Book Consultation

Gondaliya CPA

Corporate Tax Filing Experts

Tax Accountant for Third-Party Logistics Providers in Ontario and Across Canada

A pallet of somebody else’s goods, leaving your building on somebody else’s instruction, is the transaction this trade handles worst — and it gets harder when the somebody is not in Canada. Where you hold and move goods here for a client that is a non-resident holding no GST/HST registration, the drop-shipment rules in section 179 of the Excise Tax Act can treat you as having supplied the goods themselves rather than the handling you were paid for, and the relief in subsection 179(2) runs through a drop-shipment certificate obtained from the person taking delivery and then kept. Whether any of that reaches a given movement depends on facts nobody can read off an invoice, which is the point: it is a question to settle before goods move, not after a reviewer asks. We also put your management, handling and integration fees where they belong as your own taxable supplies at 13% in Ontario, bring a take-or-pay shortfall into income under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act when it becomes receivable, and hold racking, conveyors and sorters in Class 8 at 20% with a yard truck in Class 10 at 30%. Whether you run contract warehousing, inbound and outbound distribution, returns handling or a full outsourced supply chain for brand owners, we take the paperwork, the capital cost pools and the T2 off your hands, on AFFORDABLE flat fees.

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

AFFORDABLE Third-Party Logistics Tax Accountant

Ask a third-party logistics owner who owns the freight on the floor and the answer comes back at once: the client does. Ask whether that client is registered for GST/HST and the answer is usually that nobody has looked. The distance between those two answers is what this page is about. Section 179 of the Excise Tax Act carries rules for goods held and moved inside Canada on the instructions of a person neither resident here nor registered, and where they apply the registrant transferring physical possession can be treated as having made a taxable supply of the goods — not of the handling or the outbound movement it was engaged to perform. Subsection 179(2) is the relief, and it is conditional: it turns on obtaining a drop-shipment certificate from the consignee and retaining it, not on how commercial the arrangement looked. There is no single universal outcome here and we will not pretend otherwise. The provision is detailed, it carries its own further rules and exclusions, and whether it touches your file is determined on your agreements, your movements and your clients’ registration status. What we do is put the questions in the right order and get the answers written down. At Gondaliya CPA this is the kind of logistics file we want: an AFFORDABLE flat fee, filed when it is due, with nothing paid that the law does not ask for.

As a third-party logistics accountant we act for contract warehousing operators, inbound and outbound distribution businesses, returns specialists and outsourced supply-chain providers across Ontario, and we work the file through the year instead of appearing once at filing season. We tell you which clients raise a question under section 179 and which do not, what belongs in the certificate file behind each, when a volume shortfall lands on the return, and where bought-in carrier capacity sits.

We will take the paperwork off your desk so the freight keeps moving.

Gondaliya CPA team - accounting and tax services for third-party logistics providers

Our Official Partners

Google Reviews
CPA Ontario
QuickBooks
Wagepoint
Xero
Stripe
Rotessa
Hubdoc
ADP

Accounting That Understands How a Third-Party Logistics Provider Actually Works

Handling goods for other people carries a problem the rate card never shows: the tax question on a shipment can turn on a fact about your client rather than on the work. A client registered in Canada and a client that is neither resident nor registered put you in two different positions on an identical pallet. Most logistics ledgers record only the fee. That is the ground Gondaliya CPA works on, with practical support for providers across Ontario.

🌍

The Client Who Is Not in Canada

Your client’s residence and registration are facts about your position, not only theirs. A non-resident client holding no GST/HST registration is the pattern section 179 of the Excise Tax Act was written for.

📄

Relief Runs Through a Document

Subsection 179(2) relieves the deemed supply where the person taking delivery issues a drop-shipment certificate and you keep it. The relief attaches to the document, not to how sensible the deal felt.

⚖

Measured on the Goods, Not Your Fee

Where the deeming rule applies, the amount is set by reference to the value of the goods. A few dollars a pallet on handling is not the measure, and that gap is the entire problem.

🧾

Your Fee Is a Supply of Its Own

Whatever becomes of the goods, the handling, management and integration charges you invoice are your own taxable supplies at 13% where supplied in Ontario. The two questions answer separately.

Stay Compliant and Minimize Your Third-Party Logistics Tax

Returns that go in on time and a tax bill no larger than the law requires come out of the same work, not two jobs. We hold the GST/HST periods, the payroll remittances, the WSIB account and the T2 to schedule while claiming every credit and capital cost allowance dollar available, and we keep the client-status and certificate record assembled client by client, so a review finds a document rather than a shrug.

