles your file all year and answers your emails. See what it costs or send an enquiry for a written quote by email.

Working as a CPA for ecommerce firms, EverStone covers sales tax, inventory, platform fees and the T2 within that one fixed fee.

Multi-province sales tax is the recurring problem for online sellers across Canada, and bricks-and-mortar operators carrying stock will find retail and inventory accounting closer to their situation.

Deferred revenue and shareholder disclosure are the two items that most often need attention at year end. See financial statements for Vancouver companies with outside shareholders.

Remote ecommerce accounting

EverStone is a fully virtual, one-CPA firm serving Vancouver online. There is no Vancouver office and no local staff. Meetings are by video or phone, documents move securely by email and e-signature, and platform and processor feeds arrive electronically.