Restaurant accountant in Quebec City

The same approach covers operators in Lévis, Sainte-Foy and across the Capitale-Nationale. The national restaurant and hospitality accounting page covers the federal rules in more depth.

A year shaped by visitors

Quebec City draws visitors in summer, for the winter carnival and through the holiday season, and a restaurant near the old town can earn a large share of its year in a few months. Rent, loan payments and a core of salaried staff run through the quiet months regardless. Monthly books show the pattern while it can still be acted on. They show how much cash the summer must leave behind to carry the spring, when to hire and release seasonal staff, and whether a slow month is seasonal or a sign of something else. Instalments sized on a flat projection of last year miss that shape entirely. Cash flow in a seasonal business sets out the planning.

The POS is the first ledger

Every sale begins in the point-of-sale system, and every error begins there too. A daily reconciliation ties the POS totals to card settlements, cash deposits, gift card sales and redemptions, delivery platform payouts and voids. Delivery platforms deduct their commissions before paying out, so the deposit never matches the sales it represents; recording the net figure understates revenue and loses the tax paid on the commission. Gift cards are a liability when sold and revenue when redeemed. Once those streams are reconciled in the books each month, the sales tax return and the year end become reports rather than investigations.

GST and QST on the bill

Restaurant meals in Quebec carry 5% GST and 9.975% QST, and for most Quebec businesses both are administered by Revenu Québec. The POS has to be set up so each tax is calculated and reported separately, and the books need two tax accounts that each reconcile to the return. On the purchase side, the GST and QST paid on equipment, supplies and services are generally recoverable, but most basic groceries bought as ingredients are zero-rated and carry no tax to recover. Registration is mandatory once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, which almost any operating restaurant reaches in its first year. Zero-rated and exempt supplies explains the categories.

Tips, payroll and the part that goes wrong quietly

Tips are handled according to who controls them. Tips the employer collects and redistributes generally run through payroll with the withholdings that follow; tips passed directly from customer to server are treated differently. The mix changes when card payments dominate and a tip pool is introduced, so the policy and the payroll setup need to match what actually happens on the floor. Underneath sits the Quebec payroll: QPP rather than CPP, QPIP premiums with EI at a reduced rate, and provincial source deductions remitted to Revenu Québec. It also brings RL-1 slips alongside the T4 by the end of February, the Health Services Fund contribution and CNESST. With high turnover, each departure also needs a final pay and a Record of Employment. Tip reporting and payroll goes further.

Food cost, inventory and the monthly count

Food and beverage cost is the margin a restaurant manages against, and it is only as accurate as the count behind it. A monthly count of food, wine and spirits, priced consistently, turns purchases into cost of sales for the month rather than for the year. Without it, a month of heavy buying before a festival looks like a bad month, and the following month looks unusually good. At year end the closing inventory sets cost of sales on both the T2 and the CO-17, so a rough estimate there moves taxable income on two returns. Staff meals and shift drinks deserve their own line, because free or heavily discounted meals can be a taxable benefit.

Equipment, leaseholds and renovations

Kitchen equipment, furniture and point-of-sale hardware are capital assets recovered through capital cost allowance at their class rates. Renovations to a leased space are leasehold improvements, written off over the lease rather than expensed, which surprises owners who paid for a fit-out in cash. Many buildings near the old town are historic, and older premises tend to need more work; separating repairs that restore something from improvements that make it better keeps the deductions where they belong. CCA classes lists the categories.

What EverStone handles for you

One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front. Monthly bookkeeping starts from $300 a month on the published list, with sales tax filing included.

• Daily POS, card and delivery-platform reconciliation, reviewed monthly
• GST and QST returns filed with Revenu Québec
• Quebec payroll with tips, RL-1 and T4 slips
• Monthly food and beverage cost from inventory counts
• T2 and CO-17 corporate returns and year-end statements
• Equipment and leasehold schedules
• Cash flow planning around the tourist seasons

Most restaurant owners change accountants in the quiet weeks after a busy season, often with a backlog. The order matters: sales tax periods already due come first, because interest and penalties attach to them, then payroll slips, then the corporate year. Catch-up work brings the file current, and switching accountants explains how the prior firm’s records are requested so nothing is rebuilt that already exists. Once the file is current, the monthly routine takes over and the next busy season is planned rather than survived.

Remote restaurant accounting from Abbotsford

EverStone is a sole practitioner CPA firm at 32615 South Fraser Way in Abbotsford, working with Quebec City operators entirely online and in English. There is no Quebec City office and no local staff. Meetings are held by video or phone, documents come in through a secure upload link, and no visit is required at any point. Daily sales, tips and food cost are tracked from the systems you already use rather than rebuilt from paper at year end.