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Gondaliya CPA

Corporate Tax Filing Experts

Tax Accountant for Pubs in Ontario and Across Canada

We split your food and liquor HST at the register, cost your pour and your plate, run your tips and part-time payroll correctly, reconcile your POS cash so you sail through a CRA review, keep your AGCO books straight, write off your bar and kitchen buildout, and plan the tax on your pub. Whether you run a traditional Irish or British pub, a food-focused gastropub, a sports bar, or a neighbourhood tavern, we handle the hospitality books, the 13% HST split between your food and your alcohol, the liquor and food inventory with your pour cost and food cost, the controlled-tip and part-time payroll with WSIB, and the leasehold and equipment depreciation, keep your cash and POS audit-ready, and plan the salary, dividends and eventual sale of your pub — with AFFORDABLE flat fees.

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AFFORDABLE Pub Tax Accountant

A pub runs a kitchen and a bar under one roof, and the tax turns on getting the food-and-liquor split, the margins and the cash right. Both your food and your alcohol are taxable at 13% HST, so your POS has to split them at the register; your kegs, bottles and kitchen stock are inventory you have to cost against your pour cost and food cost; your pooled tips run through payroll while a cash-and-card bar is exactly what a CRA auditor tests; and your AGCO liquor sales licence sits over all of it. As your pub accountant in Ontario, we specialize in HST-split and pour-and-food-cost bookkeeping for pubs and in corporate tax planning that keeps you compliant and stops you paying more tax than you owe.

Whether you run a traditional Irish or British pub, a food-focused gastropub, a sports bar, or a neighbourhood tavern, we work with licensed hospitality owners across Ontario year-round, through patio season and the sporting calendar. We tell you plainly what you can deduct, how to keep your Z-reports reconciled, and how to structure the tax on a profitable pub.

Let us handle the numbers so you can focus on running your pub.

Gondaliya CPA team - accounting and tax services for pubs

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Accounting That Understands How a Pub Actually Works

A licensed pub carries financial pressures a plain retail business never faces. You sell food and alcohol under one roof at two margins, your cash and card sales sit under a CRA sales-suppression spotlight, your tips and part-time payroll have their own rules, and your AGCO liquor sales licence governs the bar. At Gondaliya CPA, we understand the reality of a food-and-liquor operation and provide practical, pub-focused solutions across the GTA and all of Ontario.

💰

Food & Liquor HST

Both your kitchen and your bar are taxable at 13%, and your POS has to split them while your ITCs come back.

💵

Pour Cost & Inventory

Your kegs, bottles and food are inventory, and your pour cost and food-cost percentage protect your margin.

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Tips & Cash Controls

Your pooled tips run through payroll with CPP and EI, and sales-suppression software carries penalties from $5,000.

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AGCO & Buildout

Your liquor sales licence governs the bar, and your bar, kitchen and patio buildout depreciates over years.

Stay Compliant and Minimize Your Pub Tax

For a licensed pub, staying onside with the AGCO and CRA and paying the least legal tax are the same job. We keep every filing on schedule while claiming every deduction a hospitality corporation allows, so nothing is missed and nothing invites a reassessment.

📋

AGCO & Municipal Obligations

A pub runs on an AGCO liquor sales licence, a municipal public-health and food-premises inspection, and a municipal business licence, and every employee is covered under WSIB. We confirm your liquor sales licence and food-premises registration are current, that your entertainment and sports subscriptions are properly licensed, and that your WSIB account and clearance are in good standing. Getting these registrations right protects your right to pour, keeps the kitchen open, and stops a lapsed licence from shutting your pub down mid-season.

CRA Obligations for Pubs

Staying compliant with CRA means more than one return a year. We split your HST correctly between food and liquor, reconcile your POS to your cash and card deposits under the electronic sales-suppression rules, and run your controlled-tip payroll with CPP, EI and PD7A remittances. By monitoring the areas CRA reviews most often on a cash-intensive bar, we reduce your audit exposure and keep your pub financially sound.

