Book Consultation

Gondaliya CPA

Corporate Tax Filing Experts

Tax Accountant for Security Guard Companies in Ontario and Across Canada

On a manned contract, wages and the statutory costs stacked on top of them are the overwhelming majority of your revenue. That one fact reorders everything: payroll is not an administrative task sitting beside your tax work, it is your tax work. Source deductions go out on the PD7A by the 15th of the following month and CRA’s late-remittance penalty reaches 10%, T4 slips and the T4 Summary are due by the last day of February and have to reconcile to what you actually remitted, WSIB runs from your first hire, and Ontario Employer Health Tax applies past the $1,000,000 exemption. Then comes the part most owners are never told plainly: unremitted source deductions follow the directors personally under ITA section 227.1, unremitted GST/HST under ETA section 323, and the window in ITA subsection 227.1(4) runs two years from the day you last ceased to be a director. Your guards are paid weekly while your clients pay on 30, 60 or 90 day terms, so we build the remittance discipline, the per-site hour reconciliation and the accruals that keep a timing problem from becoming a personal one — with AFFORDABLE flat fees.

1300+
5-Star Google Reviews
✅ REGISTERED CPA FIRM – VERIFY NOW

AFFORDABLE Security Guard Company Tax Accountant

A guard company is the most payroll-exposed business we work with, and the reason is arithmetic rather than opinion. When wages and the statutory costs on top of them account for the large majority of what you bill, the remittance calendar stops being a clerical routine and becomes the single largest tax risk in the corporation. One missed cycle on a labour-dominant book is a material number, not a rounding error, and it compounds: CRA’s graduated late-remittance penalty reaches 10%, the T4 slips you file in February have to reconcile to the PD7A remittances you actually made, and a gap between those two numbers is visible to a reviewer in minutes. What makes it different from every other overdue filing is where it lands. Unremitted source deductions are not simply a corporate debt. They can be assessed against the directors personally under ITA section 227.1, GST/HST under ETA section 323, and resigning does not close the door immediately because ITA subsection 227.1(4) runs two years from the day a person last ceased to be a director. At Gondaliya CPA, we build the remittance discipline, the accruals and the director-level reporting that keep that exposure visible before it becomes real, with AFFORDABLE flat-fee support that keeps you CRA-compliant.

As a security guard companies accountant, we work with manned guarding contractors, mobile patrol operators, event and crowd staffing businesses and agencies that supply guards to other agencies across Ontario, with year-round support rather than a once-a-year scramble. We tell you what each site actually earns, where your payroll cash is going to be tight against client terms, and what your subcontracted guard line looks like to CRA.

Let us handle the numbers so you can focus on staffing the posts and winning the next contract.

Gondaliya CPA team - accounting and tax services for security guard companies

Our Official Partners

Google Reviews
CPA Ontario
QuickBooks
Wagepoint
Xero
Stripe
Rotessa
Hubdoc
ADP

Accounting That Understands How a Security Guard Company Actually Works

Selling guard hours is not selling a product. How a guard is engaged is tested on CRA’s factors rather than on the invoice, a 24/7 post makes premium pay an ordinary feature of your cost base, four different hour counts exist for every site you staff, and your vehicles, radios and contract book sit in classes most firms pool into one. At Gondaliya CPA, we understand that reality and provide practical, industry-focused solutions across Ontario.

📋

Engagement Is Tested, Not Labelled

Engaging guards as subcontractors is common, and it is tested on the Form RC4110 factors — control, tools, chance of profit and risk of loss, integration — never on what the parties called it.

🕐

Round-the-Clock Posts Cost More

Statutory holidays, shift differentials, minimum call-outs and last-minute replacements are ordinary features of a 24/7 cost base. We accrue them as earned rather than treating each one as an exception.

📊

Four Different Hour Counts

Hours scheduled, hours worked, hours billed and hours paid are four different numbers. A company that cannot reconcile them per site cannot tell a profitable contract from a loss-making one.

🚗

Vehicles, Radios and Contracts

Patrol vehicles, body-worn and radio equipment, scheduling software and an acquired contract book each belong in their own capital class, and guard companies are bought and sold on those contracts.

Stay Compliant and Minimize Your Security Guard Company Tax

For a guard company, staying onside with CRA and the Ontario authorities and paying the least legal tax are the same job. We keep every remittance and filing on schedule while claiming every wage, vehicle, equipment and licensing dollar the T2 allows, so nothing is missed and nothing invites a reassessment.

📄

Licensing, Labour and the Authorities

Guards and the agencies that supply them are licensed in Ontario under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005, administered by the Ministry of the Solicitor General. We do not tell you what the ministry requires — licence classes, training, testing and renewal are confirmed with the ministry rather than assumed here — but we do treat guard and agency licensing, training and renewal as the real recurring deductible cost it is. The WSIB covers your guards from the first hire. The Employment Standards Act, 2000 is administered by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, and quantifying an entitlement under it is employment counsel’s work, not ours. Add CANASA and ASIS International dues: each is a real annual cost that belongs in the ledger.

