Accounting for the trades
Accountant for Contractors and Tradespeople in Ontario
You are good at the work. The paperwork is a different story — and it has probably been sitting longer than you would like.
We are a CPA firm in London, Ontario working with electricians, plumbers, HVAC technicians, roofers, flooring installers, landscapers, drywallers, handymen and general contractors across Ontario. Incorporated or sole proprietor, one truck or a crew of twelve.
Most trades businesses do not have an accounting problem. They have a time problem. Jobs run late, receipts end up in the toolbag, the mileage log never gets filled in, and bookkeeping becomes a "when I have a minute" project that never arrives. Then a CRA letter shows up.
What usually brings a contractor to us
Some version of one of these, almost always:
- You are behind. A year. Sometimes three. It started as one late filing and snowballed.
- A CRA letter arrived. Review, reassessment, or a demand you did not expect.
- Your vehicle claim got denied because there was no mileage log to back it up.
- HST caught you out. You crossed $30,000 without registering, or you registered and have not filed since.
- You hired subs and nobody mentioned T5018 slips were required.
- Your bookkeeper quit or your last accountant stopped returning calls.
If you are behind, say so on the call. It is the most common thing we deal with and it does not change how we talk to you. Late is fixable. What makes it expensive is waiting longer — penalties compound at 1% a month on top of a 5% late-filing charge, and interest runs daily.
None of this means you did anything wrong. It means nobody was looking at your numbers between January and April. That is the actual fix.