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Year-End Deliverables for Pubs

At year-end, a pub needs a proper trial balance, financial statements that carry your liquor and food inventory, your bar and kitchen equipment and your leasehold improvements, and a T2 corporate return with GIFI on Schedules 100 and 125. Where a lender is financing your buildout or expansion, you also need CPA-compiled statements. Our team prepares every deliverable on time and in compliance, so your file is audit-ready and financing-ready.

Accounting & Tax Experts for Pubs

Gondaliya CPA pub accounting expertsGondaliya CPA pub tax experts
  • AFFORDABLE + Fully Registered CPA Firm
  • Pub, Bar & Hospitality Tax Expert
  • Liquor, HST & Payroll Specialist
  • 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 Pubs?

1
🎯

Tax Planning — Hospitality & Buildout Expertise

We know how a pub depreciates: bar, kitchen and draught equipment in Class 8, leasehold improvements in Class 13, POS in Class 50. We time your equipment, protect the $500,000 small business deduction, and structure a section 85 rollover so your buildout works for you.

2
💳

Consulting — Pour Cost, Food Cost & POS Bookkeeping

Our bookkeeping is built for a food-and-liquor floor. We split your food and liquor HST at the register, track pour cost and food-cost percentage against your liquor and food inventory, and reconcile your POS to cash and card every single day.

3
🛡

CRA Representation — Cash, POS & Tip Audit

When CRA opens a sales-suppression or cash review, questions your tip payroll, or challenges liquor-inventory shrink, we prepare the Z-report reconciliation and the response, and pursue relief on Form RC4288 where penalties came from a prior error.

4
🏢

Bookkeeping — Payroll, Seasonality & Sale

We run your bartender, server and kitchen payroll with WSIB, smooth the cash swing of patio season and the sports calendar, and plan the eventual disposition of your pub so the $1.25M capital gains exemption is available at sale.

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Weekend and evening support until 9 PM
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Pub Tax and Accounting Services in Ontario

📄

Corporate Tax Filing for Pubs

Professional T2 corporate return preparation with Schedule 8 CCA on your bar, kitchen and leasehold, accurate and CRA-compliant.

💳

Accounting & Bookkeeping for Pubs

Reliable bookkeeping with food and liquor HST split, pour and food cost tracking, and daily POS-to-cash reconciliation.

📈

Corporate Tax Planning for Pubs

Smart tax planning to reduce corporate tax, protect the small business deduction, and time your bar and kitchen buildout.

Catch-Up Corporate Tax Filing for Pubs

File overdue T2 and HST years, reconstruct food and liquor sales from POS records, and get back into CRA compliance.

🧾

GST/HST Filing for Pubs

AFFORDABLE HST filing that splits food and alcohol correctly and recovers your input tax credits on liquor, food and equipment.

🧹

Corporate Tax Cleanup for Pubs

Fix the HST split, reconcile the POS cash, restate liquor and food inventory, and bring every filing fully up to date.

🛡

CRA Audit Resolution Services for Pubs

Expert support on cash, POS sales-suppression, tip payroll and liquor-shrink audits, reviews, objections and relief.

📊

CPA Compilation Report (Notice to Reader) for Pubs

CPA-compiled financial statements that lenders accept when you finance a buildout, equipment or an expansion.

🏢

Incorporation Services for Pubs

Full incorporation including NUANS, articles, share structure, a liquor-licence-holding structure and the section 85 rollover.

📒

Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services for Pubs

Months of missing books rebuilt from your POS Z-reports, cash floats and liquor invoices, then reconciled so your pub’s HST and payroll are current.

🌐

US Corporation & LLC Tax Filing for Pubs

Form 1120, treaty-based 1120-F and Form 5472 filings for the US taproom or LLC behind your pub, coordinated with your Canadian T2.

📜

Voluntary Disclosure Program for Pubs

A Voluntary Disclosures Program filing on Form RC199 for unreported cash sales and unremitted HST, correcting the record before CRA finds it.

