Bookkeeping services in North Vancouver
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For trades, contractors, marine and light industrial businesses and the shops along Lonsdale, in the City and the District alike.
Short answer: we keep the books for North Vancouver small businesses, in both the City and the District: monthly bookkeeping, GST and PST, payroll and WorkSafeBC, and T1 and T2 returns, for a fixed monthly fee. We are next door in West Vancouver, the work is online, and the quote arrives in writing within one business day.
What we do for North Vancouver businesses
- Monthly bookkeeping, with job costs kept by project where you need them
- GST and PST, including PST on materials for real property work
- Payroll, T4s and ROEs, and WorkSafeBC reporting
- T5018 slips for subcontractor payments, and WorkSafeBC clearance letters
- T1 and T2 returns from the books we kept
What is different about the books here
North Vancouver carries much of the North Shore’s trades and construction work, plus the marine and light industrial strip along the waterfront. For a contractor, payroll and sales tax arrive together: subcontractors, holdbacks, WorkSafeBC and materials all land in the same month. PST on materials for real property work runs opposite to how people expect, because the contractor usually pays it on the materials rather than charging it on the job.
City or District: your North Vancouver licence
North Vancouver is two municipalities, and each licenses the businesses within it, so check which one your address is in. The City of North Vancouver requires a licence for home-based businesses. It has a separate home office application for a business run from a residence with no staff on site, no sales and ordinary office equipment, and a home occupation category for one that takes clients into the home or has staff working there.
A North Shore contractor in a qualifying trade can add the inter-municipal licence when applying, which lets the same licence cover the City of North Vancouver, the District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver.
Questions North Vancouver owners ask
Do you serve both the City and the District of North Vancouver?
Yes, both, on the same terms. They are separate municipalities with their own business licences, but the bookkeeping is the same work.
Can one licence cover my trade across the North Shore?
If your trade qualifies, the North Shore inter-municipal licence covers the City and District of North Vancouver and West Vancouver on one licence.
Do I charge PST on a renovation job?
Usually not on the job itself. A contractor improving real property generally pays PST on the materials instead. The contractors’ PST guide explains the rule and its exceptions.
Do you handle holdbacks and progress billing?
Yes. Holdbacks are tracked by job, and the GST on them is reported when it becomes payable, not with the progress billing.
Bookkeeping for contractors and trades →
PST on materials for contractors →
Holdbacks and progress billing: when GST is due →
Get a written quote
Tell us where you are, roughly how many transactions a month and what you need filed. A written scope and a fixed monthly price follow within one business day.
info@orbisaccounting.ca