Everything to gather before you send your corporation's year-end to the accountant, so you are not billed for chasing documents.
0 / 15 completed
Use this checklist about a month before your fiscal year end and again when you send the package. Every item you supply in good order is time the accountant does not have to bill for. Firms that quote a fixed fee usually assume the records arrive complete and reconciled; missing items are a common reason a fixed quote turns into an extra invoice.
How to use it. Tick each item as you place it in a shared folder. Name files clearly by month and account. Where an item does not apply (for example, inventory for a service business), tick it and write "not applicable" in your covering note so the accountant does not have to ask.
Worked example (illustrative). If a firm bills catch-up work at $120 an hour and spends two hours chasing missing credit card statements and another three reconstructing a shareholder loan account, the package costs $600 more than it needed to.
Limits. Your accountant may need more, for example foreign income, investments held by the corporation, or a reorganization. Ask for the firm's own list and compare. The full explanation is in the year-end package guide.
Worked Estimates and Checklists
A practical checklist for choosing a CPA or accounting firm for a Canadian small corporation, covering credentials, licensing, scope, fees, software, CRA authorization and data access.
Mistakes, Penalties and Official Sources
The bookkeeping, sales tax, shareholder and filing mistakes that most often turn a Canadian corporation's routine year end into an expensive clean-up, and how to avoid them.
Mistakes, Penalties and Official Sources
How long a Canadian corporation must keep records, what electronic records must meet, how CRA review letters and audits work, and how accountant fees for responding are usually billed.
Mistakes, Penalties and Official Sources
Where to verify corporate tax deadlines, GST/HST and QST rules, accounting standards, CPA licensing and complaints in Canada, and which source answers which question.
Mistakes, Penalties and Official Sources
How the Income Tax Act treats money an owner takes from a Canadian corporation, the one-year repayment rule, imputed interest, personal expenses as benefits, and how to keep it clean.
Worked Estimates and Checklists
A complete checklist of records a Canadian corporation should send its accountant at year end, why each matters, and how missing items turn into extra fees.
