Construction accounting and trades accountant in Toronto

For a one-owner Toronto trades business, monthly bookkeeping, payroll and the year-end T2 with statements usually cost from $500 to $700 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.

One tax on the invoice, not two decisions

Ontario applies a single 13% harmonized sales tax instead of separate federal and provincial taxes. That removes the question that dominates BC estimating: whether provincial tax on a contract 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 amount is collected on progress billings, and the input side is recovered on filing. So a Toronto contractor holds significantly more tax money between remittances than a BC contractor does. Money held is money that gets spent, unless the process prevents it. See the input tax credits guide.

Compulsory coverage reaches the owner

Ontario extends mandatory workplace insurance in construction to owners. Independent operators, sole proprietors, partners and executive officers of construction businesses generally must register and carry coverage. The main exception is a business doing only home renovation for a homeowner who hires and pays it directly.

Owner-operators arriving from other provinces miss this most often, because elsewhere an owner without employees has nothing to register. Employees always need coverage.

Statutory holdback and a payment clock

Ontario’s construction legislation requires a project holdback, sets prompt payment obligations triggered by a proper invoice, and provides adjudication of payment disputes. The accounting is the same as anywhere: earned but uncollectible revenue sits in receivables, and holdbacks retained from subtrades are costs already incurred, in the period the work happened.

The payment rules have a specific effect: a proper invoice starts a clock. Sloppy billing becomes billing that delays money.

Subtrade reporting is federal, and applies here too

The T5018 rule is federal: an Ontario construction business reports payments for construction services just as a BC one does. Toronto’s long tail of small specialized subtrades makes the subtrade-or-employee question more live. It turns on control, ownership of tools, ability to subcontract and chance of profit or loss, and a wrong guess costs the payer. An accountant for construction companies should settle those classifications before the subtrade slips are prepared, not after the CRA asks.

Instalments, seasonality and a compressed build window

Winter compresses Toronto’s building season, so revenue arrives unevenly while tax arrives on a calendar. Corporate instalments set from a flat prior-year formula routinely mismatch a construction company’s cash. A strong season can create both a large balance owing and instalments that start before the next season’s receivables. Modelling that in autumn is easy; 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
• Instalment planning built around the actual draw calendar

Remote, and there is no Toronto office

EverStone has no Toronto location. Ontario engagements run entirely online: video meetings, e-signature and secure document exchange. Corporate tax is federal law with a provincial layer, so the work is not tied to a postcode. See accounting for Ontario businesses.