Accounting and Tax Services for Painting Contractors in Canada
Doesn't Always Mean
a Full Bank Account
A painting business can fill the calendar for months, and then at the end of the season have no idea where all the money went. Paint and supply prices vary job to job. A crew runs long on a two-storey exterior. Commercial client pays net 60 rather than net 30. The cost of fuel, sprayers, ladders, and lifts is paid in cash before the invoice is even sent.
Accounting for painting contractors must go beyond the numbers that come in and out of the business. It must tie the estimate with the actual job cost, then the job cost with the invoice, and the invoice back to what actually gets deposited in the bank after collections and taxes. With a focus on the real workings of a painting business, Online Accountant assists painting contractors in Canada on a daily basis with bookkeeping, tax planning and financial reporting.
From Estimate to Invoice, Your Numbers Should Tell the Real Story
The painting industry is a seasonal industry, and the weather is what determines it more than any other industry. Much of Canada's exterior work fits into a narrow window of spring to fall, so in Alberta or BC, an unexpected period of rain can get work and income in another month or tax year than scheduled. Interior work and commercial work help to iron out those wrinkles, but they introduce new ones with slower commercial clients and projects that may require several phases and be paid via deposits and progress invoices.
On top of the seasonal swings, painting contractors are managing:
Accounting Packages Built Around
Your Paint Jobs
A two-man house painting company does not require the same accounting methods as a company that has four crews working in both residential and commercial jobs. We evaluate your business, transactions, payroll, whether you use subcontractors, the reporting requirements, etc. and offer you a fixed monthly subscription package that works for your business.
Your package can include bookkeeping and bank reconciliations, payroll and CRA remittance, GST/HST preparation and filing, financial statements, accounts receivable follow-up, corporate tax compliance and proactive tax planning. As your crews grow, your package can grow too, without a surprise bill attached.
Where Painting Contractors Lose Profit Between the Quote and the Job
The right numbers can tell you just where a job's margin succeeded and where it didn't. We assist contractors in monitoring:
These numbers tell more than describing the past. They reveal which kinds of jobs and clients are truly worth pursuing, when it's worthwhile to buy a crew or a vehicle and whether increasing revenue is really increasing profits or increasing overheads.
Accounting Software Built for
How Painting Jobs Actually Move
Most painting contractors are already using a combination of Jobber, Housecall Pro or another field-service software program to handle quotes, scheduling, invoicing, and other areas of the painting business, with the accounting side handled through QuickBooks Online or Xero, and payment through Hubdoc or Stripe. Used properly, that chain— quote to job to invoice to payment to expense— can feed directly into clean financial records instead of a shoebox of paper at year-end.
As a Xero Gold Partner Champion and QuickBooks Online Elite Partner, Online Accountant can help you get that workflow sorted out, so both the operational and financial aspects of your business start telling the same story.
Tax Planning That Starts Long Before Year-End
A painting contractor should never be surprised about how much he or she owes at tax time. We discuss with contractors year-round such things as proper deductions for vehicles, equipment, and materials, capital cost allowance on sprayers, lifts, and trucks, owner compensation through a structure that makes sense for the business, and instalment planning in order to not have a “surprise” tax bill at the end of the year.
GST/HST is its own ongoing responsibility. This may involve correctly registering, collecting, filing and claiming input tax credits, which will depend on your specific situation, depending on how your business is structured and your revenues. All of this is more accurate and less stressful when filing time comes if you're a good bookkeeper throughout the year.
Your Next Job Should Improve Your Bottom Line, Not Just Your Revenue
We can create a 'package' for your painting business that suits your needs, whether you're looking for simple bookkeeping, assistance to organize your GST/HST and payroll, or a complete accounting package, including tax planning, all in a fixed monthly amount.
Describe your crews, your jobs, and how you currently maintain your books, and we'll recommend an appropriate level of support.
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