Accounting & Tax Services Tailored for Pubs

Real, practitioner-level CPA expertise for traditional Irish and British pubs, gastropubs, sports bars and neighbourhood taverns across Ontario — built for how a food-and-liquor operation actually runs.

  • We prepare your T2 corporate return with a Schedule 8 CCA claim that places your bar equipment, kitchen equipment and draught system in Class 8 at 20%, because a misclassified asset hands CRA a reassessment and years of understated depreciation on the pool.
  • Your leasehold improvements — the fit-out, bar build and booth seating — go into Class 13 written off straight-line over the lease term, so we schedule a $180,000 buildout apart from Class 8 to protect the deduction CRA can otherwise collapse.
  • Your POS terminals and back-office computers belong in Class 50 at 55%, a far faster write-off than your Class 8 fixtures, so we track each device and claim it rather than let the deduction vanish into a general expense line CRA later denies.
  • Your kegs, bottles, spirits and kitchen stock are inventory under ITA section 10 valued at the lower of cost or market, so we match cost to each sale while the 13% HST you paid is recovered as an input tax credit instead of overstating losses.
  • We file your T2 with GIFI on Schedules 100 and 125 and reconcile it to your TouchBistro POS within six months of year-end, because a late return draws a 5% penalty plus 1% per month while revenue that misses your deposits invites a CRA audit.
  • We build your books in QuickBooks Online with a chart of accounts that separates draught beer sales, bottled beer sales, wine and spirits sales and food and kitchen sales, because CRA expects a pub past the $30,000 HST threshold to show each taxable stream distinctly.
  • For a pub on Sage 50 we integrate the Lightspeed POS feed so every pour posts correctly and your pour cost is tracked against liquor inventory, because untracked spillage erodes a margin that should hold near a 28% pour cost and leaves stock unsupported.
  • We reconcile your Toast POS and card payouts to bank deposits every month, capturing the roughly 2.7% merchant processing fees withheld before payout as a deduction, because booking only the net deposit understates gross sales and hands CRA a revenue mismatch.
  • We track your food cost as a percentage of food and kitchen sales inside your monthly close, flagging when it drifts past a 32% target, so your gastropub kitchen keeps the margin the bar cannot make up on its own.
  • We capture your supplier and liquor invoices through Dext and post them to your inventory cost pool, giving you the six years of records CRA can demand so a $4,000 write-down for spoiled kegs or short stock survives a review.
  • We set your salary-and-dividend mix each year against the $500,000 small business deduction, paying enough salary to build RRSP room and CPP while dividends carry the rest, because the wrong mix quietly overpays tax on income your pub could have kept at 12.2%.
  • We keep your active income under the $500,000 small business deduction so your pub pays the 12.2% Ontario small-business rate instead of the 26.5% general rate, timing bonuses and dividends before your year-end so a profitable season does not push you over.
  • We time your bar and kitchen equipment purchases before December 31 so the Accelerated Investment Incentive gives a bigger first-year Class 8 CCA claim than the half-year rule allows, turning a $60,000 draught-and-kitchen upgrade into an immediate deduction.
  • We smooth the seasonal swing of patio season and the sports calendar with an instalment plan, setting money aside from your summer peak so the quarterly instalments your pub owes once tax passes the $3,000 threshold never force you to borrow against next season.
  • We plan the eventual sale of your pub years ahead so the $1.25M Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption is available on your qualified small business corporation shares, structuring the share classes now rather than watching a share sale attract full tax later.
  • Unfiled T2 returns for your pub lock your CRA business account and stall your HST refunds, so we file every outstanding year with a complete GIFI before the 5% plus 1% per month late-filing penalty compounds any further on the oldest balance.
  • We reconstruct your unfiled food and liquor sales from your POS Z-reports, daily cash sheets and bank deposits, then file the HST you should have remitted at 13% for each missing year, building a defensible T2 instead of round numbers CRA will reject.
  • We file the Voluntary Disclosures Program application before CRA contacts your pub, because a disclosure accepted under the general program cancels penalties in full and gives 50% interest relief on the years preceding the three most recent, turning exposure into a manageable bill.
  • We recover the CCA your pub never claimed across every unfiled year, adding your bar equipment, draught system and kitchen equipment to the Class 8 pool at 20%, because a catch-up filing that reports income and ignores undepreciated capital cost overpays CRA.