📦

Where Section 179 Reaches You

The arrangement is ordinary enough. A brand owner outside Canada sends inventory into your building, you hold it, and you send it out to Canadian buyers when the brand owner says so. You never buy the goods and never sell them; you invoice a handling fee and an outbound charge. Section 179 of the Excise Tax Act deals with exactly that arrangement. Broadly, where a registrant in Canada transfers physical possession of goods to another person under an agreement with a person who is a non-resident and is not registered for GST/HST, that registrant can be deemed to have made a taxable supply of the goods — the goods themselves, not the service performed on them. Where the deeming rule operates, the consideration is determined by reference to the fair market value of the goods when possession passes — which is why a provider earning a handling fee on a pallet can face an amount measured against the pallet’s contents rather than its own invoice. Subsection 179(2) is the relief. Where physical possession goes to a consignee that is itself a registrant, and that consignee issues a drop-shipment certificate acknowledging its registration and accepting the liability the rule would otherwise leave with you, the deeming does not apply to that transfer — provided you obtain the certificate and retain it. Two honest cautions follow. First, this is a detailed provision with its own further rules and exclusions, so whether it applies to a particular movement is determined on the agreement, the parties and the goods; nobody should tell you that you are exposed, or safe, on facts they have not read. Second, we do not publish a worked figure on deemed value, because the arithmetic is not the useful part. The useful part is asking, client by client, whether the client is registered, whether a certificate is needed, and whether anybody could find it.

✅

CRA Obligations for Third-Party Logistics Providers

A logistics provider’s CRA file comes down to a short list that repeats every year. Your handling, management, integration and outbound charges are taxable supplies at 13% in Ontario, and registration stops being optional once taxable supplies pass $30,000 across four consecutive calendar quarters. Subsection 169(1) of the Excise Tax Act lets you recover tax on inputs acquired for use in your own commercial activity — racking, systems, utilities — a wholly separate question from anything the drop-shipment rules do with a client’s goods. Where a client commits to a volume and misses it, the shortfall charge is consideration for a supply and comes into income when it becomes receivable under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act. Where a client stops paying, a reserve under paragraph 20(1)(l) covers the period while recovery is uncertain and paragraph 20(1)(p) carries the deduction once the amount is actually lost; the two belong in different years. Payroll staff receive T4 slips and genuine subcontract suppliers T4A; WSIB opens with your first hire; withholdings tie to the PD7A; the T4 return is filed by the last day of February; once annual payroll clears $1,000,000 Ontario employer health tax applies; and a remittance sent late draws a graduated penalty reaching 10%.

📈

Year-End Deliverables for Third-Party Logistics Providers

A logistics corporation closing its year needs a trial balance, and statements that answer a credit committee and a CRA reviewer without being reworked in between. Fee income is stated by service instead of as one blended figure, so handling, integration and outbound charges are visible apart from each other. Shortfall charges earned under volume commitments sit in the period they became receivable, not the month somebody invoiced them. Amounts billed for periods not yet begun are presented for what they are, and bought-in carrier capacity is shown as a cost of earning that income. Racking, conveyors, sorters, scanners, servers and vehicles are carried at net book value by class, with the year’s disposals lifted out. And the certificate file is closed off alongside the ledger, client by client, because that is the one deliverable nobody treats as a deliverable until it is asked for. The T2 with GIFI then has to tie back to the GST/HST returns already filed. Every item on that list is delivered on schedule.

Accounting & Tax Experts for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Gondaliya CPA third-party logistics accounting expertsGondaliya CPA third-party logistics tax experts
  • AFFORDABLE + Registered CPA Firm
  • Business and Corporate Tax Expert
  • Small & Medium Business Expert
  • Accounting, bookkeeping, and tax filing
  • CPA (Chartered Professional Accountant)
  • 1300+ 5-star Google reviews
  • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
  • 60-Day Fees Matching Policy

Why Choose Our Accounting Services for Third-Party Logistics Providers?

1
🎯

Tax Planning — Client Status & Pools

We establish which clients are non-residents without a GST/HST registration before the first pallet arrives, so the section 179 question is answered in advance, not reconstructed. The $500,000 limit on active business income is protected alongside it.

2
💳

Consulting — Volume Commitments

Our bookkeeping brings a take-or-pay shortfall into income when it becomes receivable, keeps amounts billed ahead of service apart from amounts earned, and shows the real margin under each service line.