✅

CRA Obligations for Security Guard Companies

Staying compliant with CRA means far more than one return a year on a labour-dominant book. We manage PD7A source deduction remittances by the 15th of the following month, T4 slips and the T4 Summary by the last day of February reconciled to the remittances actually made, T4A slips on guards who are genuinely contractors with the Form RC4110 analysis documented first, Ontario Employer Health Tax monitored against the $1,000,000 exemption, GST34 returns on a taxable supply at 13%, unbilled guard hours accrued at period end, advance amounts handled under ITA paragraph 12(1)(a) with the reserve in ITA paragraph 20(1)(m), and patrol vehicles kept out of the wrong capital class. These are the areas CRA looks at first on a guard company file.

📈

Year-End Deliverables for Security Guard Companies

At year-end, a guard corporation needs a proper trial balance and financial statements that state accrued wages, vacation pay and any unremitted source deductions honestly rather than burying them, show work performed but not yet invoiced as the receivable it is, carry the contract book separately from equipment, and split the Class 10, Class 8, Class 50, Class 12 and Class 13 pools, plus a T2 with GIFI that ties to your HST returns and your payroll filings. A lender funding your payroll against client receivables reads the accrued wage line before it reads the bank balance. Our team prepares every deliverable on time.

Accounting & Tax Experts for Security Guard Companies

Gondaliya CPA security guard company accounting expertsGondaliya CPA security guard company tax experts
  • AFFORDABLE + Fully Registered CPA Firm
  • Business and Corporate Tax Expert
  • Small & Medium Business Expert
  • Accounting, bookkeeping, and tax filing
  • Certified CPA
  • 1300+ 5-star Google reviews
  • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
  • 60-Day Fees Matching Policy

Why Choose Our Accounting Services for Security Guard Companies?

1
🎯

Tax Planning — Payroll Cash & Pools

We plan the remittance calendar against your client terms, split patrol vehicles from radios and software across the right capital classes, and protect the $500,000 Small Business Deduction.

2
📊

Consulting — Per-Site Margin

Our bookkeeping reconciles hours scheduled, worked, billed and paid for every site, so a contract that looks busy and loses money becomes visible in the month it happens.

3
🛡

CRA Representation — Payroll & Directors

When CRA opens a trust examination or challenges your subcontracted guard line, we prepare the response, address the director exposure, and pursue relief on Form RC4288.

4
🏢

Bookkeeping — Cash Flow & Sale

We build the cash flow that funds weekly wages against 60 day client terms, produce the statements your lender reads, and model the sale of the contract book years ahead.

★
Fully Licensed CPA Ontario
★
1300+ ★★★★★
Google Reviews
★
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
★
60-Day Fees-Matching Policy
ACTIVELY ACCEPTING
Security Guard Company Clients
Includes personal T1 filing for you and your family
Convenient Availability
Weekend and evening support until 9 PM
Always Within Reach
Just a call away when you need us

Security Guard Company Tax and Accounting Services in Ontario

📄

Corporate Tax Filing (T2) for Security Guard Companies

Professional T2 preparation with accrued wages and premium pay stated properly, unbilled guard hours accrued, patrol vehicles in the right class, and CRA compliance on every line.

💳

Bookkeeping & Accounting for Security Guard Companies

Books that reconcile hours scheduled, worked, billed and paid for every site, with wage burden, subcontracted guard supply and remittances separated rather than pooled.

💵

Payroll Services for Security Guard Companies

The filing that matters most here, with PD7A remittances by the 15th, T4 and T4A slips filed on time, WSIB and Employer Health Tax tracked, and classification tested first.

🧾

GST/HST Filing for Security Guard Companies

AFFORDABLE HST filing on a taxable supply at 13%, with credits claimed on vehicles, equipment, software and subcontracted guards, and the director exposure under ETA section 323 kept in view.

📈

Tax Planning for Security Guard Companies

Smart tax planning on remittance cash against client terms, vehicle and equipment timing across the capital classes, the Small Business Deduction, and the exit structure.

⏳

Corporate Catch-Up Filing for Security Guard Companies

File overdue T2 and HST years, rebuild the payroll reconciliation and capital pools you never had, and get back into CRA compliance with accurate catch-up support.

🛡

CRA Audit Resolution for Security Guard Companies

Expert support on payroll trust examinations, subcontracted guard classification reviews and revenue audits, handled with confidence from the first letter.

📊

CPA Financial Statements (Notice to Reader) for Security Guard Companies

CPA-compiled financial statements that lenders accept, stating accrued wages honestly and showing the contract book separately from equipment.

🏢

Incorporation Services for Security Guard Companies

Full incorporation including NUANS, articles, share structure, payroll and HST accounts opened before the first guard is paid, and the section 85 rollover of your existing assets.

