Restaurant accountant in Victoria

A one-owner Victoria restaurant usually pays $500 to $700 a month for bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements. That covers Schedule 1 and Schedule 50, CCA, the small business deduction, the owner’s T4 or T5 and next year’s instalments.

Hotels, tour operators and caterers share most of these questions. The Victoria accountant page covers the wider BC compliance picture.

GST, PST and the liquor line

BC has two sales taxes. 5% GST applies to restaurant meals, filed with the CRA. The 7% PST generally skips prepared food, but liquor carries PST at its own rate, so a licensed restaurant needs PST registration and a POS that splits food and drink on every bill.

PST also hits much of what you buy for your own use, like kitchen equipment, furniture and smallwares, but not food and drink for resale. See the BC PST guide and GST filing in Victoria.

Tips and the BC rules around them

Card tips through payroll and employer-controlled pools are generally employment income, with income tax, CPP and EI withheld; cash handed to a server is the employee’s to report. BC employment standards bar employers from keeping or deducting gratuities and limit sharing in pools, so write the rules down.

Staff must be covered by WorkSafeBC, and once BC payroll passes the exemption the Employer Health Tax applies; the thresholds are on the BC tax facts page. The tip reporting guide covers the payroll side in detail.

Hiring for the season, and letting go after it

Many Victoria restaurants hire in April and shed staff after Thanksgiving. Hires need a TD1 and payroll record; departures a prompt record of employment, settled vacation pay and a T4 by the end of February.

That volume is where small errors multiply. We run payroll in Victoria on a schedule that matches your pay periods, and the BC stat holiday pay calculator helps with the holiday weeks.

Food cost on an island

Most of what a Victoria kitchen cooks arrives by ferry or barge, so freight is in every invoice, and surcharges or cancelled sailings move plate cost before the menu. Month-end counts, category coding and current-invoice costing keep it visible.

We report food, beverage and labour cost each month with the Victoria bookkeeping. The inventory count guide covers what the count must support at year-end.

Build-outs such as a patio, walk-in cooler or kitchen renovation in leased space are capital assets recovered through capital cost allowance over several years, with PST on equipment added to cost; leasehold improvements follow their own schedule. Timing a renovation around year-end and the slow season changes when the deduction helps. See the CCA classes guide.

Deposits, delivery apps and the quiet months

Each week, POS totals, processor settlements, delivery payouts and deposits should agree, each recorded gross with fees separate. Christmas gift cards stay a liability until used. Weekly checks catch a missing deposit while traceable.

Winter is when cash gets tight. GST, PST and source deductions are due on their normal dates whether the tour buses are running or not, so set them aside when collected. The seasonal cash flow guide shows how.

What EverStone handles for you

One firm, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 corporate return and year-end financial statements
• GST and PST, including liquor, set up in the POS
• Payroll with tips, WorkSafeBC and Employer Health Tax
• Seasonal hiring, ROEs and T4s
• Weekly sales and deposit reconciliation
• Monthly food, beverage and labour cost reporting

Fixed fees, fully online

Everything runs by video, phone and secure upload. Monthly bookkeeping starts from $325 a month with GST filing included, and a 45-minute Advice Call is a flat $225 + GST. See what it costs.

Remote restaurant accounting

EverStone is a fully virtual CPA firm. There is no Victoria office and no local staff. Meetings are by video or phone, documents by secure exchange, with no visit needed. Sales, tips and invoices come from your POS and payroll systems.