Trades accountant in Okotoks

Bookkeeping for tradespeople in Okotoks is kept monthly and job-costed, so the AT1 and the T2 come out of a reconciled file rather than a shoebox in March.

Who we work with in the trades

The Town of Okotoks’s own community profile describes a workforce where the trades are one of the main occupations, and a business community with many home occupations alongside storefronts. In practice that means a lot of owner-operators: a journeyman who incorporated after a few years with a larger contractor, a small renovation company with two or three employees and a handful of regular subtrades, a landscaping or concrete outfit that runs flat out from spring to fall. Some work mostly for homeowners in town; others sub to builders and general contractors across the region. The accounting questions differ more by that split than by the trade itself.

No provincial sales tax changes the purchasing side

Alberta does not levy a provincial sales tax. Materials bought in Okotoks carry GST only, and because GST is fully recoverable by a registrant through input tax credits, the sales tax on materials is not a cost buried inside a bid the way provincial tax is in British Columbia, Manitoba or Ontario. Estimating is cleaner, and the GST paid on a large material order comes back on the next return.

The flip side is that the credit only comes back if the supplier invoice supports it. Supply-house invoices are usually fine; the gaps tend to be fuel, small tools bought on a personal card, and materials picked up for a job and paid in cash. Capturing receipts at the counter by phone keeps the claim intact. A company that later bids work in a PST province also needs to know that its Alberta estimating template no longer produces the right number.

Job costing that tells you which jobs made money

The most useful report a trades company can have is profit by job: revenue against labour, materials, subtrades and equipment for each one. It shows which kinds of work earn money, which customers are worth keeping, and where estimates consistently run short. It is also the foundation for the tax side — work in progress at the year end, holdbacks receivable and payable, and deposits received for jobs not yet started all come from the same coding. We set up job tags in the books from the start, so the report is a by-product of the monthly bookkeeping rather than a year-end project.

Subtrade slips: the T5018

The federal T5018 obligation applies in Alberta as it does everywhere. A business whose main activity is construction, and which pays others for construction services, generally reports those payments. The reporting is only as good as the payables coding underneath it: separating subtrade labour from materials at entry, and capturing each subcontractor’s business number or SIN when they are first paid, produces the slips as a by-product. The T5018 reporting guide sets out the mechanics.

WCB-Alberta and the subtrade check

Workers’ compensation in Alberta is administered by WCB-Alberta. A hiring company that pays a subtrade without confirming its account standing can find that gap becomes its own liability later. Building the confirmation into the release of final payment, and filing it with the invoice, keeps the exposure inside the job it belongs to. It also forces the question of whether a long-term “sub” is really a subcontractor or an employee, while it can still be answered cleanly. For your own crew, see payroll services in Okotoks, including how Alberta general holiday pay is calculated for seasonal workers.

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 not paid within the required timeline can start an adjudication. For a company sitting on subtrade money after being paid, that is a defined, dated exposure. Invoicing promptly and properly, and releasing subtrade payments against receipt of owner funds, is the operational answer.

Trucks, trailers, tools and CCA

Trades companies carry real equipment: pickups and vans, trailers, compact machinery, and a steady stream of tools. Larger purchases are claimed through capital cost allowance by class rather than expensed, and the timing against the year end changes the first-year claim. Trading in a truck can produce recapture if the trade value exceeds what remains in the class. A work vehicle that also gets driven on weekends raises a taxable benefit for an incorporated owner unless a log shows otherwise. A simple kilometre log kept through the year is the record that supports the claim and protects the owner.

Two corporate returns, and the winter instalment problem

Alberta administers its own corporate income tax, so an incorporated Okotoks contractor files the federal T2 and a separate AT1 with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration. Missing the second is a common and avoidable failure. A company that works outside Alberta for part of the year also has to allocate income among the provinces where it has a permanent establishment. And because instalments are usually based on last year’s tax, a contractor coming off a strong season can be paying high instalments through a slow winter unless the estimate is revised. We look at that before the payments fall due. See Okotoks corporate tax.

Town licences and working outside Okotoks

The Town of Okotoks requires a business licence for every business providing goods or services in Okotoks, with separate categories for businesses located in town, in Foothills County and outside both — so a contractor based elsewhere who takes work in Okotoks needs one too. Licences expire at the end of December and are renewed each year. The licence is a municipal matter and separate from your GST, payroll and corporate tax accounts, but the renewal is worth putting on the same calendar as your year-end tasks.

What is covered

One Chartered Professional Accountant handles the whole file:

• Federal T2 and Alberta AT1 corporate returns, or the T1 with T2125 for a sole proprietor
• Income allocation where work crosses provincial lines
• GST registration, filing and input tax credit reconciliation
• 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 Okotoks office

EverStone works online and has no Okotoks location. Engagements run entirely online — email, video, e-signature and secure document exchange — which suits a contractor who is on a site all day and does the paperwork at night. See accounting for Alberta businesses for the provincial picture.

Trades accounting elsewhere in Alberta

The same service, online and at the same published fees, for owners in Calgary, Airdrie and Red Deer. Every Alberta city we serve is listed on the Alberta accounting page.