You are the business. We handle the tax side.
No payroll department, no one else filing the GST, and CRA deadlines landing in the middle of your working week. We do the returns so you can keep doing the work.
Already incorporated? Go straight to corporate tax & T2 filing →
Sole proprietors, contractors, freelancers and side businesses. Your fee in writing before any work starts.
Where most self-employed returns go wrong
Four things we fix more often than anything else.
- Missing the June 15 / April 30 split — and paying interest for it
- Crossing $30,000 without registering for GST
- Home office and vehicle claims with nothing to back them up
- Being surprised by the first instalment notice
None of these are hard to get right. They are just easy to get wrong when nobody is watching the calendar for you.
Self-employed, in every shape it comes in
- Sole proprietors — invoicing under your own name, filing a T1 with a T2125
- Contractors and subcontractors — trades, IT, consulting, driving
- Freelancers and creatives — irregular income, home office, equipment
- Side businesses — a job plus something of your own
A mix of employment and self-employment in one year is common and perfectly fine. It all goes on the same return.
What we handle
- T1 returns with business income (T2125)
- GST/HST registration and filing
- Expense claims that hold up to review
- Capital cost allowance on vehicles and equipment
- Instalments, before the letter arrives
- CRA reviews and correspondence
June 15 to file. April 30 to pay.
That split catches people every year. The later filing date does not delay when the money is owed — filing late is one problem, paying late is a different and more expensive one.
- June 15 — filing deadline for self-employed returns
- April 30 — payment still due
- Quarterly — GST/HST, if you file quarterly
- Mar / Jun / Sep / Dec 15 — instalments, if required
Sometimes the answer is not yet
Every profitable sole proprietor eventually asks. There is a point where incorporating saves real money, and a point where it only adds cost and paperwork. It depends on your profit, how much you need personally, and what you are planning next.
We will tell you which side of that line you are on, including when the answer is to wait. It is worth a fifteen-minute conversation before it is worth a thousand dollars of setup.
Bring it in anyway
Several years unfiled. Never registered for GST when you should have. A CRA letter you have not opened. It is more common than you think, and it gets worse with waiting, not better.
Voluntary disclosure exists precisely for this, and it is far better used before CRA makes contact. We have taken on people who were three and four years behind. Nobody gets a lecture.
Questions we get first
Do I need to register for GST?
Only once you pass $30,000 in revenue over four consecutive quarters. Below that it is optional — and sometimes still worth doing, if your clients are themselves GST-registered businesses.
Can I claim my home office?
Yes, in proportion to the space and the time it is used for business. The proportion has to be defensible. We work it out with you rather than picking a number.
What if I have both a job and self-employment income?
Common, and fine. Both go on the same T1, and the tax already withheld from employment counts against what you owe overall.
What will it cost?
You get the fee in writing before any work begins. Self-employed returns vary with the state of the records — a shoebox costs more than a spreadsheet, and we will say so up front rather than after.
I have not filed in years. Will I get in trouble?
Coming forward voluntarily is treated very differently from being found. That is the whole point of the voluntary disclosure programme. Start with the call.
Or call 604-533-4214 — Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 2 PM PST.