📒

Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services for Security Guard Companies

Months or years of payroll registers, scheduling exports, client invoices and subcontractor payments reconstructed and reconciled, so your margin per site is finally accurate.

🌐

US Corporation & LLC Tax Filing for Security Guard Companies

Cross-border filing where owners, shareholders or subcontractors sit outside Canada, covering withholding, NR4 reporting and T1135 obligations.

📜

Voluntary Disclosure Program for Security Guard Companies

Come forward on missed remittances, unfiled T4A slips or unaccrued revenue before CRA calls, cancelling penalties through a Voluntary Disclosures Program application.

Accounting & Tax Services Tailored for Security Guard Companies

Real, practitioner-level CPA expertise for manned guarding contractors, mobile patrol operators, event and crowd staffing businesses and agencies supplying guards to other agencies across Ontario — built for a business whose product is labour.

  • We prepare your T2 with GIFI on Schedule 100 and Schedule 125, separating guard-hour billing, per-post monthly contract revenue, minimum call-out charges and guards supplied to another agency onto their correct lines so CRA’s matching reads your return properly.
  • We accrue guard hours worked but not yet invoiced at your year-end as the income they are, and where a client has paid in advance of service we apply ITA paragraph 12(1)(a) with the reserve in ITA paragraph 20(1)(m).
  • We claim capital cost allowance on Schedule 8 with patrol vehicles in Class 10, radios and body-worn equipment in Class 8 at 20%, computers and servers in Class 50 at 55%, and scheduling software in Class 12 at 100%.
  • We state accrued wages, vacation pay and premium pay earned but unpaid at the year-end date, because a 24/7 post crossing your fiscal boundary leaves real wage cost on the wrong side of the line when nobody accrues it.
  • We deduct bad debt on an unpaid client invoice under ITA paragraph 20(1)(p) rather than leaving a dead receivable on the books, and we keep the six years of records ITA section 230 requires behind every figure.
  • We reconcile hours scheduled, hours worked, hours billed and hours paid for every site you staff, because those are four different numbers and the gaps between them are exactly where a contract quietly stops making money.
  • We report contract margin per site each month, loading guard wages, the employer portion of CPP and EI, WSIB premiums, Employer Health Tax and supervision against the revenue that site actually produced rather than a blended company average.
  • We separate your subcontracted guard supply from your wage accounts so the T4A population is visible all year, instead of being reconstructed in February out of a single subcontract total nobody can break down.
  • We treat source deductions as money already owed to CRA rather than working capital, setting the PD7A amount aside as it is withheld, because funding this week’s wages out of last week’s remittance is how the personal exposure starts.
  • We capture supplier, vehicle, equipment, licensing and insurance invoices through Dext and reconcile monthly in QuickBooks Online or Xero, keeping the six years ITA section 230 requires and making sure no recoverable input tax credit is lost.
  • We run your payroll in Wagepoint or Payworks, withholding income tax, CPP and EI and remitting on the PD7A by the 15th of the following month, because CRA’s late-remittance penalty on source deductions reaches 10% on a graduated basis.
  • We file your T4 slips and T4 Summary by the last day of February and reconcile them to the PD7A remittances actually made, because a difference between those two figures is the first thing a trust examination looks for.
  • We register and maintain WSIB coverage from your first hire and monitor Ontario payroll against the $1,000,000 Employer Health Tax exemption, so a growing contract book does not quietly cross a threshold nobody was watching.
  • Where guards are engaged as subcontractors, we document the Form RC4110 analysis first and file T4A slips on those who are genuinely contractors; whether the licensing regime separately affects how a licensed guard may be engaged is a question we raise rather than answer.
  • We accrue overtime, statutory holiday and shift-premium cost as it is earned instead of treating each one as an exception, and we leave the quantifying of any Employment Standards Act, 2000 entitlement to your employment counsel.
  • We file your GST34 returns on the basis that security guard services are a taxable supply at 13% in Ontario, with registration required once taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters rather than at an arbitrary revenue point.
  • We claim input tax credits on patrol vehicles, radios and body-worn equipment, scheduling and guard-management software, uniforms, insurance and subcontracted guard supply, because on thin contract margins unclaimed credits are the cheapest money in the business.
  • We align the net tax with how the revenue is actually earned, so guard hours worked but not yet invoiced and amounts a client has paid in advance of service land in the period the rules put them in.
  • We keep the ETA section 323 director exposure in view alongside the ITA section 227.1 payroll exposure, because unremitted GST/HST carries the same kind of personal reach and is just as easy to fund wages out of.
  • We reconcile your HST returns to your T2 revenue and to the contract book before filing, so a reviewer comparing the two does not find a difference you cannot explain two filing periods after the fact.
  • We plan the remittance calendar against your client terms, because guards are paid weekly or biweekly while contracts settle on 30, 60 or 90 day terms, and that structural gap is what pulls remittance money into working capital.
  • We set the salary-versus-dividend mix for the owner, paying enough T4 salary to build RRSP room while the balance flows as dividends, so combined tax stays near the 12.2% Ontario small-business rate instead of 53.53%.
  • We keep your active income under the $500,000 Small Business Deduction limit using ITA section 125, and we test the personal services business rules in ITA subsection 125(7) rather than assuming the deduction is available.
  • We time patrol vehicle and equipment purchases against your fiscal year-end across Class 10, Class 8, Class 50 and Class 12, and we review whether a given vehicle meets the ITA subsection 248(1) automobile definition instead of guessing.
  • We plan at least two years ahead so your shares qualify for the $1.25M Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption under ITA 110.6, purifying retained cash that would otherwise fail the active-business asset test on a sale.
  • We reconstruct guard-hour billing, per-post contract revenue, call-out charges and subcontract income from scheduling exports, client invoices and bank deposits across your unfiled years, rebuilding the six years of records ITA section 230 requires.
  • Late filing costs 5% of the balance owing plus 1% per month up to twelve months, so we file your oldest unfiled T2 first to stop the penalty compounding and limit the arrears interest CRA charges.
