Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
We can’t give you an honest dollar range for small business accounting in Canada, because we couldn’t confirm fee levels from any official or independent source. What we can tell you is what makes the bill go up or down, and how to get a firm quote that you can compare line by line.
What decides how much accounting costs?
Accountants and bookkeepers price by the work, so your budget follows your workload. Four things move it most.
First, the state of your books when they arrive. A shoebox of receipts takes longer than a tidy export from your software. Second, how many transactions you run through in a year. Third, staff, since payroll adds a remittance every pay period. Fourth, the structure. A sole proprietor files one personal return with business pages, while a corporation files its own T2 on top of the owner’s return.
Your sales tax status matters too. If you’re registered for GST/HST, you file returns as well, and how often depends on your revenue.
Which deadlines are you paying someone to meet?
Every filing you can’t do yourself belongs in the budget. These are the dates the CRA publishes.
| Item | Rule |
|---|---|
| T2 corporation return | Six months after the tax year ends |
| Corporate tax balance | Generally two months after year end, three for some CCPCs |
| GST/HST, revenue up to $1,500,000 | Annual return, due three months after year end for most |
| GST/HST, $1,500,000 to $6,000,000 | Quarterly, due one month after each quarter |
| GST/HST, over $6,000,000 | Monthly, due one month after each month |
| Business records | Keep six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to |
Some records need longer, and the CRA can ask you to hold on to them past six years too. Corporate papers such as director and shareholder minutes and the share register follow their own, longer rules, so ask your accountant which ones to keep for good.
What does the work look like on a real business?
Take a small Ontario corporation with $100,000 of profit and one employee paid $2,500 a month. Both numbers come from our calculators, and they show the size of the tasks more than the price.
The corporate tax calculator puts the company’s tax at $11,696 for a calendar 2026 year. The payroll remittance calculator says you send the CRA about $565 each month for that one employee. Roughly $376 of that is held back from the pay, and about $188 is the employer’s own share.
That’s twelve payroll remittances, a T2, a set of year-end slips and probably some sales tax returns. Someone has to do each of them on time, whether that’s you at the kitchen table on a Sunday night or a firm you pay. If you’d rather do the payroll part yourself and pay for the T2 only, you can, and plenty of owners split the work that way.
How do you get quotes you can compare?
Ask three firms for the same package in writing and you’ll see the differences at once. Tell each one your structure, your yearly transaction count, your staff numbers and your GST/HST status, and then put the same questions to all of them, because the answers are where the quotes really differ.
What exactly is included, and what’s billed extra? Is bookkeeping separate from the tax return? Who prepares the file and who reviews it? What happens if the CRA writes to me later, and is that covered? Do you charge a flat fee or by the hour? How fast will you reply?
A flat fee is easier to budget, but only if the scope is written down. Hourly billing can cost less for a tidy business and far more for a messy one.
How do you set a budget without a price list?
Work backwards from your own paperwork. Count your invoices and receipts for a typical month, list your filings from the table above, and note how many hours you honestly spend now. Then ask each firm to quote that exact list. If Marcus, who runs a two-person landscaping company in Red Deer, does this exercise, he’ll know within an afternoon whether to outsource everything or just the T2 and the sales tax returns. A ballpark built from your own numbers beats any average you read online.
When does it make sense to pay for more help?
When the cost of a mistake is bigger than the fee. Payroll is the clearest case: a late or wrong remittance brings CRA penalties on top of what you owed. Sales tax is the second, because the money you collect isn’t yours. If either one keeps you up at night, hand just that piece over first, and keep the rest in your own hands until the business is big enough to justify more.
What mistakes raise the bill?
The costliest habit is handing over everything at the deadline. Rush work and cleanup take more hours than steady monthly entries. Mixing personal and business spending is the other big one, because someone has to sort it out line by line.
Don’t pick on price alone either. A very low quote may leave out payroll, sales tax or the year-end slips. Ask what’s missing before you say yes.
And don’t forget your own tax cost when you set the budget. If you’re self-employed, see what you owe with the self-employed tax calculator. It shows $14,603 of income tax and CPP on $60,000 of net income in Ontario, and it leaves out GST/HST, EI and business expenses.
Where this information comes from
Filing and payment dates, GST/HST reporting thresholds and the six-year rule come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s business and corporation pages, checked for 2026. Calculator results come from the tools linked above. We found no confirmed source for accountant or bookkeeper fees, so none appear here. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a small business budget for accounting?
We couldn't confirm fee levels from a reliable source, so we won't quote a range. Get written quotes for the same scope from a few firms and compare them.
What drives the cost up?
Messy records, many transactions, staff on payroll, a corporate structure and GST/HST returns all add work.
How long must I keep my business records?
Generally six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Some records, such as those on property and the share register, may need to be kept longer.
How often do I file GST/HST?
By revenue: annually up to $1,500,000, quarterly up to $6,000,000 and monthly above that, unless you elect to file more often.
Is a flat fee better than hourly billing?
A flat fee is easier to plan, provided the scope is written down. Hourly billing can suit a tidy business with few transactions.
- 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