Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
The best bookkeeping firms near you are the ones that will still hold your records six years from now, in a form the CRA can read. That six-year rule is the CRA’s, and it applies to you whoever keeps the books. So the real question isn’t which firm ranks first. It’s which one you’d trust with the job for that long.
Do you need bookkeeping firms nearby at all?
Often not. Most of the work is sorting receipts, matching the bank feed and closing the month, and that runs fine over a shared folder and a video call. A local firm helps if you want someone to look at your shoebox of paper, or you like a face across the desk. Both are fair reasons. Neither is a reason to skip the checks below.
We didn’t rank or price any firm here, and we can’t say what bookkeepers charge. We couldn’t find an official source for fees, and any figure you see online is a marketing number until a firm puts it in writing for you.
What should a bookkeeper actually do for you?
Before you phone anyone, write down the jobs. Firms bundle them differently, and the gaps are where the surprise invoices come from.
| Job | Deadline from the CRA’s 2026 list |
|---|---|
| GST/HST returns, monthly or quarterly filers | One month after the reporting period ends |
| GST/HST return, annual filer | Three months after the fiscal year end |
| T4 and T4A slips | Last day of February after the calendar year |
| Payroll remittances | Depends on your average monthly withholding |
| Corporation T2 return | Six months after the tax year end |
| Records kept | Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to |
Ask the firm which of these lines are in the quote. Payroll is the one that gets left out most often. If you pay staff, the payroll remittance calculator gives you a rough idea of what has to go to the CRA each period, so you can check the firm’s numbers against yours.
If you file an income tax return late, you must keep your records for six years from the date you file that return.
Where to keep your records, for how long and how to request the permission to destroy them early, canada.ca
How do you compare two bookkeeping firms?
Ask both the same six questions and write the answers down.
- Which software will my books live in, and do I own the file if we part ways?
- Who does the work, and who reviews it?
- How fast do you close a month, and what do you need from me by when?
- What is outside the fixed fee: catch-up work, CRA letters, amended returns?
- Do you file GST/HST and payroll, or do you hand that to my accountant?
- How do you receive and store my documents?
The first question matters most. If the books sit in an account only the firm controls, leaving gets expensive. Insist on read access from day one.
Bookkeeper, accountant or both?
They overlap, and that’s where people get muddled. A bookkeeper records the transactions and keeps the ledger straight through the year. An accountant usually steps in at year end to prepare the return, and gives advice on structure and tax. A small shop with a few clients often needs only the first, plus an accountant for an hour a year.
Take Marcus, who runs a two-chair barber shop in Moncton. He keeps receipts in a shoebox, so he hires a bookkeeper for a few hours a month and sends the cleaned-up file to an accountant each spring. The accountant’s job gets faster, and he stops paying someone to sort receipts at an accountant’s hourly rate.
What does clean bookkeeping change on a tax bill?
Take a self-employed person in Ontario with $80,000 of net business income. The self-employed tax calculator puts income tax at $13,234 and CPP at $8,893, so $22,126 in all, or 27.7% of the income. That’s before any GST/HST and without EI, which the tool leaves out.
Now say $5,000 of legitimate expenses never got recorded. On the personal side, a $5,000 deduction on $85,000 of income cuts the income tax calculator result from $15,551 to $14,069, a difference of about $1,480. That’s what a lost receipt costs at that income. It’s the honest case for paying someone to keep the books tidy, and it’s also a case for checking that they don’t record things that aren’t business costs.
Where people go wrong with bookkeepers
They hire in March, right at tax time, and ask for twelve months of catch-up. It works, but it’s the slowest and most expensive way to do it. They also assume the bookkeeper files things they never agreed to file. A missed GST/HST return is still your missed return.
Another common one is keeping records outside the country or only in an app they’ll cancel. The CRA says records should be kept at your Canadian home or place of business unless it gives permission otherwise. Ask where a firm’s cloud storage sits before you assume that’s covered, and get its answer in writing.
If you’re a corporation and your books feed a T2, the corporate tax calculator shows what the numbers become at year end, so you can see why a clean ledger is worth chasing.
Where this information comes from
Deadlines and the six-year rule come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s 2026 tax deadlines page and its record keeping guide, both read in September 2026. Tax examples come from this site’s calculators, which use 2026 federal and Ontario data. We aren’t connected to the CRA, any government or any bookkeeping firm.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to keep my business records?
The CRA says six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless it gives you permission to destroy them earlier.
Does a bookkeeper file my GST/HST return?
Only if it's in the agreement. Ask in writing, because the filing is still your responsibility if it's missed.
When are T4 slips due?
The last day of February after the calendar year, according to the CRA's 2026 deadlines page.
What do bookkeeping firms charge?
We couldn't confirm a reliable range. Ask for a written quote that lists what is included and what costs extra.
Should I own my accounting file?
Yes. Ask for access from the first day so you can leave without losing your records.
- Self-employed taxes in Canada: income, CPP and GST
How tax works when you are self-employed in Canada: reporting income and expenses, paying both halves of CPP, instalments and when to register for GST