  • We rebuild the payroll years alongside the returns, reconciling T4 slips to PD7A remittances actually made, and we quantify any unremitted source deduction balance so the directors know the ITA section 227.1 exposure before CRA raises it.
  • We rebuild the capital pools across the missing years and move patrol vehicles, radios, computers and scheduling software out of one pooled class into Class 10, Class 8, Class 50 and Class 12 where they belong.
  • We file a Voluntary Disclosures Program application on Form RC199 before CRA contacts you, because a disclosure accepted under the general program cancels penalties in full and gives roughly 50% interest relief on the older years.
  • When CRA opens a payroll trust examination, we produce the remittance history, the PD7A record and the T4 reconciliation, because that examination is the most likely CRA contact a labour-dominant guard company will ever have.
  • When CRA challenges your subcontracted guard line, we produce the agreements, the invoices and the Form RC4110 analysis for each engagement, because control, tools, chance of profit and risk of loss and integration are what decide it.
  • When CRA tests your revenue against the contract book and the schedule, we show the per-site hour reconciliation and the accrual for work performed but not yet invoiced at the period end date.
  • Where a director assessment under ITA section 227.1 or ETA section 323 is threatened or issued, we assemble the corporate record, address the two-year window in ITA subsection 227.1(4), and make the case on the facts.
  • We file the Notice of Objection within 90 days of a reassessment and pursue taxpayer relief on Form RC4288, cancelling penalties and interest that can top $15,000 where a prior accountant’s error caused them, protecting your Tax Court rights.
  • We prepare the CSRS 4200 compilation engagement financial statements a lender requires across two fiscal years for the operating line that funds weekly wages while your clients settle on 60 day terms.
  • Your compiled statement of financial position states accrued wages, vacation pay and any unremitted source deductions honestly, because those are the first three lines a lender’s analyst and a buyer’s adviser look for on this kind of file.
  • We show work performed but not yet invoiced as the receivable it is rather than leaving it out, so the statements reflect a full contract month instead of only what happened to be billed before the cut-off.
  • We carry the contract book and acquired goodwill separately from patrol vehicles and equipment, because a buyer values recurring contracts on completely different evidence from the vehicles and radios that service them.
  • We deliver the compiled statements within 30 days of receiving your records and the year’s T2 figures, because a financing decision that has to be made before a tender closes does not wait for a slow accountant.
  • We incorporate your guard business under the Ontario Business Corporations Act, giving you limited liability on the contracts you sign and roughly the 12.2% Ontario small-business rate on active income against 53.53% personally.
  • We open the corporation’s CRA Business Number with both the RT account for HST and the RP account for payroll before your first guard is paid, and we register the WSIB account at the same time.
  • We complete the section 85 rollover on Form T2057, transferring your existing patrol vehicles, radios, equipment, client contracts and goodwill into the corporation at elected amounts, deferring the capital gain a straight sale would otherwise trigger.
  • We set the opening Class 10, Class 8, Class 50, Class 12 and Class 14.1 schedules from the rollover so the corporation starts with an asset base that is correct rather than rebuilt from memory years later.
  • We set the chart of accounts with wage burden, subcontracted guard supply, premium pay, licensing and per-site revenue built in from the first invoice, so the records accumulate correctly from day one rather than being rebuilt.
  • We rebuild months or years of neglected books from payroll registers, scheduling exports, client invoices, subcontractor payments and bank statements, so an operator who grew from four guards to forty finally gets a ledger that ties.
  • We reconstruct the payroll register period by period and reconcile it to what was actually remitted on the PD7A, which is the single correction that tells the directors where they really stand on source deductions.
  • We split subcontracted guard supply out of the wage accounts across the whole backlog, so the T4A population for every missed year becomes a list of names and amounts rather than one unsupported subcontract figure.
  • We recover the input tax credits buried in unentered vehicle, equipment, fuel, software, licensing and insurance invoices, because two years of unprocessed purchases on a fleet and a guard roster can hide five figures of credits.
  • We rebuild the per-site hour reconciliation and the accrued wage and unbilled revenue positions at each year-end across the caught-up months, so an accurate T2 can be filed without guessing at either side of the margin.
  • Where a non-resident owns shares in your guard company, we handle the Part XIII withholding on dividends paid out of Canada and the NR4 reporting that follows, so nothing is missed at 25% or at the treaty rate.
  • Where a subcontractor or a specialist is a non-resident performing services in Canada, we address Regulation 105 withholding and the T4A-NR reporting that follows, rather than paying the invoice as though the border made no difference.
  • We file Form T1135 where the owners’ foreign property costs more than $100,000, avoiding a penalty regime CRA applies whether or not any tax was actually owing on the holding itself in that year.
  • Where a United States citizen is a shareholder of the company, we coordinate the Canadian and US returns, because their reporting obligations reach into a Canadian corporation in ways most guard company families discover far too late.
  • Where you invoice a client whose parent or head office sits outside Canada, we review the place of supply against what was actually supplied and to whom, rather than treating a foreign billing address as an automatic answer.
  • We bring your company forward on source deductions withheld but not remitted, which is the disclosure that matters most here because the balance behind it is what an ITA section 227.1 director assessment would be built on.
  • We disclose years of subcontracted guard payments made with no T4A slips filed, because the per-slip penalties and the classification exposure both sit behind that one commission and subcontract line.
  • We file your VDP submission on Form RC199 with a full reconstruction from payroll registers, scheduling exports, client invoices and bank records, so an operator who outgrew their bookkeeping is not left facing an arbitrary CRA assessment.
  • We correct revenue that was never accrued for guard hours worked before each year-end, which is a quiet and cumulative error on a business that staffs posts continuously straight through the fiscal boundary.
  • We confirm your disclosure is genuinely voluntary before CRA contacts you — the single condition that makes it valid — and secure the roughly 50% interest relief on the older years, turning a prosecution risk into a managed correction.

