A bookkeeper does a number of things for businesses, including: recording all sales and expenses, preparing payroll, reports for the CRA, reports for WSIB. Bookkeepers also prepare profit and loss statements of a business. Bookkeepers help make internal and external financial decisions and have reports ready for the income tax return at year end.
Personal expenses encompass various individual expenditures unrelated to business or professional activities. These can include daily living costs such as housing, rent, utilities, groceries, transportation, natural gas, propane for heat, internet, home phone, home insurance, water bill, interest paid on your mortgage and more. Entertainment, leisure activities, and dining out are also generally considered personal expenses.
Personal income tax return needs to be prepared by all individuals in Canada. Slips are prepared by your employer, payer, bookkeeper or administrator. You should have received most of your slips and receipts by the end of February. However, T3, and T5013 slips do not have to be sent before the end of March.
There are a few ways to file your income tax in Canada, including e-file and paper file. In most cases, it’s more beneficial to get a professional to prepare your income tax return in order to take advantage of all the credits you qualify for.
When you are a sole proprietor or have a partnership, your business income tax return is part of your personal income tax return. Your year end for your business is December 31st. The Canada Revenue Agency allows self-employed individuals to claim a host of expenses provided they are used to generate income and are reasonable, “Income tax rates for the self-employed individual are the same as personal tax rates for employed workers.” With a small difference, “Someone who owns their own business has deductions that are more than the average wage earner.” The income earned from self-employment can be from a sole proprietorship or a partnership. If your business is incorporated, it is not considered a self-employment situation.
Client representation is when you give permission to your bookkeeper or accountant to represent you with Canada Revenue Agency or WSIB. This gives permission to your representative to represent you with those departments. Depending on the level you give them, they can call on your behalf and rectify any issues with your personal income tax return, business tax return, business HST, business Payroll or WSIB issues. They can also send documents on your behalf, make payment arrangements or represent you during an audit.
Mentorship is important for planning. Mentoring also has many other benefits including improved productivity, better relationships, higher rate of engagement, lower rate of turnover, and even increased motivation. Regardless of why you are using mentoring, your efforts won’t be efficient if you aren’t doing it right!
The Goods and Services Tax, or GST, is a tax that applies to most property and services in Canada. Some provinces have harmonized their provincial sales tax with the GST to create the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Generally, the HST applies to the same property and services as the GST.
The province or territory you live in determines whether you collect GST only, HST only, or a combination of GST and Provincial Sales Tax (PST).
The HST applies to almost all goods and services. However, a limited number of sales or supplies are exempt from HST. In Ontario, HST is not charged on the following items:
Also, consumers do not have to pay the 8% Ontario portion of the HST for:
Generally, a business is only required to register for a GST/HST account with Canada Revenue Agency if it sells taxable goods or services, and it is not a small supplier. Generally, you are considered a small supplier if the total amount of all your revenue (before expenses) from all your businesses and those of your associates, is $30,000 or less in any single calendar quarter and in the last four consecutive calendar quarters.
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