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Accounting and tax resources

Short, practical guides on the questions we’re asked most, the same explanations we’d give you on a call, written down. General information only, not advice for your specific situation.

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Featured guide

How to create your CRA account, and what to do when you're locked out

Every registration route in plain language: sign-in partner, CRA user ID, provincial partner, instant document verification against the security code by post, plus the forgotten-password and locked-account routes that actually work.

The library

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Choosing an Accountant

How to choose the right accountancy firm

What credentials actually mean, ten questions to ask on the first call, how pricing models differ, and the red flags worth walking away from.

CRA & Accounts

How to create your CRA account, and what to do when you're locked out

Sign-in partner, CRA user ID or provincial partner, document verification against the security code by post, and the recovery routes when the password is gone.

Bookkeeping

Catching up a year of messy books without losing your mind

The order we work in when a Toronto small business hands over twelve months of unreconciled transactions: bank first, then payables, then the owner-paid expenses nobody logged.

Corporate Tax

What your accountant needs before a T2 corporate tax return

A working checklist of the statements, balances, loan documents and year-end confirmations that turn a corporate return from a scramble into a review.

Personal Tax

Your first personal tax return in Canada: what to gather

Slips, dates of arrival, foreign income questions and the records newcomers most often discover they need halfway through.

Payroll

Hiring your first employee: the payroll steps in order

Opening the payroll account, choosing a pay cycle, understanding remittance due dates, and what T4 season looks like when the year was set up properly.

Incorporation

Sole proprietor or corporation: how we talk it through

The questions we ask before recommending incorporation, including the situations where we suggest waiting another year.

Canada–India

Moving from India to Canada: the tax questions to settle early

Residency, the assets you have left behind, and why the reporting question is better answered in your first year than your third.

Software

QuickBooks, Xero, Sage or Tally: choosing without regret

How we match software to a business, what migration actually costs in time, and where AI-assisted bookkeeping genuinely helps.

Advisory

Five internal controls a five-person company can actually keep

Approval limits, a second pair of eyes on payments, and reconciliation habits that protect the business without slowing it down.

Advisory

What lenders look for in a project report

Why stated assumptions matter more than optimistic totals, and how to present a cash-flow forecast a bank can actually assess.

Credits & Benefits

Why filing on time matters even when you owe nothing

Benefits and credits in Canada are assessed from filed returns. Here is how a late or missing return quietly interrupts payments, and what to do about it.

Credits & Benefits

Disability Tax Credit: where an accountant fits in

Our part of a DTC claim is the tax side: information gathering, coordinating with the medical practitioner, and adjusting prior returns if a claim is approved.

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Showing 13 of 13 guides. New guides are added most months.

Official sources and related guides

Our guides point back to the official CRA pages and forms wherever a rule or figure is involved.

CRA Disability Tax Credit guidance

CRA Form T2201

Personal income tax (T1)

Corporation income tax (T2)

GST/HST for businesses

CRA payroll deductions and remittances

External links open on Government of Canada and provincial registry sites. Rules change; we confirm the current position for your situation during the consultation.

Reading is useful. A conversation is faster.

These guides are general information. Your situation has details in it that change the answer, bring them to a consultation.