  • We reconcile the 13% HST already collected on your food and alcohol against what your pub actually remitted for each open year, filing the corrected returns before the four-year assessment window closes rather than waiting for CRA to add interest.
  • Your pub stops being a small supplier the moment taxable sales pass $30,000 across four consecutive quarters, and we register you for HST on the exact day you cross so CRA cannot assess you on tax you never charged your customers.
  • We configure your POS so the 13% HST is charged and reported separately on food and on alcohol, because a pub that lumps the two together loses the audit trail CRA wants and cannot prove the split when a review lands.
  • We claim your input tax credits on the 13% HST paid on liquor, food, rent, utilities and equipment on line 108 of your HST return, recovering real money most pubs leave with CRA because the purchase tax is never tracked.
  • We match line 101 of your HST return to the food and liquor revenue on your T2, because CRA’s matching program compares the two and even a $20,000 gap between what your pub reported and what it deposited invites a review.
  • We test the HST Quick Method against claiming full input tax credits for your pub, and because a licensed bar carrying heavy liquor and equipment purchase tax usually recovers more on the regular method below the $400,000 Quick Method ceiling, we run both each period.
  • We correct a food-and-liquor HST split that a prior bookkeeper ran as a single taxable line, restating each period so your pub’s 13% collected on alcohol and on food is reported properly and CRA cannot reassess the whole reporting position.
  • We reconcile POS cash and card totals to your bank deposits for every prior period, because an unreconciled cash-and-card bar is exactly the file CRA pulls under the sales-suppression rules, where penalties start at $5,000 for the software alone.
  • We restate your liquor and food inventory to the lower of cost or market under ITA section 10 where prior years carried a guessed figure, correcting a $25,000 misstatement so your keg, bottle and kitchen stock finally ties to real physical counts.
  • We fix the tip payroll a prior preparer missed, moving your pooled controlled tips onto payroll with CPP, EI and PD7A remittances, because unremitted source deductions on the tip pool draw a 10% CRA penalty your pub then has to fund.
  • We correct leasehold CCA a prior return expensed in full, moving a $120,000 bar build and fit-out into Class 13 over the lease term and filing an amended T2 and HST, so the deduction is spread correctly and CRA has nothing left to reassess.
  • When CRA opens a sales-suppression review, we produce your daily POS Z-reports reconciled to cash and card deposits, showing your pub never used electronic sales-suppression software, because possession alone triggers a penalty starting at $5,000 and rising fast.
  • CRA applies indirect verification of income to a cash-intensive pub, comparing your deposits and lifestyle to reported sales, so we prepare the source-and-application-of-funds reconciliation that closes the gap before a net-worth assessment adds a 50% gross-negligence penalty.
  • When CRA audits your tip payroll, we show the controlled tips your pub pooled ran through payroll with CPP and EI, while direct tips stayed the staff’s to report, because unremitted deductions on a $30,000 tip pool draw an assessment plus interest.
  • When CRA challenges liquor-inventory shrink, we defend your pour cost with purchase invoices, Z-report pour data and physical counts, showing a shrink that keeps pour cost near 28% rather than the unreported cash sales an auditor would otherwise impute.
  • We file the RC4288 taxpayer-relief request for penalties and interest that came from a prior accountant’s error or a documented hardship, covering the ten calendar years before the request with the chronology CRA needs to cancel the charges.
  • We prepare CSRS 4200 compilation engagement financial statements for your pub, which banks and equipment lenders require before they finance a $250,000 bar buildout, a kitchen expansion or a second location your T2 alone will not support.
  • Your compiled statement of financial position shows your bar and kitchen equipment at net book value, your liquor and food inventory and a shareholder loan the lender scrutinises, presenting a $300,000 asset base across two fiscal years that a bare T2 summary cannot.
  • We compile your statement of operations with draught, bottled beer, wine and spirits and food and kitchen sales, cost of goods sold and operating expenses tied to the T2 filed, showing a combined COGS near 35% that a lender reads as a stable trend.
  • The required CSRS 4200 communication discloses that no audit or review was performed and the notes set out your basis of accounting and owner withdrawals, without which a lender behind a $500,000 expansion loan rejects your pub file.
