Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
A monthly bookkeeping package should give you reconciled bank and card accounts, sorted transactions, a profit and loss statement and a balance sheet every month, plus the sales tax and payroll figures you need to file on time. If a quote offers less, it’s data entry, not bookkeeping. Whatever you pick, the CRA expects you to keep your records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.
What should a monthly bookkeeping package include?
Packages are sold in different shapes, and we couldn’t confirm what any firm charges, so we don’t quote prices. What we can do is list what a decent package covers, so you can hold each quote up against it.
| Item | What you should get | Why you want it |
|---|---|---|
| Bank and card reconciliation | Every account matched to its statement each month | Missing or doubled entries show up while you can still remember them |
| Sorted transactions | Each payment placed in a clear expense or income category | Your accountant can build the return without redoing the work |
| Sales tax tracking | Tax collected and tax paid, by period | The GST/HST return becomes a copy job |
| Payroll figures | Amounts held back and amounts you owe as the employer | Remittances don’t come as a surprise |
| Monthly reports | Profit and loss, balance sheet, unpaid invoices | You see how the business is doing before the year ends |
| Year-end file | Final ledger and working papers, handed over in a usable form | Tax time takes days, not weeks |
How do sales tax and payroll fit in?
They’re the two places where a late or wrong entry costs real money, so ask about them first.
You must register for GST/HST once your revenue from taxable sales passes $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four quarters in a row. Filing frequency then depends on size. Under $1.5 million a year you’re an annual filer, between $1.5 million and $6 million you file quarterly, and above that monthly. Quarterly and monthly returns are due one month after the period ends, and the payment is due the same day. A bookkeeper who tracks tax by period makes that deadline easy to hit.
Try a small case. You invoice $1,500 in Ontario. The GST/HST calculator shows $195 of HST, so the customer pays $1,695, and that $195 isn’t yours to keep. If you only have the tax-inclusive total, the reverse HST calculator backs it out.
Payroll works the same way. For one employee paid $3,000 per pay period in Ontario, the payroll remittance calculator gives $961.03 to send in. Of that, $732.62 comes out of the employee’s pay and $228.41 is your own share of CPP and EI. Your full cost for that period is $3,228.41. The CRA’s penalty for a late remittance runs from 3% to 10% of the amount, so a clear monthly routine pays for itself, as the CRA’s employers’ guide to payroll deductions and remittances shows.
What does a package usually leave out?
Read the fine print for these, since they’re often sold apart.
Catching up on months or years of untouched books is normally separate work. So is filing your personal or corporate return, and so is tax advice. If you run a corporation, clean books feed straight into the corporate tax bill. On $150,000 of profit in Ontario the corporate tax calculator shows $17,544, or 11.7%, for a calendar 2026 year, and that figure is only as good as the profit number behind it.
Ask whether the package includes questions by email between month-ends. Some do, and some bill by the hour.
What goes wrong with monthly bookkeeping?
Most problems start on your side, not the bookkeeper’s.
Paying personal bills from the business account is the classic one. It forces someone to guess what each payment was. Missing receipts come next, followed by cash sales that never reach the ledger. Then there’s the slow handover: if statements arrive three months late, “monthly” reports are really quarterly ones.
Check who owns the file, too. You should be able to get your ledger out in a readable form at any time. The CRA says electronic records must stay in an electronically readable format for the full six years, even if you also have paper copies. Don’t destroy records early without the CRA’s written permission.
And be careful with one shortcut. A package that “handles taxes” may only mean it tracks tax. Filing the return, and answering for it, usually stays with you or your accountant.
What does a good month-end look like?
Picture Tomas, who owns a small bike repair shop in Victoria. By the tenth of each month he sends bank and card statements, a photo of any cash receipts, and the payroll hours. By the twentieth he gets back a one-page profit and loss, a list of unpaid invoices and a short note on anything odd. That rhythm, not the price, is what makes a package worth having. If a quote can’t describe its own month-end in two sentences, keep shopping.
Sources, and how we checked them
Filing thresholds, the $30,000 small supplier limit and the record-keeping period come from Canada Revenue Agency pages on GST/HST registrants and record keeping. The tax examples use the 2026 rates built into our calculators. The Ontario corporate rate is a blend for a calendar 2026 year, because Ontario’s 2026 budget lowers its small business rate from 3.2% to 2.2% from 1 July 2026. Rates can change again, so check before you rely on a figure. This site is independent and not affiliated with the CRA.
Frequently asked questions
Does a monthly bookkeeping package include tax filing?
Not usually. Most packages track sales tax and payroll amounts, while filing your return is often priced separately. Ask the firm to say in writing who files what.
How long do I have to keep my business records?
The CRA asks for six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. Electronic records must stay in a readable format for the same period.
When do I have to register for GST/HST?
Once your revenue from taxable sales passes $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four calendar quarters in a row.
How often do I file a GST/HST return?
Annually if your taxable revenue is $1.5 million or less, quarterly up to $6 million, and monthly above that. You can elect a more frequent period in some cases.
What should I ask before signing a bookkeeping quote?
Ask what is covered each month, who owns the file, how fast questions get answered and what counts as extra work such as catching up old books.
- 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