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The accounting processes worth automating in a Canadian business are the repeat ones: payroll remittances, sales tax calculations and receipt capture. The ones worth keeping a human eye on are the ones that move money or change a record. The CRA doesn’t care how fast your books are. It cares that the records exist, that they can be read and that you can produce them for six years.
What does the CRA actually require of your records?
Less than most control manuals, and more than most owners assume. You keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless the CRA has agreed to an earlier destruction. Records include ledgers, journals, financial statements, returns, correspondence and anything else with financial information on it, whether they sit on paper or in an accounting system. The CRA’s keeping records page is the starting point for the details.
| Rule | What the CRA says |
|---|---|
| How long | Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to |
| Where | At your Canadian residence or place of business, unless the CRA gives permission otherwise |
| Electronic records | Keep what your systems create, such as accounting and point-of-sale data |
| Third-party bookkeepers | You are still responsible for the records |
| Access | You must make them available when the CRA asks |
That fourth row is the one that catches owners out. Handing the books to a bookkeeper or a cloud service moves the work, not the responsibility.
Where does automation pay off?
Anywhere the maths is the same every time. Take a payroll run. For one employee paid $2,500 every two weeks in Ontario, the payroll remittance calculator shows $753.34 to remit: $374.06 of income tax, $140.74 of CPP and $40.75 of EI held back, plus your own $140.74 of CPP and $57.05 of EI. Nobody should retype that every second Friday.
Sales tax is the same story. A $1,000 sale in Ontario carries $130 of HST, and the GST/HST calculator gets there without anyone guessing. Set the rate once per province in your system and review it when a province changes it.
Where should a person still look?
Anywhere a mistake would be expensive or hard to spot later. That means bank payments, payroll changes such as a new hire or a raise, and any edit to a posted entry. The habit that does most of the work is splitting the jobs. The person who enters a supplier bill shouldn’t be the only person who approves and pays it. In a two-person business, the owner can be the second pair of eyes by looking at the payment list once a week.
It sounds like overhead. It costs about ten minutes, a few bucks’ worth of your time at most.
Have a rule for what needs approval and stick to it. A dollar line you pick yourself, say anything over a few hundred dollars, is better than a policy nobody reads.
What does a ten-minute weekly check look like?
Picture Carol, who owns a three-person bakery in Halifax. Every Friday before she goes home she opens three things. First, the list of payments made that week, checking each name against a real bill. Second, any change to payroll, like a new hourly rate. Third, the bank balance against what the books say it should be. If all three agree, she’s done before the coffee gets cold.
If one doesn’t agree, she finds out in days and not at year end. That’s the whole benefit of a light control: the error is small and still fresh. A big policy binder would add little on top of it.
What should your accounting processes do at year end?
Produce a clean set of records you could hand over tomorrow. Corporations also file the T2 return electronically for tax years starting after 2023, with a $1,000 penalty from the CRA if a required return isn’t filed that way. Exceptions exist for insurance corporations, non-resident corporations and a few others, so check the CRA page if your corporation looks unusual.
For year-end planning, run your own numbers before anyone asks you for them. The tax instalments calculator is a fast check that you’re paying enough through the year, and the corporate tax calculator estimates the tax bill on active business income.
Where does the advice stop being official?
The CRA hasn’t set a dollar approval limit or a required control structure for small businesses on any page I found, so none of the approval advice above comes from it. It’s common practice, nothing more. And no 2026 return dates are stated, because the CRA hasn’t published them yet.
Where the figures come from
Record-keeping rules are from the CRA guide RC188 and its pages on electronic records. The T2 filing rule is from the CRA’s T2 return page. The payroll and HST figures come from this site’s calculators using 2026 rates. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
How long must a Canadian business keep its records?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless the CRA has given permission to destroy them earlier.
Do I have to keep records in paper form?
No. The CRA accepts electronic records, but you have to keep what your systems create, such as accounting and point-of-sale data, and be able to produce it.
Can I hand responsibility for my books to my bookkeeper?
No. The CRA says you remain responsible for keeping adequate records, even when a third party keeps them for you.
Where must I keep my records?
At your Canadian residence or place of business, unless the CRA gives you permission to keep them somewhere else.
Do corporations have to file the T2 electronically?
For tax years starting after 2023, yes, with listed exceptions. The CRA charges a $1,000 penalty when a required electronic filing isn't made.
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