  • We deliver your compiled statements within 30 days of receiving complete records and your year’s figures, because a pub’s equipment-financing or lease-renewal approval collapses when the lender’s conditional offer expires before the accountant produces the file.
  • We incorporate your pub under the Ontario Business Corporations Act with a NUANS name search and Articles of Incorporation, giving you limited liability on a liquor-liability suit and access to the 12.2% small-business rate a sole proprietorship never offers the bar.
  • We complete the section 85 rollover on Form T2057 to move your bar equipment, draught system, kitchen equipment and goodwill into the new corporation at elected amounts, deferring the tax on a $150,000 asset transfer that a straight sale would otherwise trigger.
  • We register your corporation’s CRA Business Number, HST account once sales pass $30,000, payroll account for your bartenders, servers and kitchen staff and your WSIB account, then close the old accounts so your pub never files the same revenue twice.
  • We design a liquor-licence-holding structure and common voting and non-voting share classes at incorporation, so dividends can be paid to family shareholders and the $1.25M capital gains exemption multiplied on your qualified small business corporation shares at sale.
  • We set your pub’s first fiscal year-end up to 53 weeks after incorporation and prepare the opening balance sheet, minute book and director resolutions, deferring the corporation’s first T2 filing and CRA balance-due date into the following year.
  • We rebuild months of missing books from your TouchBistro Z-reports, till floats and bank deposits, matching every shift’s cash sales, card batches and voids so the $12,000 gap between your POS totals and deposits stops looking like skimmed revenue to CRA.
  • We reconcile the 13% HST you charged on prepared food and every pint, cocktail and bottle poured against the input tax credits on your inputs, catching the returns you never filed before CRA estimates them for you.
  • We rebuild your liquor and keg inventory from LCBO and beer distributor invoices, counting spoilage, comped rounds and line cleaning so your bar’s cost of goods sold ties to actual pours instead of a guessed figure that inflates your loss.
  • We catch up the payroll you ran late for bartenders, servers and kitchen staff, remitting the source deductions, CPP and EI on wages and controlled tips so CRA drops the 10% late-remittance penalty already stacking against your account.
  • Once the books balance we prepare and file your outstanding back-year T2 corporate returns, claiming the CCA and input tax credits you missed while there is still time to recover roughly $8,000 before the reassessment window closes.
  • If your pub group opened a taproom across the border, we prepare the US Form 1120 return for the American entity and reconcile it to the Canadian T2, so neither CRA nor the IRS taxes the same $200,000 of bar income twice.
  • When the US taproom has no permanent establishment stateside, we file a treaty-based Form 1120-F with the position claimed under the Canada-US treaty, so your pub’s American profits are taxed at home rather than surrendered to the IRS.
  • Because your Canadian company owns the US entity, we file Form 5472 disclosing every reportable transaction between them, such as the recipe licensing and management fees, since a missed or late 5472 carries a flat $25,000 IRS penalty per year.
  • If you hold the US taproom through an LLC, we manage the hybrid mismatch CRA treats as a corporation while the IRS flows it through, structuring the foreign tax credit so the US tax you pay is not lost against your Canadian bill.
  • If a US citizen co-owns your pub, we handle their US owner reporting and track where servers, delivery and taproom sales create state nexus, registering for state income and sales tax before a state assesses years of back returns.
  • We prepare your Voluntary Disclosures Program application on Form RC199, laying out the unreported bar income and the years involved before CRA opens an audit, because a disclosure filed first is the only route to relief from penalties.
  • We confirm your application meets all five acceptance conditions, that it is voluntary, complete, involves a penalty, is at least one year overdue and includes payment of the estimated tax, so CRA cannot reject the filing and reinstate the penalties.
  • We quantify the cash pints and cover charges that never hit the POS and the 13% HST you collected but never remitted, disclosing roughly $40,000 of unremitted tax so the gross-negligence penalty and possible prosecution are taken off the table.
  • We clean up the shareholder loan account where you drew cash from the till for personal costs, reporting the draws correctly before subsection 15(2) forces the full balance into your income and CRA layers interest on top.
  • We position your pub under the general track rather than the limited program wherever the facts allow, since the general track cancels penalties and grants partial interest relief instead of leaving you exposed to the full charges.

