Restaurant accountant in Nanaimo

Monthly bookkeeping for a Nanaimo restaurant starts from $300 a month, with GST and PST filing included. Payroll and the year-end T2 are quoted with it, in writing, once we know the headcount and the number of locations. The published fees show every starting point.

GST on the meal, PST on the drink

Restaurant meals carry 5% GST. BC does not charge PST on prepared food, but it does charge PST on liquor, at its own rate. A pub or restaurant with a liquor licence therefore collects two taxes on one bill and files two returns. The point-of-sale system needs each item mapped to the right tax, and the mapping should be checked whenever the menu changes.

On the cost side, GST paid on food supplies, equipment and services comes back as input tax credits. PST paid on your own purchases, such as smallwares and cleaning supplies, generally does not. The BC PST guide covers the details, and the rates are on BC tax facts.

Tips, gratuities and the payroll

How tips are taxed depends on who controls them. Tips a customer hands directly to a server are the server’s income to report. Tips the employer collects and distributes, including many card tips and pooled gratuities, are controlled tips. Controlled tips go through payroll, with income tax withheld and CPP and EI premiums applied.

The difference matters for withholding, for the T4 and for the staff member’s EI claim in the slow season. A tip policy written down and applied the same way every shift is the protection. See restaurant tip reporting.

A summer on the harbour, a winter of regulars

Ferry traffic, visiting boaters and summer events bring a busy season to the harbourfront and downtown. Places toward Parksville and Qualicum Beach see an even sharper swing. The busy months pay for the quiet ones, but only if the cash is managed that way. GST and PST collected in August are owed, not earned, and should sit in a separate account until they are filed.

Staffing follows the same curve. Summer hires leave in the autumn, and BC requires their final pay within 48 hours, with unused vacation pay included. A record of employment follows. Payroll in Nanaimo covers the employer side, and managing a seasonal business covers the cash.

The nightly close: POS, cash and card

Every day’s sales should tie out three ways. The point-of-sale report gives gross sales by tax category. The card processor pays out those sales less its fees, a day or two later. Cash is counted and deposited. Delivery apps pay out what their customers ordered, less commission, on their own schedule.

A clearing account for each payment route makes the gaps visible. When the card clearing account does not return to nil, a deposit is missing or a refund was not recorded. Catching that within the week is easy. Catching it at year-end is guesswork.

Delivery apps deserve their own line. The payout is net of commission and sometimes of promotions the restaurant agreed to fund. Recording only the payout understates both sales and costs, and it hides what the channel actually earns after fees. The gross sale goes in, the commission comes out as an expense, and any GST charged on that commission is claimed back as an input tax credit. Once those are visible, an owner can see whether a delivery order earns as much as a table.

Food cost and the inventory count

Food cost is the number that tells a restaurant whether its menu prices work. It only means something if purchases are coded by category and the inventory is counted at regular intervals. A year-end count is the minimum, because opening and closing stock change the cost of sales on the return.

Wastage, staff meals and comped dishes should be tracked rather than lost in the food line. The year-end inventory count sets out how to do it.

Fit-outs, kitchen equipment and the lease

Opening or renovating a restaurant is a large capital outlay. Leasehold improvements to a rented space are written off over the lease term through CCA, not in one year. Ranges, walk-in coolers and furniture each fall into their own class. Smallwares that wear out quickly may be expensed.

The split matters for the first year’s results and for any lender reading them. A buyer of the business will also look at how the equipment was recorded. CCA classes explained lists the common ones.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• Daily sales tied to POS, card, cash and delivery-app deposits
• GST on meals and PST on liquor, filed on schedule
• Payroll with controlled tips, vacation pay and stat pay
• Records of employment for seasonal staff
• Food cost reporting and the year-end inventory
• The T2, CCA on the fit-out and the owner’s pay plan

Owners also get their own personal returns prepared on the same file.

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone is an Abbotsford CPA firm, and Nanaimo restaurants are served entirely online. There is no Nanaimo office. POS reports, statements and invoices come in through a secure upload link, questions go by email first, and a video meeting is booked outside service hours when it helps. The fee is fixed and agreed before work starts.