Accountant for Kamloops mining services companies

For an incorporated Kamloops mining services company, monthly bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements usually come to $450–$650 a month for a smaller operation, with larger crews quoted after a free consultation. Bookkeeping on its own starts from $300 a month with GST and PST filing included. Every fee is on the pricing page.

Supplying the mines around Kamloops

The open-pit and underground copper operations near Kamloops and Logan Lake depend on outside contractors for much of their maintenance, hauling and specialist work. A Kamloops supplier might rebuild components in a shop in the industrial areas along the highway one week and send a crew to a mine site the next. Some companies supply only one mine. Others work several sites across the Interior and into the north.

That shape has accounting consequences. Revenue is concentrated in a few large customers. Equipment and inventory are expensive. Labour costs include travel, camp time and overtime. The books need to show profit by contract and by customer, not just in total, so you can see which work is worth renewing.

Long contracts and slow receivables

Mine operators usually pay on their own terms, often weeks after a monthly progress claim is approved. A supplier can be profitable on paper and short of cash at the same time, because payroll, fuel, parts and GST are paid long before the customer pays. A receivables report reviewed every month, with each claim tracked from submission to payment, shows the gap before it becomes a problem.

GST adds to the squeeze. It is generally due when you invoice, not when you are paid, so a large claim can create a GST liability before the money arrives. We plan the cash for it. Collecting receivables and cash flow management cover the methods. If a customer cannot pay, writing off a bad debt explains the tax and GST treatment.

Crews on rotation: travel, camp and payroll

Mine work often runs on rotations, with crews driving out of Kamloops to a site and staying for a set stretch. How you cover their costs decides how payroll treats them. Board and lodging at a special work site can be non-taxable when the conditions are met, such as the site being remote from the employee’s home. A reasonable travel allowance tied to actual travel can be non-taxable too. A flat top-up paid regardless is usually just wages, with CPP and EI premiums deducted.

WorkSafeBC classification matters as well, because mine-site work carries different premiums from shop work. Once total BC payroll passes $1,000,000, the employer health tax applies, with rates on BC tax facts. Payroll in Kamloops covers the full cycle, and taxable and non-taxable benefits sets out the tests.

Equipment, CCA and the lender

Service trucks, loaders, compressors, welding rigs and shop machinery are capital assets written off through capital cost allowance, class by class. The half-year rule limits the first-year claim, and a unit counts only once it is available for use. When a unit is traded in, the proceeds come off its class, and any over-claimed depreciation comes back as recapture.

Most of this equipment is financed. Lenders want current financial statements and a loan schedule that ties to their own balance. Monthly books make that a short exercise rather than a scramble when the next unit is needed for a new contract.

GST and PST for a mine supplier

A registered supplier charges 5% GST on most services and goods and recovers GST paid on its own costs through input tax credits. That includes the GST on fuel, parts and equipment, which is a large figure for an equipment-heavy business. Receipts need the supplier’s GST number to support the claim.

PST is narrower and separate. A supplier that sells parts or equipment collects 7% PST on those sales unless a specific exemption applies, and pays PST on tools and equipment it uses itself. Repair work on goods can also carry PST. Exemptions are specific, so we check the rule before you rely on one. The BC PST guide covers registration.

Engineering and technical work

Some Kamloops mine suppliers do more than maintenance. Companies that design new components, adapt equipment to a site’s conditions or develop new processes may have work that qualifies for SR&ED. The claim is made on Form T661, and a Canadian-controlled private corporation can earn an enhanced refundable credit. It depends on technological uncertainty and records kept as the work happens, not on how innovative the result looks. SR&ED changes sets out the current position.

Incorporation and owner pay

Most mining services companies are incorporated, because the contracts, the equipment financing and the insurance all expect it. The company pays the combined 11% small-business rate on active income up to the $500,000 business limit, and the owner draws salary, dividends or both. A shareholder loan not repaid within one year after year-end is generally taxed as the owner’s income. Corporate tax in Kamloops covers the year-end.

Remote, from Abbotsford

EverStone is a one-CPA firm in Abbotsford. There is no Kamloops office. Timesheets, invoices and receipts come in through a secure upload link, and questions go by email first, with a video meeting when one helps. The fee is fixed before work starts, so a question between rotations costs nothing extra.

Year-end planning happens before the year closes, not after. In the last quarter we look at equipment purchases, bonuses to key crew, owner pay and any receivables that may not be collected, while there is still time to act on them. A contract won or lost at a mine can change a supplier’s year quickly, so the planning conversation is worth having each autumn.