Security Guard Company Payroll & Tax Check

Six quick questions on your remittance discipline, your T4 reconciliation, your subcontracted guards, your per-site hours, your capital pools and whether it is time to incorporate. No fee shown.

1. Is every PD7A source deduction remittance made by the 15th of the following month?

2. Do your T4 slips reconcile to the PD7A remittances you actually made?

3. Is there a documented Form RC4110 analysis behind every guard engaged as a subcontractor?

4. Can you reconcile hours scheduled, worked, billed and paid for each site?

5. Are patrol vehicles, radios and scheduling software in separate capital classes?

6. Is your security guard business incorporated?

Free CPA Consultation for Security Guard Companies

Case Studies: Security Guard Company Accounting & Tax

Toronto Manned Guarding Company — Payroll Funded Out of the Remittance

The problem: A Toronto guard company with 62 guards on condominium and construction posts paid wages every two weeks while its clients settled on 60 day terms. When cash was short, the PD7A remittance was the line that moved. Over nineteen months the remittance account fell behind, the graduated late-remittance penalty had been charged repeatedly, and the two directors had never been told that unremitted source deductions can be assessed against them personally under ITA section 227.1.

What we did: We reconstructed the payroll register and reconciled it to every remittance actually made, quantified the arrears and the penalties, put the withheld amount into a separate account as it is deducted, restructured the client billing cycle, and filed a Voluntary Disclosures Program application on Form RC199 before any CRA contact.

The result:

  • $184,000 of unremitted source deductions identified and scheduled
  • Penalties cancelled on the accepted voluntary disclosure
  • Directors briefed on the ITA section 227.1 exposure in writing

Mississauga Guard Agency — A Subcontract Line With Nothing Behind It

The problem: A Mississauga agency engaged 24 guards as subcontractors, paid them against invoices they had been handed templates for, and filed no T4A slips at all. The prior accountant had accepted the label on the invoice and never documented a Form RC4110 analysis, so there was nothing on file about control, tools, chance of profit and risk of loss, or integration. Nobody had raised the separate question of whether the licensing regime affects how a licensed guard may be engaged.

What we did: We documented the RC4110 factors engagement by engagement, filed T4A slips for those who were genuinely contractors, moved the rest onto payroll with proper withholding, flagged the licensing question for the client’s counsel, and disclosed the missed slips voluntarily.

The result:

  • 24 engagements analysed and documented individually
  • $31,700 of exposure quantified before CRA raised it
  • Licensing question referred to counsel rather than assumed

Hamilton Mobile Patrol Operator — Four Hour Counts Nobody Reconciled

The problem: A Hamilton operator ran 17 sites across mobile patrol routes and static posts. Hours were scheduled in the guard-management system, worked by the guards, billed from a spreadsheet and paid from the payroll register, and none of those four numbers had ever been reconciled against the others. Two large sites had been billing below the hours actually paid for more than a year. Guard hours worked in the last week of the fiscal year were never accrued as revenue either.

