Trades accountant in Burlington
Ontario runs construction on its own set of rails. There is one harmonized tax instead of two, compulsory workplace coverage that reaches the owner personally, and a statute that sets holdback and payment deadlines.
EverStone is a CPA for incorporated contractors and a Burlington small-business accountant, working remotely.
Quick answer: Trades companies in Burlington, Ontario charge a single harmonized tax rather than separate federal and provincial ones. Compulsory workplace coverage extends to owners in construction. Statutory holdback and prompt payment obligations apply to the work. EverStone prepares the corporate return, HST filings and subtrade slips remotely. Published fees start at $300 a month for bookkeeping and $100 for a personal return.
For a one-owner Burlington trades business, monthly bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements usually cost from $450 to $650 a month all-in. The year-end covers the T2 with Schedule 1 and Schedule 50, the CCA schedule, the small business deduction, T4 or T5 slips for the owner’s pay, and the instalments for the year ahead.
The work Burlington contractors do
Burlington’s trades work runs across very different settings. In the urban area there are renovations, additions and service calls in established neighbourhoods from Aldershot to the east end, fit-outs and maintenance for the city’s manufacturers and offices, and residential and commercial projects near the GO stations at Burlington, Appleby and Aldershot. North of the urban boundary, the city’s official plan places the entire rural area within the Niagara Escarpment Plan and the provincial Greenbelt, with farming central to the rural community and settlement areas at Kilbride, Lowville and Mount Nemo. Work on farm buildings, rural homes and escarpment properties tends to be longer, more seasonal and more weather-dependent. Many Burlington contractors also travel the QEW and the 403 to jobs in Oakville, Hamilton and Waterdown. Each mix changes the cash cycle, and the books have to follow it.
One tax on the invoice, not two decisions
Ontario applies a single 13% harmonized sales tax rather than a federal tax plus a separate provincial one. That is a genuine structural simplification for a trades business. It removes the question that dominates estimating in a province with a separate provincial sales tax: whether a contract improves real property, and so whether provincial tax is a cost inside the price or a line on the invoice. In Ontario the tax is charged on the supply and recovered on the inputs.
What replaces that question is a cash-flow one. The full 13% is collected on progress billings, and the input side is recovered on filing. A Burlington contractor therefore holds a significant amount of tax money between remittances, and money held is money that gets spent unless the process prevents it. We recommend a separate account for collected HST and a filing frequency that matches how the work is billed. See the input tax credits guide.
Compulsory coverage reaches the owner
Ontario is unusual in extending mandatory workplace insurance coverage into construction at the ownership level. Under the province’s expanded compulsory coverage rules, independent operators, sole proprietors, partners and executive officers of corporations carrying on business in construction generally must register with the WSIB and carry coverage. The exceptions are limited. The notable one is a business that does only home renovation work for a homeowner who hires and pays it directly.
For an owner-operator who has just incorporated, or who has moved from another province, this is the single most commonly missed obligation. General contractors also ask subtrades for clearance before paying them, so a lapse can hold up money as well as draw penalties. Employees always require coverage regardless.
Statutory holdback and a payment clock
Ontario’s construction legislation requires a portion of the contract price to be held back on a project. It also sets prompt payment obligations that follow a proper invoice, and provides for adjudication of payment disputes. The accounting effect of a statutory holdback is the same as anywhere: earned revenue that is not yet collectible sits in receivables, and holdbacks retained from subtrades are costs already incurred that belong in the period the work happened.
The effect of the payment obligations is different and specific — the invoice, and what makes it a proper one, becomes the event that starts a clock. Billing practices that were merely sloppy become billing practices that delay money. For a Burlington contractor working on commercial or institutional projects, invoice discipline is a working-capital issue rather than an administrative one.
Subtrade reporting and the subtrade-or-employee question
The T5018 requirement is federal law, so a Burlington construction business that pays others for construction services reports those payments to the CRA. Many local companies rely on a small group of regular subtrades — electricians, plumbers, drywallers, excavation — who work for them most of the year. That makes the underlying question, subtrade or employee, a live one. The factors that decide it are control, ownership of tools, ability to subcontract and chance of profit or loss, and the consequences of guessing wrong land on the payer as unremitted CPP and EI. Worker classification sets out the tests.
Trucks, tools and the vehicle log
A trades company’s largest assets are usually its trucks, trailers and equipment. These are capitalized and claimed through capital cost allowance rather than expensed, and the class each falls into sets the rate. A vehicle used partly for personal driving needs a log separating business from personal kilometres, and a company-owned truck that the owner drives home can create a taxable benefit. We set up the asset register and the log at the start of the engagement, so the year-end claim is supported rather than estimated.
Instalments, seasonality and a compressed build window
Burlington’s building season is compressed by winter, and rural and exterior work more than most. Revenue arrives unevenly, while tax obligations arrive on a calendar. Corporate instalments set from a flat prior-year formula routinely mismatch a construction company’s actual cash position. A strong season can create both a large balance owing and an instalment schedule that begins before the next season’s receivables do. Modelling that in autumn is straightforward; discovering it in spring is not. See corporate tax instalments.
What is covered
One Chartered Professional Accountant handles the whole file:
- T2 corporate return and year-end financial statements
- HST registration, filing and input tax credit reconciliation
- Statutory holdback schedules, receivable and payable sides
- T5018 information returns and worker classification review
- Job-costed bookkeeping and progress billing cut-off
- Vehicle logs, asset register and CCA
- Instalment planning built around the actual draw calendar
Remote, and there is no Burlington office
EverStone has no Burlington location. Ontario engagements run entirely online: video meetings, e-signature and secure document exchange, and receipts photographed on site come in through an upload link. Corporate tax is federal law with a provincial layer, so the work is not tied to a postcode. The nearest larger city page is contractor accounting in Hamilton, part of our Hamilton accounting work. See also accounting for Ontario businesses.
Other Burlington services: small business accounting in Burlington, corporate tax (T2) in Burlington, personal tax (T1) in Burlington, monthly bookkeeping in Burlington, payroll in Burlington, GST/HST filing in Burlington, year-end financial statements in Burlington, fractional CFO support in Burlington, agency and studio accounting in Burlington.
Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, a CPA firm working with small and midsized businesses in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. Updated . About the firm · Send an enquiry
What a trades business has to get right
| Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Subcontractor payments | Construction payers report subcontractor payments to the CRA on a T5018 |
| Holdbacks | Amounts held back under a construction contract are recognized on their own timing, not when invoiced |
| Tools and equipment | Larger purchases are capitalized and depreciated rather than expensed in full |
| Vehicle use | A log separating business from personal kilometres is what supports the claim |
| Sales tax where you operate | 13% HST, a single registration and a single return |
Source: Construction and trades accounting. General information, not advice.
Other services for Burlington businesses: personal tax.
Burlington trades accounting FAQ
Do Burlington contractors charge HST on construction work?+
Does an owner-operator in Ontario construction need WSIB coverage?+
What does the statutory holdback do to the books?+
Why does invoice quality matter more in Ontario?+
Do T5018 slips apply in Ontario?+
Can a virtual CPA file for a Burlington contractor?+
Do you work with businesses outside Burlington itself?+
Related services and local guides
Nearby cities, the rest of what we do for Burlington businesses, and the reference pages behind this one.
Fees are fixed and agreed in writing before the work starts; the published fee page shows the starting points.
Building in Burlington?
Corporate tax, HST, subtrade slips and holdback timing handled by one CPA who works in construction. Send an enquiry.
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