Accountant for Ottawa tech startups

Filings: the T2, Schedule 1, Schedule 50, CCA, the small business deduction, T4 or T5 slips and instalments.

If the company began as a one-person contract practice, the Ottawa consultant page covers the personal services business side, and the Ottawa accountant page sets out the wider Ontario compliance picture.

SR&ED is a claim you build all year

The Scientific Research and Experimental Development program is the largest tax incentive most Ottawa tech companies see. Claimed on Form T661 with the corporate return, it rewards systematic work resolving a technological uncertainty, not features built with known techniques.

Most of the value is won or lost in the records. The CRA wants to see what was uncertain, what the team tried and what it learned, tied to people and hours. Commits, tickets and sprint notes can carry that evidence if linked to the claim while fresh. We set up time tracking and cost coding at the start of the year and tell you plainly which projects look eligible. Ontario adds its own research credits on the same T2. The SR&ED expenditure limit update covers recent federal changes.

CCPC status, the refundable credit and your next round

A Canadian-controlled private corporation can earn an enhanced refundable SR&ED credit, which means the credit can come back as cash even in a year with no taxable income. For a pre-revenue company, that refund often matters more than any deduction on the return.

CCPC status can be lost. A priced round led by a foreign fund, terms giving non-residents or a public company control in law or in fact, or a US parent set up for American investors can end it. That changes the credit and the rate on future profit. Review the tax side of the cap table before signing. The guide to associated corporations covers a related trap.

Grants reduce the SR&ED base

Ottawa founders often stack funding: a federal research contribution, a provincial program, a co-op hiring subsidy. Government assistance and most grants reduce the SR&ED expenditure base, so no dollar counts twice. Record each grant against the project and costs it paid for, and the T661 shows the correct net base.

Federal contract work differs: where a customer pays for development and takes the results, the claim may belong to the customer. We map each funding source and contract to its project, keeping the monthly bookkeeping and claim in step.

Founders’ pay: why dividends do not count for SR&ED

Founders often take nothing, then dividends, then salary. Salary for qualifying work can count as an SR&ED expenditure; dividends cannot. Salary also creates RRSP room and CPP contributions, and needs a payroll account remitting source deductions from the first payment.

Pay technical founders a modest salary and nothing more until the credit and burn rate are clear. See the salary versus dividends calculator; payroll in Ottawa covers remittances and T4s, due by the last day of February.

Stock options, first hires and customers in Quebec

CCPC options are taxed differently from public-company options: the employee is generally taxed only when the shares are sold, and a deduction may reduce the benefit. That helps hire engineers you cannot yet pay at market, but only with an option plan, board approval, grant dates and a supportable share value at each grant. Contractors with options fall outside these rules.

Sales tax has an Ottawa twist. Ontario customers pay 13% HST, but a Gatineau customer pays GST, and you may need to register for Quebec sales tax at 9.975%, usually triggered by subscription software sold to Quebec consumers. GST/HST filing in Ottawa covers the return.

What EverStone handles for you

One firm, one fixed fee agreed up front:

• T2 corporate return and year-end financial statements
• SR&ED claim on Form T661, built from project records
• CCPC status reviewed before a financing round closes
• Grants and assistance mapped to the projects they fund
• Founder salary, payroll remittances and T4s
• Option records kept so the tax treatment holds
• HST filings and, where needed, QST registration

Fixed fees, fully online

EverStone serves Ottawa startups remotely. Bookkeeping with HST filing starts from $325 a month and a fractional CFO from $2,750 a month; T2 and SR&ED work are quoted after we review your enquiry and fixed in writing. See what it costs.

Investors will ask for statements a lender or board can rely on. See financial statements for Ottawa businesses.

Remote accounting for tech startups

EverStone is a fully virtual CPA firm. There is no Ottawa office and no local staff. Meetings are by video or phone and documents by secure exchange; no visit is ever needed. SR&ED records, cap-table questions and payroll use the tools your team already has.