Featherly Services works with independent consultants, marketing agencies, IT firms, and coaches across the Greater Toronto Area and Ontario. The bookkeeping is usually simple. The tax questions around your corporation, your clients, and your subcontractors are not.
Consultants and agencies usually face three tax questions: whether the corporation could be treated as a personal services business, how to pay yourself, and how HST works with foreign clients and subcontractors. Getting those right matters more than the day-to-day bookkeeping.
If you would be an employee of your main client but for the corporation, CRA can treat it as a personal services business, which loses the small business deduction and restricts deductions. It matters most when one client provides most of your revenue.
Salary versus dividends affects RRSP room, CPP, and how much stays in the corporation. A simple rule is to take enough salary to generate the RRSP room you want, then top up with dividends.
Agencies that use freelancers generally issue T4As when payments to a subcontractor exceed $500 in a year. Payments to non-residents for work done in Canada can also trigger withholding.
Services to non-resident clients are often zero-rated. That means you charge no HST but can still claim input tax credits, so the classification affects your refunds.
Retainers and milestone billing need consistent revenue recognition so your books match your cash and your tax return.
Subscriptions, equipment, and home office costs add up quickly. Coded correctly they are deductions. Coded carelessly they are audit questions.
Pricing: bookkeeping from $500 a month, T2 returns from $2,000. Priced by volume and complexity, quoted after a free intro call.
Book a Free Intro CallIt is an incorporated arrangement where the owner would reasonably be considered an employee of the client if the corporation did not exist. It loses the small business deduction and faces restricted deductions, so it is worth checking when one client provides most of your revenue.
Not always. Once net profit is consistently above roughly $100,000, incorporation usually starts to pay off through tax deferral. Below that, the extra cost and complexity may outweigh the savings.
Services supplied to non-resident clients are often zero-rated, which means no HST is charged but you can still claim input tax credits. The exact treatment depends on the service and the client, so confirm it before invoicing.
Yes. We are fully remote and work with consultants and agencies across Ontario using shared QuickBooks Online access and secure document sharing.
We serve clients across the Greater Toronto Area, including Toronto, Mississauga, Markham, Vaughan, Brampton, Oakville, Hamilton, Ottawa, Oshawa, and all of Ontario. Book a free 20-minute intro call. No pressure, no sales pitch.
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