Restaurant accountant in Montreal

If you run something other than a kitchen, the same remote setup covers Montreal online sellers, and the wider Montreal accounting page explains the Quebec compliance side in more depth. The restaurant and hospitality accounting hub gathers the general guides.

Tips: controlled, direct, and what belongs on payroll

Hospitality payroll is harder than the headcount suggests, and tips are why. Tips the employer controls — added to card payments and paid out by the restaurant, or pooled and distributed under a policy the employer sets — are generally employment income that runs through payroll, with the deductions that follow. In Quebec that means QPP, QPIP, EI at the reduced rate and income tax to both authorities. Direct tips passed from guest to server in cash are treated differently.

The line between the two is set by who controls the money, not by what the staff call it. Getting it wrong creates unremitted source deductions, and the penalties attach to the deduction rather than the tax. The guide to controlled versus direct tips sets out where the line falls. The Montreal payroll service runs the result every pay period, with the T4s and RL-1s issued by the end of February.

The POS, the card batch and the cash drawer

A restaurant’s sales are recorded three times: in the point-of-sale system, in the card processor’s deposits and in the cash count at close. They are never identical. Card batches settle a day or two late and net of fees, cash is short or over, voids and comps come off the POS but not the deposit, and delivery platforms pay out weekly after deducting their commission. The bookkeeping reconciles the three every day or week so that the difference is explained while someone still remembers the shift. Delivery platform fees are recorded gross, with the fee as an expense, rather than booking only the net payout. A restaurant that records deposits as sales misstates both its revenue and its GST and QST. Gift cards are the other common slip. A card sold at the counter is not a sale until it is redeemed, so it sits as a liability. The tax is accounted for when the meal is eaten rather than when the card is bought.

Food cost is counted, not estimated

Food and beverage cost is the number the operation is managed by, and it moves every week with supplier prices, portions and waste. It is only useful if purchases are coded consistently and inventory is actually counted — monthly for most kitchens, more often for high-value items like proteins and wine. A figure produced once a year cannot change a menu price. Counted monthly, it shows which dishes carry the margin and which quietly lose money. The year-end count sets out what the closing figure needs for tax purposes.

GST and QST on the bill, and a season that runs on terraces

Meals and drinks sold by a Montreal restaurant carry 5% GST and 9.975% QST, and for most restaurants both are administered by Revenu Québec and filed on the same return. The POS has to apply both correctly to every item, including takeout and catering. Neither tax is the restaurant’s money: it is held for Quebec and Ottawa until the return is filed.

That matters because Montreal restaurant revenue is seasonal. Terraces, festivals and tourists fill the summer; January and February are quiet. Staff are hired for the season and let go after it, which multiplies records of employment and slips, and the sales tax collected in July is due when the summer cash has already been spent. Keeping GST, QST and source deductions in a separate account through the busy months is the simplest protection a restaurant has. Cash flow in a seasonal business covers the planning side.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 and CO-17 corporate returns and year-end financial statements
• Daily or weekly POS, card and cash reconciliation
• Food and beverage cost tracked so the number is usable monthly
• Payroll including tip treatment, both remittances, T4s and RL-1s
• GST and QST set up correctly in the POS and filed with Revenu Québec
• Equipment and leasehold improvement schedules

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is an Abbotsford CPA firm working with Montreal operators entirely online — video, phone and secure upload link. We are three hours behind you, so something sent at close is usually answered before service the next day. The fee is fixed and agreed before work starts. See what it costs.

Remote restaurant accounting from Abbotsford

EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, working with Montreal clients entirely online. There is no Montreal office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone, documents are exchanged securely by upload link and e-signature, and no visit is required at any point. EverStone works in English. Daily sales, tips and food cost tracking are handled from the systems you already run, not from a filing cabinet.