What we did: We built a monthly reconciliation from the scheduling export through the payroll register to the invoice, reported contract margin per site with wage burden loaded in, accrued unbilled hours at the year-end, and restated the prior year on the same basis.

The result:

  • Two loss-making sites repriced on contract renewal
  • $46,200 of previously unbilled guard hours recovered
  • Per-site margin reported monthly instead of once a year

Our Simple Process

How We Work With Security Guard Companies

Know Exact Fees within 2 Minutes NOW

Our clear, efficient process ensures every step is transparent, building trust and long-term client relationships.

Here’s a simplified process approach:
Step 1

Kickoff (Document Request)

Collect prior T2 returns, payroll registers and PD7A remittance history, T4 and T4A slips filed, the scheduling export, client contracts and rate cards, subcontractor agreements, WSIB and insurance documents, and bank statements.

Step 2

First 30 Days (Cleanup & Setup)

Set up QuickBooks Online or Xero with Dext and your payroll platform, reconcile T4 slips to remittances actually made, run the RC4110 analysis on every subcontracted guard, and rebuild the capital pools.

Step 3

Monthly Close

Per-site reconciliation of hours scheduled, worked, billed and paid, contract margin with wage burden loaded, PD7A remittance confirmed, unbilled hours accrued, GST34 prepared, and subcontract and T4A population reviewed.

Step 4

Quarterly Planning Review

Salary and dividend mix, remittance cash against client payment terms, vehicle and equipment purchases across the capital classes, Employer Health Tax and WSIB position, and the director exposure reported in writing.

Step 5

Year-End Close & T2 Filing

Trial balance, financial statements with accrued wages and unbilled revenue stated and the contract book shown separately, capital classes settled, T2 with GIFI, and CRA preparation.

Get Your Security Guard Company Taxes Done Right Today

Transparent Pricing for Security Guard Companies

Affordable Pricing for Security Guard Companies

Know Exact Fees within 2 Minutes NOW

We believe in clear, upfront pricing so you know exactly what to expect. All fees include HST.

  • Tax Preparation (Corporation) — From $400
  • Tax Return Filing (Corporation) — From $400
  • Tax Compliance Audit — FREE CRA audit support for our clients
  • Tax Strategy — FREE for our clients
  • Accounting Base Plan — From $100 per month
  • Bookkeeping Management — Free for our Accounting clients
  • Financial Reporting — Free for our Accounting clients
  • Business Formation — Flat $35
  • Incorporation Process — Flat $35
  • Entity Setup Assistance — Flat $35
  • Full-Service Payroll — From $125 per month

Payment is by Interac e-Transfer to info@gondaliyacpa.ca only. Security question: Not Applicable, as auto-deposit is enabled.

Meet Your Lead Security Guard Company Accountant

Meet your lead security guard company accountant. As your payroll and corporate tax adviser, you deal with the same two people every year.

Sharad Gondaliya CPA

Sharad Gondaliya, CPA

Principal

Bio

647-212-9559
sharad@gondaliyacpa.ca

Vandana Goel CPA

Vandana Goel, CPA

Accounting Specialist

Bio

647-250-0242
vandana@gondaliyacpa.ca

What Our Clients Say

1300+ five-star reviews from security guard companies, patrol operators and labour-intensive service businesses across Ontario and Canada.

Serving Security Guard Companies Across Ontario

Our CPA team provides specialized accounting and tax solutions for security guard companies, mobile patrol operators and event staffing businesses throughout Ontario. We understand why payroll is the tax work rather than a chore beside it, how far an unremitted source deduction can reach under ITA section 227.1, why engaging a guard as a subcontractor is tested rather than labelled, and what CRA looks at first when it opens a guard company file.

Toronto (ON)

55 Queen St E Ste 1205, Toronto, ON M5C 1R6, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Mississauga (ON)

2100 Camilla Rd #716, Mississauga, ON L5A 2J8

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Brampton (ON)

4 Starhill Crescent, Brampton, ON L6R 2P9, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Scarborough (ON)

24 Clementine Square, Scarborough, ON M1G 2V7, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Vaughan (ON)

19 Cabinet Crescent, Woodbridge, ON L4L 6H9, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Oshawa (ON)

210 Durham St, Oshawa, ON L1J 5R3, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Ottawa (ON)

2090 Neepawa Ave a314, Ottawa, ON K2A 3L6, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Etobicoke (ON)

60 Stevenson Rd #1601, Etobicoke, ON M9V 2B4, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Hamilton (ON)

70 Starling Dr, Hamilton, ON L9A 0C5, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Guelph (ON)

1155 Gordon St, Guelph, ON N1L 1S8, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Windsor (ON)

4387 Guppy Ct, Windsor, ON N9G 2N8, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

North York (ON)

150 Graydon Hall Dr #912, North York, ON M3A 3B2, Canada

+1 (647) 212-9559

9:00 AM – 8:30 PM (Mon – Sun)

