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An accounting package won’t make your books right on its own, and the CRA doesn’t care which one you pick. What it cares about is that your records show every sale and expense, that they’re readable, and that you keep them for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. So the best accounting package for your business is the one that meets those rules and that you’ll actually open every week.
We’re assuming you meant QuickBooks, the name most people type as “quick book”. We can’t confirm prices, plan features or how any product compares with another, so this page is about how to choose, not which one wins.
What does the CRA ask of your bookkeeping software?
Very little, and that’s the good news. The CRA doesn’t prescribe a record-keeping system. Computer records are fine as long as they’re clear and easy to read. That’s the whole technical test on its business records page. The CRA’s keeping records page points to two information circulars for the detail: IC05-1 on electronic record keeping and IC78-10 on retention and destruction.
The rules that bite sit around the software. Income records need a date, an amount and a source. Expense records need a receipt showing the date, the seller and what you bought. Records are meant to be kept at your business or home in Canada, unless the CRA agrees otherwise in writing. If your data lives on a server abroad, which is common with cloud tools, you need to be able to give the CRA true copies in an electronic format its own software can read.
What should you check before you sign up?
Ask these before you enter a single invoice. Can you export everything, including old years, in a format you can open without the vendor? Where are the servers? Does it handle GST/HST, and does it cope with the province you sell in? Can it keep a photo of a receipt next to the entry it belongs to? And what happens to your data if you stop paying?
That last one matters more than it sounds. You have to keep records for six years, and a subscription that locks you out after month twelve leaves you with a legal duty and no files.
| Record | What the CRA page asks for |
|---|---|
| Income | Date, amount, source, backed by an invoice, deposit slip or receipt |
| Expenses | Receipt with date, seller, buyer and description |
| Purchases over $100 from GST/HST registrants | The seller’s business number on the record |
| Normal retention | Six years from the end of the last tax year covered |
| Property and wind-up records | Kept without a time limit |
| Early destruction | Needs the CRA’s permission (Form T137) |
Which numbers should the package get right?
Test it with a few figures you can verify. A $100 sale in Ontario should show $13.00 of HST and a $113.00 total, which is what our GST/HST calculator gives. If the package shows something else, your tax code is set up wrong.
Payroll is the second test. Pay one employee $2,500 a month in Ontario and the payroll remittance calculator puts the total to send the CRA at $564.93 a month. That’s $204.34 of income tax and $131.40 of CPP held back, $40.75 of EI held back, plus your own $131.40 of CPP and $57.05 of EI. Run the same pay through your software. A gap of a few cents is rounding. A gap of ten dollars is a setting.
How do you test a package before you commit?
Don’t trust the demo video. Take one real month of your own business, say 30 or 40 transactions, and enter them during the free trial. Watch how long it takes, whether the bank feed matches your statements and whether the reports make sense to you without a manual. Picture Dana, who runs a two-person renovation crew in Moncton: if she can’t find last month’s HST owing in under a minute, the tool is working against her, however long its feature list is.
Then try getting out. Export a report and open it in a spreadsheet. A few bucks a month isn’t the real cost of software. Being stuck is. Our checklist of self-employed expenses is a useful thing to test your categories against.
Can software replace an accountant?
No, but it can make the accountant cheaper to use, because clean books take less time to review. We haven’t confirmed what accountants charge, so ask for a quote and what it covers.
Sole proprietors can see roughly what the year will cost by entering net business income into the self-employed tax calculator. On $50,000 it shows $11,495 of income tax and CPP together. It leaves out EI and GST/HST, and it doesn’t count business expenses, so treat it as a starting point. To see how well the year is going, the profit margin calculator takes revenue and costs straight from your reports.
Where we got these figures
Record rules come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s business records pages, read in September 2026. The calculator figures use the 2026 Canadian rates in our engine. This site isn’t connected to the CRA or any software company, and it doesn’t sell or promote any package.
Frequently asked questions
Does the CRA approve accounting software?
The CRA does not prescribe a record-keeping system. Computer records are acceptable as long as they are clear and easy to read.
How long do I keep my business records?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Property and wind-up records have no time limit.
Can my records sit on a server outside Canada?
Only if you can give the CRA true copies in an electronic format its software can read. Records accessed from Canada but stored abroad are not counted as kept in Canada.
Do I have to send my records in with my return?
No. You keep them and hand them over if the CRA asks.
Which package should I pick?
We can't confirm features or prices for named products. Pick one you can export from, that handles your provincial tax, and that you'll use weekly.
All family and benefits calculators
- 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