The year-end bookkeeping checklist: the handoff your accountant wishes you'd send.

The short answer: a year-end bookkeeping checklist is what your CPA needs to prepare your financial statements and your tax return. That means every bank, card and loan account reconciled to its year-end statement, and what you were owed and what you owed at year-end. It also means asset purchases with invoices, HST and payroll tied to what was filed, and a note on anything unusual. A corporation files its tax return within six months of year-end, but any tax owing is generally due two or three months after year-end.

What does my accountant actually need from me?

Your accountant prepares the statements and the return. Your job, or your bookkeeper’s, is to hand over books they can trust. A clean package looks like this:

1. Books closed to the year-end date, with nothing left in “uncategorized” or “ask my accountant.”
2. Every bank account and credit card reconciled to its year-end statement, with the statement attached.
3. Each loan’s year-end balance, from the lender’s statement, and the interest paid during the year.
4. A list of what customers owed you and what you owed suppliers at year-end, matching the balance sheet.
5. An inventory count at year-end, if you carry stock.
6. Invoices for equipment, vehicles or other assets bought or sold during the year.
7. Your HST returns for the year, reconciled to the HST accounts in the books.
8. Payroll: the T4 summary, tied to wages in the books and the remittances you made.
9. Owner draws, the shareholder loan balance, and any dividends paid, listed.
10. A short note on anything unusual. A new loan, a large one-time sale, a vehicle used partly for personal driving, a new location.

Items 7 and 8 deserve extra care, because HST and payroll are both money you hold in trust. I wrote about each one: HST is not your money and payroll deductions are not your money either.

What are the year-end deadlines?

Some dates follow the calendar year. Others follow your fiscal year-end.

If the return is due in six months, why the rush?

Because the filing deadline is not the payment deadline. A corporation generally owes its tax two months after year-end. A CCPC that claims the small business deduction, and meets the other conditions, gets three. Either way, the balance is due months before the return. Your accountant cannot tell you what you owe until they have the books. A clean handoff in the first few weeks after year-end is what makes that payment date an estimate instead of a guess.

If you are a sole proprietor, the CRA says you generally have to use a December 31 year-end.

Who does what?

HarperCo keeps the books and hands a clean year-end package to your CPA. Your CPA prepares the statements and files the return. We never file income tax returns, at any scope, and we are not a public accounting firm. The FAQ says so plainly.

A clean year-end package comes with every monthly scope. The lightest is Books Compliance, at $395 a month, on a quarterly close. If the year got away from you, a Books Rescue catch-up is $295 for each month behind. The minimum is $885.

How long do I keep all of this?

The CRA’s general rule is six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. Keep the package you hand your accountant. It is also the package a lender asks for.

From the desk

When I read small-business files on the lending side, the year-end statements were the first thing I opened. The statements your accountant prepares are only as good as the books behind them. Late statements, or a note that says the numbers were estimated, raise questions a lender has to ask before anything else. A clean handoff is how you avoid being asked.

Key facts

• T4 and T5 returns and slips: last day of February (CRA, T4; CRA, T5).
• No T5 slip needed for a recipient paid less than $50 in the year (CRA, T4015).
• T2 filing: within six months of the tax year-end (CRA, T2 deadline).
• Corporate balance due: two months after year-end, three for a qualifying CCPC (CRA, balance-due day).
• Sole proprietor with a December 31 year-end: pay by April 30, file by June 15 (CRA, 2026 deadlines).
• Workers’ compensation: WCB PEI renews by February 28 with actual and estimated payroll (WCB PEI); WCB Nova Scotia, WorkSafeNB and WorkplaceNL set their own dates.
• Records: generally six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to (CRA, keeping records).

Notes like this are general information, not advice on your specific situation — that’s what the kitchen table is for. — Dominic