Security Guard Company Accounting & Tax FAQs

Should I incorporate my security guard company?
Incorporating gives you limited liability on the contracts you sign, plus roughly a 12.2% Ontario combined rate on the first $500,000 of active income under ITA section 125 against a personal rate up to 53.53% when unincorporated. The decision turns on whether you earn more than you withdraw, because that surplus is what a corporation lets you defer, and the small-business deduction is only available where the corporation is not a personal services business under ITA subsection 125(7). There is a second reason specific to this business: a contract book is an asset a corporation can hold, finance and eventually sell in a way a sole proprietor cannot. When it makes sense, we handle the section 85 rollover on Form T2057.
When are payroll source deductions due, and what happens if I miss a remittance?
For a regular remitter, income tax, CPP and EI withheld from your guards’ pay are remitted on the PD7A by the 15th of the month following the month the pay was made. CRA’s late-remittance penalty is graduated and reaches 10%, and arrears interest runs on top. On a book where wages and the statutory costs on them are the large majority of revenue, one missed cycle is a material number rather than a rounding error, because the amount withheld across a full roster is large relative to everything else in the business. Your remitter frequency can also change as your payroll grows, which moves the deadline, so it is worth confirming rather than assuming it stays where it started.
Can CRA assess me personally for unremitted payroll or HST?
That risk is real and it is the reason this page exists. Directors can be assessed for a corporation’s unremitted source deductions under ITA section 227.1 and for unremitted GST/HST under ETA section 323. The amounts a company withholds from its guards are not the company’s money, which is why the legislation reaches past the corporation when they are not sent on. Whether a particular director is liable in a particular case depends on the facts, including the defence the legislation itself provides, and that is argued on the record rather than assumed in either direction. What we can say is that the mechanism exists, that it is triggered by exactly the cash squeeze a guard company lives with, and that most owners we meet have never had it explained to them.
How long does director liability last after I resign?
Resigning does not close the door the day you sign the paperwork. ITA subsection 227.1(4) provides that an assessment cannot be made more than two years after the person last ceased to be a director of the corporation, so the window stays open for that period after you step down. Two practical points follow. First, the date you actually ceased to be a director has to be documented properly, because the clock runs from it and a vague resignation is a weak starting point. Second, stepping down is not a remittance strategy: the exposure for the periods while you were a director does not vanish, and the better answer is to fix the remittance discipline while you are still in a position to do it.
Can I engage my guards as subcontractors instead of employees?
That is tested, not chosen, and it is the largest single audit exposure in this business. CRA works through the factors set out in Form RC4110: control over how and when the work is done, who supplies the tools and equipment, whether the worker can subcontract, and the chance of profit against the risk of loss, together with how integrated the worker is into your operation. An invoice and a label decide nothing. There is also a second question that sits alongside the tax one and that almost no operator has ever been asked: whether the licensing regime under the Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005 independently affects how a licensed guard may be engaged. We raise that with you and your counsel rather than answering it for you, and we document the CRA analysis engagement by engagement.
Do I file a T4 or a T4A for a guard?
It follows the analysis rather than the preference. A guard who is an employee gets a T4, with income tax, CPP and EI withheld and remitted on the PD7A through the year, and the T4 slips and T4 Summary filed by the last day of February and reconciled to those remittances. A guard who is genuinely an independent contractor on the Form RC4110 factors is reported on a T4A instead. What causes trouble is a large subcontract total with no slips and no analysis behind it, because that is the line a payroll auditor opens first. Missed slips for past years can be brought forward through a Voluntary Disclosures Program application, which is a far better position than waiting for the per-slip penalties to be assessed.
Do I need WSIB coverage, and when does Employer Health Tax start applying?
WSIB coverage runs from your first hire, so it is set up with the payroll account rather than after the first claim, and the premiums are a real part of the cost of a guard hour that belongs in your per-site margin rather than in a general overhead bucket. Ontario Employer Health Tax applies on Ontario payroll above the $1,000,000 exemption, which a growing guard company crosses quietly, because adding a single large site can add a dozen guards to the roster in one month. We monitor the annual payroll figure against that exemption through the year instead of discovering the crossing at year-end, and we load both costs into the rate you need to be charging per guard hour.
How should overtime, statutory holidays and shift premiums be handled in the books?
As ordinary, recurring features of the cost base, accrued as they are earned. A post covered around the clock means statutory holidays, shift differentials, minimum call-outs and last-minute replacements are not exceptions to be explained at year-end; they are a predictable part of what a guard hour costs you, and they belong in the rate you charge and in the accrual at the period end. The entitlements themselves come from the Employment Standards Act, 2000 and are administered by the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Quantifying any particular entitlement is employment counsel’s work, not ours, so we do not put a rate, a multiplier or a threshold in front of you. What we do is make sure the cost is accrued, costed to the site and reflected in your pricing.
How do I account for guard hours worked but not yet invoiced?
Revenue is earned as the guarding is performed, so hours worked before your year-end but invoiced after it are income of the earlier year and belong on the balance sheet as a receivable, not as next year’s sales. The reverse case is a client who has paid in advance of service: that amount is brought into income under ITA paragraph 12(1)(a) and reserved out under ITA paragraph 20(1)(m) to the extent the service has not yet been rendered. This is where hours scheduled, hours worked, hours billed and hours paid stop being an administrative nuisance and start being the difference between a correct return and a guess. We reconcile all four per site every month so the year-end accrual is a calculation rather than an estimate.
Do I charge HST on security guard services?
Security guard services are a taxable supply, charged at 13% in Ontario, with the place of supply generally following the recipient’s address. Registration is required once your taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, and most guard companies pass that point in their first few contracts. The more useful point is on the other side of the return: the credits. The HST on patrol vehicles, radios and body-worn equipment, scheduling software, uniforms, fuel, insurance and subcontracted guard supply is recoverable, and on thin contract margins those credits are the cheapest money in the business. Unremitted net tax carries its own director exposure under ETA section 323, so the HST account is managed with the same discipline as the payroll account.
What CCA class is a patrol vehicle, and what about radios and software?
Radios, body-worn equipment, dispatch and monitoring equipment, guard-house fittings and office furniture generally go to Class 8 at 20%. Computers and servers belong in Class 50 at 55%, and scheduling and guard-management software in Class 12 at 100%. An office or dispatch-centre leasehold goes to Class 13 over the term, and goodwill or an acquired contract book lands in Class 14.1 at 5%. Vehicles generally go to Class 10, but a vehicle that meets the definition of an automobile in ITA subsection 248(1) and costs more than the prescribed limit falls into Class 10.1 instead, where each vehicle sits in its own class and neither recapture nor terminal loss arises on disposal. Whether your particular patrol vehicle is caught by that definition is a question we work through on the facts of the vehicle and its use.
What can a security guard company write off?
Guard wages and the employer portion of CPP and EI, WSIB premiums, Employer Health Tax, overtime and premium pay, vacation pay, subcontracted guard supply, guard and agency licensing, training and renewal costs, uniforms and issued equipment, patrol vehicle lease, fuel, insurance and maintenance, scheduling and guard-management software, general liability and bonding premiums, recruitment and screening, dispatch and supervision overhead, professional fees, and CANASA and ASIS International dues. On capital, radios and equipment go to Class 8, vehicles to Class 10 or Class 10.1, computers to Class 50, software to Class 12, a leasehold to Class 13 and an acquired contract book to Class 14.1, all on Schedule 8. A bad debt on an unpaid client invoice is deductible under paragraph 20(1)(p). Whether a uniform, an equipment issue or an allowance is a taxable benefit to the guard is a separate question we review on the facts.
How do I value my security guard company if I sell it?
A buyer prices the contract book: how many sites, on what terms, at what margin, with what notice periods and what history of renewal. Guard companies change hands on recurring contracts rather than on vehicles and radios, which is why those contracts are carried and presented separately from equipment. The first thing a buyer’s adviser looks for is accrued wages and any unremitted source deductions, so those are stated honestly rather than buried, and a gap found in diligence costs far more than the same gap disclosed voluntarily beforehand on Form RC199. The structure decides what you keep: a share sale can access the $1.25M Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption under ITA 110.6 where the shares qualify, with a two-year runway. An asset sale puts goodwill and the acquired contract book in Class 14.1 and triggers recapture where proceeds beat undepreciated capital cost.

