Trades accountant in Grande Prairie

Monthly bookkeeping starts from $300 a month and a personal return from $100; a corporate return is quoted after we review your enquiry. Bookkeeping is kept monthly, so the AT1 and the T2 come out of a reconciled file rather than a shoebox in March.

Two kinds of trades work, two kinds of books

Electricians, plumbers, HVAC, welders, framers, concrete and excavation crews in the Grande Prairie area often split their year between local construction and industrial work for energy and forestry operators. The two behave differently. Residential and light commercial work is usually smaller jobs, quicker invoicing and many customers. Industrial work is larger tickets, master service agreements, longer payment terms and a handful of customers who can each be a large share of revenue. A trades company doing both needs its books to separate them, or the owner cannot see which side is carrying the business.

We set up job and customer tracking so labour, materials, subtrades, equipment time and fuel are tagged at entry. The monthly report then shows margin by job and by type of work, and the year end does not have to rebuild it.

No provincial sales tax on the purchasing side

Alberta does not levy a provincial sales tax. Materials carry GST only, and a GST registrant recovers that GST through input tax credits. So sales tax on materials is not a cost buried inside a Grande Prairie bid the way provincial tax is in British Columbia or Manitoba. Estimating is cleaner and cash flow on large material orders is smoother, because the GST comes back.

The exception is the BC line. Grande Prairie contractors regularly bid work in northern British Columbia, and a BC job brings BC PST into the estimate on materials and, potentially, a BC registration obligation. An Alberta estimating template does not produce a correct BC number. We check the position before mobilising.

Two corporate returns, not one

Alberta administers its own corporate income tax. A trades corporation with a permanent establishment in the province files the federal T2 and, separately, an Alberta AT1. Contractors who incorporated in British Columbia and moved their base to the Peace Region are the group most likely to miss the second return, because nothing about the federal filing prompts it. Where a company has crews working for extended periods in BC, income may also have to be allocated between the provinces where it has a permanent establishment, which turns where the crews were into a question about which government collects the tax.

The payment clock runs on a statutory schedule

Alberta’s construction lien legislation sets prompt payment timelines through the contracting chain. Under the province’s published rules, an owner must pay the amount payable to a contractor within 28 calendar days of receiving a proper invoice, and a contractor must pay each subcontractor within 7 calendar days of receiving payment from the owner. A subcontractor who is not paid on time can start an adjudication.

For a Grande Prairie general contractor, that makes invoicing discipline a cash question. A payables process that releases subtrade payments against receipt of owner funds, and an invoice that meets the definition of a proper invoice, are the operational answers. Holdbacks on construction contracts are tracked on their own schedule rather than lumped into receivables.

WCB-Alberta and the subtrade check

Workers’ compensation in Alberta is administered by WCB-Alberta. A contractor that pays a subtrade without confirming the subtrade’s account is in good standing can find the gap becomes its own liability. Building the clearance check into the release of final payment, and filing it with the invoice, keeps the exposure inside the job it belongs to. It also brings the classification question into the open: a long-term “subcontractor” who works only for you, on your schedule and with your tools, may be an employee. Subcontractor versus employee explains the CRA’s tests.

T5018 subtrade slips

The federal T5018 requirement applies in Alberta exactly as elsewhere. A business whose main activity is construction, and which pays others for construction services, generally reports those payments. On multi-tier jobs the slips are only as good as the payables coding underneath them: subtrade labour separated from materials at entry, with the subtrade’s business number on file. Done that way, the slips are a by-product of the books. The T5018 reporting guide sets out the mechanics.

Trucks, tools and the year-end

Trades businesses here carry service trucks, trailers, tools and often a shop. Larger purchases go through capital cost allowance by class rather than being expensed, and the year an asset becomes available for use matters. Trucks used personally need a log separating business from personal kilometres. The owner’s pay — salary, dividends or both — is decided before the year end, not at filing time. See personal tax in Grande Prairie for that side.

Winter, breakup and cash

Construction around Grande Prairie slows in the coldest months and again during spring breakup, while some industrial work concentrates when sites are accessible. A trades company’s cash low point is predictable, which means it can be planned for: GST and source deductions set aside as they are collected, instalments matched to the year you are having, and a line of credit sized before it is needed rather than during the slow stretch.

What is covered

• Federal T2 and Alberta AT1 corporate returns
• Income allocation where work crosses into British Columbia
• GST registration, filing and input tax credit reconciliation, plus BC PST checks
• T5018 information returns and subtrade classification review
• Job-costed bookkeeping and holdback schedules
• Year-end financial statements and owner pay planning

Remote, and there is no Grande Prairie office

EverStone works online and has no Grande Prairie location. Engagements run by email, video call, e-signature and secure upload — receipts and field tickets can be sent from a phone on site. See accounting for Alberta businesses for the wider provincial picture, and CPA for contractors in Alberta for the province-wide trades page.