Pub Tax & POS Check

Six quick questions on your HST split, pour and food cost, tips, POS cash and buildout. No fee shown.

1. Are you splitting your food and liquor HST correctly at the register?

2. Are you costing your pour and your plate against pour cost and food cost?

3. Are you running your pooled controlled tips through payroll?

4. Are you reconciling your POS to cash and card every day?

5. Are you keeping your liquor inventory and AGCO books straight?

6. Are you writing off your bar and kitchen buildout in the right CCA class?

Free CPA Consultation for Pubs

Case Studies: Pub Accounting & Tax

Toronto Gastropub — Food/Liquor HST Split & Pour Cost Fixed

The problem: A downtown gastropub was ringing food and alcohol through the POS as one taxable line, so the 13% HST was never split and its input tax credits on liquor, food and equipment were only half-claimed. Pour cost was running near 40% with no keg-level tracking, spillage was invisible, and the kitchen’s food cost had crept past 38% without anyone noticing. A single revenue figure on the T2 no longer tied to the bank deposits.

What we did: We rebuilt the books in QuickBooks Online synced to the TouchBistro POS, separated draught, bottled beer, wine and spirits and food and kitchen sales, and corrected the HST split so every ITC was recovered. We set up daily Z-report-to-cash reconciliation and weekly pour-cost and food-cost reporting against liquor and food inventory.

The result:

  • Saved $23,600 per year in recovered ITCs and tax
  • Brought pour cost from 40% down to 28%
  • Cut food cost to 31% of kitchen sales

Ottawa Sports Bar — Tip Payroll & POS Cash Reconciliation

The problem: A busy sports bar was pooling and distributing controlled tips with no CPP, EI or PD7A remittances, leaving a live payroll exposure across three years. Its cash-and-card floor was never reconciled to the POS, the Z-reports and bank deposits diverged most game nights, and an old POS carried a sales-suppression function nobody had disabled — exactly the profile CRA selects for a net-worth review.

What we did: We set up controlled-tip payroll through Wagepoint with correct CPP, EI and PD7A remittances, moved the bar to a clean Lightspeed POS with sales-suppression removed, and rebuilt daily POS-to-cash reconciliation. We reconstructed three years of food and liquor sales from Z-reports and filed the corrected HST.

The result:

  • Saved $17,900 in avoided tip-payroll penalties and interest
  • Removed a $5,000-plus sales-suppression exposure
  • Reconciled 100% of POS cash to deposits

Hamilton Traditional Pub — Leasehold CCA, Patio Cash Flow & Incorporation

The problem: A traditional Irish pub operating as a sole proprietorship had expensed its entire buildout in one year, mixing the bar build, kitchen equipment, draught system and patio into a single deduction that CRA could easily collapse. Patio-season cash came in fast and ran dry each winter, instalments were guessed at, and the owner had no liability protection on the licensed premises.