3
🛡

CRA Representation — The Certificate File

When CRA asks who owned the goods and who was registered, we answer with the contract, the client’s registration position and the certificate itself, and ask under Form RC4288 for penalties from an earlier error to be lifted.

4
🏢

Bookkeeping — Fees, Capacity and Movements

Fees invoiced, capacity bought in and client movements are entered as they occur, so nothing at the year-end has to be pieced together from memory or from a bank feed.

★
Registered CPA Ontario
★
1300+ ★★★★★
Google Reviews
★
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
★
60-Day Fees-Matching Policy
ACTIVELY ACCEPTING
Third-Party Logistics 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

Third-Party Logistics Tax and Accounting Services in Ontario

📄

Corporate Tax Filing (T2) for Third-Party Logistics Providers

T2 preparation with fee income split by service, a take-or-pay shortfall brought in when receivable, racking in Class 8, vehicles in Class 10, and subsection 13(1) recapture dealt with on disposal.

💳

Bookkeeping & Accounting for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Handling, integration and outbound charges on separate lines, bought-in capacity matched to the engagement, and the client-registration and certificate record kept beside the ledger.

💵

Payroll Services for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Payroll for warehouse and office staff, WSIB opened with the first hire, PD7A remittances, T4 and T4A slips, and February filed on time every year.

🧾

GST/HST Filing for Third-Party Logistics Providers

AFFORDABLE GST/HST filing with 13% on your fee supplies in Ontario, the section 179 position documented client by client, and credits on your own inputs recovered in period.

📈

Tax Planning for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Year-end date, the small-business limit, equipment timing, and the certificate position on a new non-resident client settled before the contract is signed.

⏳

Corporate Catch-Up Filing for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Overdue T2 and GST/HST years filed, the fee and shortfall history rebuilt from contracts and bank activity, and the company brought back onside.

🛡

CRA Audit Resolution for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Representation on drop-shipment, client-status and revenue-timing queries, from CRA’s opening letter through to the closing one.

📊

CPA Financial Statements (Notice to Reader) for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Compiled statements a lender will accept, with equipment at net book value class by class and the year’s disposals already removed.

🏢

Incorporation Services for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Full incorporation — NUANS search, articles and share classes — with a section 85 rollover carrying racking, vehicles and systems into the company.

📒

Catch-Up Bookkeeping Services for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Years of client invoices, carrier bills, equipment purchases and certificate paperwork rebuilt, until the ledger describes what the building did.

🌐

US Corporation & LLC Tax Filing for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Cross-border filings where a client, a shareholder or a buyer sits outside Canada, including the withholding and the Form T1135 reporting behind it.

📜

Voluntary Disclosure Program for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Coming forward on positions never documented, shortfall income never reported or slips never filed, with penalties cancelled through the Voluntary Disclosures Program.

Accounting & Tax Services Tailored for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Practitioner-level CPA work for contract warehousing operators, inbound and outbound distribution businesses, returns and reverse-logistics specialists and outsourced supply-chain providers across Ontario — written for a company whose tax position on a shipment can depend on a fact about its customer.