Related Industries We Serve

Accountant for Staffing Agencies

  • Payroll remittance discipline
  • Contractor classification analysis
  • Corporate tax filing and statements

Accountant for IT Staffing Companies

  • Placement and contract billing
  • Personal services business risk
  • Corporate tax planning and bookkeeping

Accountant for Alarm and Camera Installers

  • Installation and monitoring revenue
  • Equipment and vehicle capital pools
  • Corporate tax filing and statements

Accountant for Call Centres

  • Shift payroll and premium pay
  • Seat and hour based contracts
  • Corporate tax planning and advisory

Security Guard Company Accounting & Tax Done Right.

Source deductions remitted on the PD7A by the 15th with the graduated 10% penalty avoided, T4 slips and the T4 Summary filed by the last day of February and reconciled to the remittances actually made, WSIB from the first hire and Employer Health Tax monitored against the $1,000,000 exemption, the ITA section 227.1 and ETA section 323 director exposure reported to you in writing instead of discovered later, every subcontracted guard tested on the Form RC4110 factors with T4A slips where they belong, premium pay accrued as earned, hours scheduled, worked, billed and paid reconciled per site, and patrol vehicles, radios and software in the capital classes that fit them. AFFORDABLE flat fees, no hourly billing. Licensed CPA Ontario. 1300+ five-star reviews. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee.



Scroll to Top