What we did: We reclassified the buildout — leaseholds to Class 13, bar, kitchen and draught equipment and patio furniture to Class 8, POS to Class 50 — then incorporated under the OBCA and moved the assets across on a section 85 rollover with a liquor-licence-holding structure. We built a seasonal instalment and cash-flow plan around patio season.

The result:

  • Buildout correctly classed across Class 8, 13 and 50
  • Incorporated with a clean section 85 rollover
  • Smoothed cash flow across the off-season

Our Simple Process

How We Work With Pubs

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, POS Z-reports and daily cash, liquor and food inventory counts, AGCO licence, payroll and tip records, lease and buildout costs, and bank statements.

Step 2

First 30 Days (Cleanup & Setup)

Set up QuickBooks Online or Sage 50 with TouchBistro, Lightspeed or Toast integration, the food/liquor HST split, your CCA classes, and tip and part-time payroll.

Step 3

Monthly Close

Monthly reconciliations, daily POS-to-cash checks, pour cost and food cost tracking, HST split, and receipt capture through Dext.

Step 4

Quarterly Planning Review

Salary/dividend mix, HST position, pour and food cost, equipment timing, and seasonal cash flow around patio season.

Step 5

Year-End Close & T2 Filing

Trial balance, financial statements with liquor and food inventory, T2 with GIFI, and CRA preparation.

Transparent Pricing for Pubs

Affordable Pricing for Pubs

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 Pub Accountant

Meet your lead pub accountant. As your hospitality 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 pub, bar and hospitality owners across Ontario and Canada.

Serving Pubs Across Ontario

Our CPA team provides specialized accounting and tax solutions for licensed pubs, gastropubs, sports bars and neighbourhood taverns throughout Ontario. We understand how a food-and-liquor floor actually operates, what CRA looks at on a cash-intensive bar, and how the AGCO, HST and payroll rules fit together.

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)

5373 Bullrush Dr, Mississauga, ON, Canada

+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)

