Restaurant accountant in White Rock
A restaurant on Marine Drive lives by the weather. A bright Saturday fills the patio from lunch to close, a wet Tuesday in November barely covers the staff. Cafés uptown and kitchens in South Surrey run steadier, but the same rules apply. EverStone keeps the books and files the taxes for White Rock restaurants remotely, at a fixed monthly fee.
Quick answer: A White Rock restaurant charges 5% GST on food and drink and PST on liquor. It reconciles card, cash and delivery deposits to the point-of-sale every night, runs controlled tips through payroll, and stretches summer cash across a quiet winter. EverStone handles the books, GST and PST, payroll and the year-end T2 at a fixed fee.
Restaurant bookkeeping in White Rock starts from $300 a month, with GST and PST filing included. Where payroll and the year-end T2 are added, the whole engagement is quoted as one fixed monthly fee, agreed in writing before work starts. The published fees show where each service starts.
GST on the meal, PST on the wine
Restaurant meals and non-alcoholic drinks carry 5% GST. Beer, wine and spirits sold by the glass or bottle carry GST and BC PST, and liquor has its own PST rate, separate from the general 7%. A single bill can therefore hold two taxes on some lines and one on others. The point-of-sale decides what the customer is charged, but the ledger has to record each tax in its own account. We map every menu category to its tax treatment when we take the file on, then test it against the first few returns. The BC PST guide covers liquor and the rest.
Tips on the patio, and the payroll that follows
Most tips on the waterfront are now paid by card. Tips that the restaurant collects and shares out, through a pool or through the till, are controlled tips. They go through payroll with income tax withheld, and they are generally pensionable and insurable, so CPP and EI premiums apply. Tips a guest hands directly to a server, with no involvement from the employer, are the server’s own income to report. Mixing the two up is a common reason a restaurant’s T4s do not match its remittances. Tip reporting on payroll sets out the distinction, and payroll in White Rock covers the pay runs.
The nightly close: point-of-sale, cash and card
A day’s sales arrive as three things: card settlements a day or two later, net of fees; cash in the drawer; and delivery-platform payouts weeks later, net of commission. None of them matches the point-of-sale total on its own. The books record the gross sales from the point-of-sale report, the fees as expenses, and each deposit against a clearing account that should return to nil. Cash over and short is tracked daily. A clearing account that does not clear is the first sign of a missing deposit, a refund keyed twice, or a till problem. Why reconciliation matters goes further.
Gift cards sold in December are a liability until they are redeemed, often in spring. Recording them as sales on the day they are bought overstates the winter and understates the patio season. The same goes for deposits on private events and group bookings.
Food cost, liquor cost and the inventory count
Food and liquor cost read against sales every month are the two numbers that tell a kitchen whether the menu is priced right. They only work if the purchases are coded by category and the stock is counted. A liquor room counted at each month-end, and a food count at least at year-end, put closing inventory on the balance sheet where it belongs. Without a count, the year-end figure is an estimate, and the cost of sales is wrong by the same amount. The year-end count guide sets out what the CRA expects.
A summer that has to pay for the winter
A waterfront restaurant can earn much of its year between May and September. The cash from those months has to cover rent, insurance and a smaller crew through the winter, plus the GST and PST collected in summer if those returns are filed later. Most small restaurants file GST annually, which means a summer’s tax is still in the bank account months later, looking like profit. We move the tax portion to a separate account each month and build a simple cash forecast for the quiet season. Cash flow for a seasonal business goes further.
Filing more often can help. A restaurant can elect to file GST quarterly instead of annually, so the summer’s tax leaves the account in the fall rather than the following spring. GST filing deadlines sets out each period.
Patios, fit-outs and equipment
Patio furniture, heaters, awnings, kitchen equipment and the build-out of leased premises are capital costs. They are claimed through CCA over several years, each in its class, rather than expensed in the year they are bought. Leasehold improvements are written off over the lease term. Small items below the capitalization policy can be expensed. Getting the classes right at the start saves a correction at every year-end after. CCA classes lists the common ones.
What EverStone handles for you
One CPA, one fixed fee agreed up front:
- Point-of-sale tax mapping for GST and PST on food and liquor
- Monthly reconciliation of card, cash and delivery deposits
- Payroll with controlled tips, stat holiday pay and T4s
- Food and liquor cost reported monthly against sales
- GST and PST returns filed on their own schedules
- T2 and year-end financial statements
Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, an Abbotsford CPA firm working with small businesses and incorporated owners across British Columbia. Updated . About the firm · Send an enquiry
What a restaurant has to get right
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Sales tax on liquor | PST applies to alcohol on top of GST, at its own rate |
| Controlled tips | Run through payroll with income tax withheld |
| Deposits and settlements | Reconciled to the point-of-sale through a clearing account |
| Inventory | A counted closing figure, not an estimate from purchases |
| Sales tax where you operate | 5% GST plus 7% BC PST: two registrations, two returns |
Source: Restaurant and hospitality accounting. General information, not advice.
Other services for White Rock businesses: bookkeeping and corporate tax.
White Rock accounting for restaurants and hospitality businesses FAQ
Do we charge PST on food?+
Do card tips go through payroll?+
Why do our card deposits never match the day’s sales?+
How should we handle the slow months?+
Is there a White Rock office?+
Do you work with restaurants in South Surrey too?+
Related services and local guides
Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for White Rock businesses, and the reference pages behind this one.
Running a restaurant in White Rock?
One CPA for your corporate tax, books and planning. Fixed fee, fully online. Send an enquiry.
Remote restaurant accounting from Abbotsford
EverStone works with White Rock and South Surrey restaurants virtually, from a base in Abbotsford. There is no White Rock office and nobody on the ground there. Point-of-sale exports, bank and card feeds arrive electronically, supplier invoices come in through a secure upload link, and questions go by email. The CPA who reconciles the deposits prepares the year-end from them.
Opening a second location, or taking over an existing restaurant, raises questions about the purchase price allocation and the lease. Those are cheaper to ask before signing, and a 45-minute Advice Call is a flat $200 + GST. If the books have fallen behind over a busy season, catch-up bookkeeping brings them current, oldest month first.
Talk to a CPA about this
One Chartered Professional Accountant, start to finish. Fixed fees, quoted in writing before any work begins, and no obligation from a first conversation.
