--- title: "PREC Accountant in BC | Personal Real Estate Corporation CPA" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/prec-accountant-bc description: "A BC CPA for personal real estate corporations: year-one decisions, salary against dividends, and what a PREC changes about your filings. Ask for a fee." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-08 summary: "A PREC is a corporation through which a licensed BC realtor receives commission. It files its own return on its own deadline and hands you two new decisions: how you pay yourself and how much you leave in the company . The advantage is deferral — income taxed at the corporate rate today rather than your personal rate — and it exists only on money you do not draw out." faq_count: 7 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) [Services](https://www.everstonecpa.com/services) PREC Personal real estate corporations · BC # A PREC Accountant for *BC Realtors* A personal real estate corporation changes more about your tax year than most realtors are told, starting the day it is registered, which is why a PREC accountant is worth having before the first year end. Here is what changes, in order. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online)Email info@everstonecpa.com Updated September 2026 . **Quick answer:** A **PREC** is a corporation through which a licensed BC realtor receives commission. It files its own return on its own deadline and hands you two new decisions: **how you pay yourself** and **how much you leave in the company**. The advantage is deferral — income taxed at the corporate rate today rather than your personal rate — and it exists only on money you do not draw out. Draw everything, and you have added a return for no benefit. **Paying yourself from your PREC?** Enter your company’s profit in [our 2026 pay planner](https://www.everstonecpa.com/salary-vs-dividends-calculator): it works out corporate tax, CPP and personal tax at every salary level for 2026 and shows the split that leaves you the most. For a one-owner BC realtor’s PREC, monthly bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements usually cost from $500 to $700 a month all-in. 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. What this covers, at a glance. ## What changes on day one Commission now belongs to the corporation, and several consequences arrive together. You need a separate bank account, GST registered in the corporation’s name where you were registered personally (the CRA sets out [when registration is required](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/when-register-charge.html)), corporate-standard bookkeeping, and a corporate return with its own filing and payment deadlines. The [CRA’s description of corporation types](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/type-corporation.html) explains what your company now is for tax. None of it is difficult. All of it is cheaper to set up correctly in the first quarter than to reconstruct in the fourth. ## The decision that costs the most to get wrong Salary or dividends, or some mix. They are close to a wash on total tax by design; what differs is everything else attached to them. Salary and dividends, from a realtor’s point of view | | Salary | Dividends | | RRSP room | Creates it | Does not | | CPP | Contributes, and costs both halves | Neither | | Corporate deduction | Deductible to the corporation | Paid from after-tax profit | | Paperwork | Payroll account, source deductions on a schedule, T4 | T5, and a directors’ resolution | | Mortgage applications | Lenders read it easily | Often needs two years and an explanation | That last row decides it for many realtors: if a mortgage application is likely in the next two years, compensation is a financing decision first. Our [salary versus dividends calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/salary-vs-dividends-calculator) shows its shape. ## The deferral is the whole point, and it is conditional The benefit of incorporating is the gap between the corporate rate and your marginal personal rate, on money left in the corporation only. Draw every dollar of commission and the corporation costs a return, a filing calendar and a fee for nothing. A new PREC owner is rarely asked this. First work out what you need to draw in a year. If the answer is “all of it”, the corporation may be premature, and [the arithmetic behind that](https://www.everstonecpa.com/should-i-incorporate) is published, not used as a sales tool. ## Your new deadlines A corporate return, GST filings on their own cycle, and either T4s or T5s depending on how you paid yourself. Instalments follow once the corporation owes enough. The [CRA’s corporation payments guidance](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-payments.html) covers when payment is due, which is not the same date as when the return is due, a distinction that costs new corporations interest every year. Our [T2 deadline calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/t2-deadline-calculator) will give you your own dates from your year end, and [the deadline hub](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cra-tax-deadlines) lists the rest. ## What a PREC accountant does for realtor clients The corporate return and year-end statements, GST filings, payroll or dividend paperwork, and a yearly compensation review before the year closes. Bookkeeping if you want it: many realtors do their own and want it checked, a smaller, cheaper engagement we will recommend rather than sell the larger one. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before the work starts and [published](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing). A PREC with clean records and no employees sits at the lower end of the published range. ## Money out that is not pay The riskiest habit carried into a new PREC is paying personal bills from the account commission lands in. Anything you take that is not salary or a dividend becomes a [shareholder loan](https://www.everstonecpa.com/glossary#shareholder-loan), and one outstanding past the repayment deadline is added to your income, with no deduction for the company. The fix is dull and effective. Pay yourself on a schedule, from the corporate account to your personal one, and spend from the personal account. Our guide to [taking money out of a corporation](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/shareholder-loans-canada-taking-money-out-of-corporation) sets out how the loan rules work and how an overdrawn balance is usually cleared at year end. ## Expenses once the corporation pays them Most sole-proprietor costs move into the corporation: board and brokerage fees, licensing, marketing, a phone and the vehicle, the item most often challenged. A car in your name is usually reimbursed per kilometre from a log; a company-owned car makes personal use a taxable benefit. Use one approach, not both. A log kept as you drive holds up; one rebuilt in April rarely does. The [vehicle and mileage guide](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/vehicle-mileage-deductions-canada-business) covers what it must show; a home office follows the same reimbursement logic. ## When the balance starts to build Retained commission builds cash. In British Columbia, active business income within the $500,000 small business limit is taxed at a combined 11%, which drives the deferral, but enough passive income from investing that cash reduces access to the small business rate. A year-three or year-four problem, but cheaper to see coming: [Retained earnings, explained](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/retained-earnings-canada) and [the passive income rules](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/small-business-deduction-passive-income-canada) show how the grind works. ## Realtors across British Columbia PREC rules are provincial, so Victoria and Kelowna realtors share one framework. We work with realtors across the province remotely. City pages cover [Vancouver](https://www.everstonecpa.com/realtor-accountant-vancouver), [Surrey](https://www.everstonecpa.com/realtor-accountant-surrey), [Victoria](https://www.everstonecpa.com/realtor-accountant-victoria) and [Kelowna](https://www.everstonecpa.com/realtor-accountant-kelowna); our [British Columbia page](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-british-columbia) covers the wider practice. More for realtors: [accounting for realtors](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-for-realtors), [real estate professionals](https://www.everstonecpa.com/real-estate-professionals-accounting), and [if you also hold rental property](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accountant-for-real-estate-investors). If your commission runs through a GST-registered corporation for the first time, [the GST hub](https://www.everstonecpa.com/gst-hst-hub) covers what changes. About this article **EverStone CPA** Prepared and reviewed by a CPA at EverStone CPA, serving businesses in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. [About the firm →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/about) · [Send an enquiry →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) British Columbia’s rates and thresholds are set out on [the British Columbia tax facts page](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bc-tax-facts). Common questions ## Questions realtors ask in year one **Do I need a separate GST number for the PREC?** Yes. The corporation is a separate taxpayer, so GST registration follows it. Register the corporation and close your personal registration in the right order, leaving no gap in collection. **Can I pay my spouse from the PREC?** Only for work genuinely performed, at a reasonable rate. The split income rules were tightened to catch exactly this, so discuss it before setting it up. **When should a new PREC choose its year end?** At the start, deliberately: it sets every later deadline, and changing it later requires a filing. A year end just after your busiest commission months gives the longest planning window. **What if I incorporated mid-year?** You will have a short first taxation year and two sets of income to keep apart — personal commission before the PREC existed, corporate commission after. It is ordinary work, but the cut-off has to be clean, which is easier to arrange now than to reconstruct later. **Do you work with realtors outside the Fraser Valley?** Yes. The practice is fully remote and works with realtors across British Columbia. The PREC naming and licensing rules here are specifically British Columbia’s. **What does an accountant cost for a British Columbia prec business?** Monthly bookkeeping starts from $325 a month and a personal return from $125; a corporate return is quoted after we review your enquiry. A single question can go to a 45-minute Advice Call, a flat fee of $225 + GST. Every fee is fixed in writing first. [See the published fees](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing). **Which parts of British Columbia do you serve?** All of it. The work is remote, so Vancouver, Victoria, Kelowna, the Fraser Valley and the rest of the province get the same service, fees and CPA. ## Get your year-one decisions made An email enquiry on how to pay yourself and what your PREC actually changes. If your current arrangement is already right, that is what you will hear. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online)Email info@everstonecpa.com ★★★★★ “…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!” R. H. · Google review ### Starting fees Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing included** from $325 a month - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=monthly#enquiry-form) --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/prec-accountant-bc Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online