Pub Accounting & Tax FAQs

Should I incorporate my pub?
Incorporating your pub gives you limited liability on the licensed premises, a 12.2% combined Ontario rate on the first $500,000 of active income under the small business deduction, and access to the $1.25M Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption when you sell. A sole proprietor pub owner is personally exposed to every slip, liquor-liability and supplier claim, and every dollar of profit is taxed at personal rates whether it stays in the business or not. The decision usually turns on whether the pub earns more than you need to draw, because that surplus is what a corporation lets you defer and reinvest in your buildout. Your AGCO liquor sales licence has to be held in the right entity, so we structure the corporation to hold the licence cleanly. Incorporation also brings annual T2 filing, a minute book and higher compliance costs, so it is not free. We complete the section 85 rollover on Form T2057 to move your bar equipment, draught system, kitchen equipment and goodwill across without triggering tax. We model the break-even on your actual numbers rather than a rule of thumb, and when the answer is not yet, we say so.
How are pubs taxed in Canada?
An incorporated pub files a T2 corporate return and pays 12.2% in Ontario on the first $500,000 of active income under the small business deduction, then 26.5% above that. Both your food and alcohol sales are taxable at 13% HST, which you collect and remit net of your input tax credits. Payroll, WSIB and EHT apply to your staff, and profit you take out is taxed again personally as salary or dividends. We plan the mix so the total is as low as the rules allow.
Do I charge HST on both food and alcohol?
Yes. In Ontario both your food and your alcohol are taxable at 13% HST, and your POS should record and report the two streams separately even though the rate is the same. You claim input tax credits on the 13% you pay on liquor, food, rent, utilities and equipment, and remit only the difference. Splitting the streams keeps the audit trail CRA expects and makes your ITC recovery defensible.
How do I account for my liquor and food inventory?
Your kegs, bottles, spirits, wine and kitchen stock are inventory under ITA section 10, valued at the lower of cost or market at year-end. You count it physically, cost it against sales, and the movement becomes your cost of goods sold. We tie your TouchBistro or Lightspeed purchase and pour data to the counts so shrinkage is visible and a write-down for spoiled or short stock survives a CRA review.
What is pour cost and how do I track it?
Pour cost is your liquor cost divided by your liquor sales, and a well-run bar targets roughly 28%. If yours runs higher, over-pouring, spillage, comps or theft are eating the margin. We track it monthly against your liquor inventory in QuickBooks or Sage 50 synced to your POS, and we track food cost as a percentage of kitchen sales the same way, so both margins stay where they should.
Is a service charge or tip taxable and how do I run tips on payroll?
Controlled tips — where you pool and distribute them, or add a mandatory service charge — are pensionable and insurable, so they run through payroll with CPP, EI and PD7A remittances. Direct tips handed straight to staff are theirs to report and are not withheld at source. Getting the distinction wrong is a common source of CRA payroll assessments, so we set the tip pool up correctly from the start.
What is the electronic sales-suppression penalty and how do I stay onside?
Electronic sales suppression — ‘zapper’ or phantomware software that deletes or alters POS sales — carries penalties starting at $5,000 for merely using or possessing it, rising sharply for repeat use, on top of the tax and interest on the hidden sales. You stay onside by running an unmodified POS and reconciling your daily Z-reports to cash and card deposits. We build that daily reconciliation so your records prove your sales.
How do I reconcile my POS to cash?
Every day your POS produces a Z-report totalling sales, HST, cash and card. You count the till, compare it to the Z-report, tie the card total to your merchant payout and the cash to your bank deposit, and investigate any gap the same day. A cash-and-card bar that reconciles daily is what carries you through a CRA review; one that does not is what triggers a net-worth audit.
What CCA class are my bar and kitchen equipment?
Your bar equipment, draught system, kitchen equipment, furniture, patio furniture and signage go into Class 8 at 20% declining balance. Your POS terminals and back-office computers are Class 50 at 55%. Leasehold improvements — the buildout and fit-out — go into Class 13, written off straight-line over the lease term. We put each asset in the right class so your depreciation holds up and you claim the full deduction.
Can I write off my leasehold improvements and patio?
Yes. Leasehold improvements to a space you rent — the bar build, the fit-out, the buildout — are capitalized in Class 13 and deducted straight-line over the term of your lease including the first renewal option, not expensed in one year. Your patio furniture and fixtures are Class 8 at 20%. Timing the spend before your year-end lets the Accelerated Investment Incentive boost the first-year claim.
How do I pay my bartenders, servers and kitchen staff?
Your bartenders, servers and kitchen staff are employees on payroll, so you withhold income tax, CPP and EI, remit on your PD7A, register and pay WSIB, and file T4s each February. EHT applies once your Ontario payroll passes the exemption. Part-time and casual staff are treated the same way. We run the whole cycle through Wagepoint so remittances are never late.
What records does CRA want from a pub?
CRA expects daily POS Z-reports, cash-out sheets, merchant statements and bank deposits that all reconcile, liquor and food inventory counts, supplier and liquor invoices, payroll and tip records, your AGCO licence, and lease and buildout documents — kept for six years. A cash-intensive bar is reviewed on whether reported sales match deposits and lifestyle, so the reconciliation is what matters most. We keep it audit-ready year-round.
How do I get started?
Book a free consultation and you will know your exact fees within two minutes. Call 647-212-9559 or email info@gondaliyacpa.ca.

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  • Food-cost and kitchen bookkeeping
  • HST, tips and part-time payroll
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Accountant for Breweries

  • Beer inventory and excise accounting
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Accountant for Incorporated Businesses

  • Corporate tax planning and the small business deduction
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Pub Accounting & Tax Done Right.

T2 filing, food and liquor HST split, pour cost and food cost, liquor and food inventory, controlled-tip and part-time payroll with WSIB, leasehold and equipment CCA, POS cash reconciliation and the incorporation decision under one roof. AFFORDABLE flat fees, no hourly billing. Licensed CPA Ontario. 1300+ five-star reviews. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee.



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