  • The GIFI on Schedule 100 and Schedule 125 is laid out so handling, integration, outbound movement, shortfall charges and recovered carrier capacity each report on a line of their own rather than as one services total.
  • Where a client committed to a monthly volume and fell short, the shortfall charge is consideration for a supply and comes into income when it becomes receivable under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act.
  • Capital cost allowance is claimed on Schedule 8 with racking, conveyors and sorters sitting in Class 8 at 20%, a yard truck in Class 10 at 30%, scanners and servers in Class 50 at 55%, and software in Class 12 at 100%.
  • Subsection 13(1) of the Income Tax Act brings an amount back in where a disposal realises more than the class balance left standing behind it, so a sorter replaced mid-year is dealt with in that same year.
  • Linehaul and accessorial charges bought in to serve a client are costs of earning that income and are deducted as such, and the tax paid on them is recoverable on your own return in the period it arose.
  • We hold a client-by-client record of residence and GST/HST registration status, because that single fact decides whether a section 179 question even arises on the goods you are holding and shipping for them.
  • Fee income is posted by service from the first month, so handling, integration, returns work and outbound movement are each visible rather than arriving as one figure nobody in the business can take apart.
  • Amounts invoiced for a period that has not begun are posted where they belong instead of into earnings, so the ledger keeps money received and work performed distinguishable all the way through the year.
  • Bought-in carrier capacity is recorded against the client engagement it was purchased for, so the margin on each contract is a number you can simply read rather than one somebody has to estimate.
  • We capture client invoices, carrier bills, equipment purchases and utility accounts through Dext and reconcile monthly, so tax on your own inputs is claimed in the period it arose instead of a year afterwards.
  • Warehouse, inventory and office staff on the payroll get T4 slips, and T4A slips go to genuine subcontract suppliers, so what the company deducted and what it reported describe the same payments.
  • Income tax, CPP and EI come off each run and reach CRA on the PD7A on time, because a late remittance carries a graduated penalty that reaches 10% of money which should already have been sent.
  • Slips and the T4 Summary are filed before March ends, then checked line by line against the remittances CRA actually received, so your payroll account and your corporate return cannot disagree.
  • Coverage with WSIB opens from the first hire rather than once somebody asks, because a floor where product is lifted, wrapped and loaded against a cut-off is not a risk worth carrying uncovered.
  • Ontario employer health tax applies once total payroll crosses $1,000,000, and a provider that has just added a second shift can pass that line mid-year without anybody in the office noticing.
  • Your management, handling, integration and outbound charges are your own taxable supplies carrying 13% where they are supplied in Ontario, and that stays true whatever the drop-shipment rules do with a client’s goods.
  • Registration stops being optional once taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, and a provider taking on a second contract client reaches that figure a good deal sooner than expected.
  • Where you hold and ship goods in Canada for a client that is a non-resident and not registered, we document the section 179 position on the agreement before the first movement rather than afterwards.
  • Subsection 179(2) of the Excise Tax Act relieves the deemed supply where the consignee is a registrant and issues a drop-shipment certificate acknowledging its registration and liability, and where you obtain and retain it.
  • Under subsection 169(1) of the Excise Tax Act we claim tax you paid on racking, systems, utilities and professional fees acquired for use in your commercial activity, in the period the cost arose.
  • The fiscal year-end is chosen so it does not land inside your busiest quarter, which means the pools and the certificate file get closed off at a time when somebody can actually look at them.
  • The mix between T4 salary drawn by the owners and dividends paid out is set deliberately each year, so low-rate room inside the company is used before anything is taken at a top Ontario rate near 53.53%.
  • Active business income is kept inside the $500,000 limit, and the associated-corporation rules are watched where the same family also holds the building or a second company carrying freight alongside the logistics operation.
  • Purchases of racking, conveyors and scanning hardware are placed either side of the year-end deliberately, so the Class 8, Class 50 and Class 12 claims fall in the period where they reduce the most tax.
  • Qualifying the shares for the exemption in section 110.6 of the Income Tax Act, and the $1.25M behind it, is work that starts two years out, with passive assets moved off the balance sheet well before any sale.
  • We rebuild handling, integration, outbound and shortfall income across the unfiled years from bank deposits, client contracts and whatever the warehouse system still holds, and then file the oldest year first.
  • Where a return has not gone in, subsection 152(7) of the Income Tax Act permits CRA to assess an amount it considers appropriate, which is the practical reason an overdue year goes in with figures behind it.
  • Shortfall charges that became receivable in a year nobody filed are picked up in that year under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act, not in whichever later period the invoice happened to be raised.
  • We restate the capital cost schedule across the closed years so deductions skipped on racking, conveyors, scanners and vehicles come back into play on a Schedule 8 that somebody could actually test.
  • The overdue years go forward under the Voluntary Disclosures Program on Form RC199, which takes away the penalty rather than the tax and works only while the approach is still yours to make first.
  • When CRA asks who owned the goods leaving your building, we produce the warehousing and handling agreement, the client’s registration position and the drop-shipment certificate behind the movement in question.
  • Where the section 179 position is in issue we argue it from the agreement and the facts of the transfer, because that is where the answer lives rather than in how the fee happened to be coded.
  • Where the timing of a shortfall charge is challenged we show when the amount became receivable and the contract term that made it so, so the adjustment becomes a date instead of somebody’s estimate.
  • Where a reserve is questioned we produce the demands, the correspondence and what was known about a non-resident client’s position at the year-end, because a reserve is worth its recorded reasons and nothing more.
  • An objection is filed inside the statutory window, and a separate request under Form RC4288 asks for penalties to be lifted where they came out of an earlier error rather than anything you did.
  • No lender advances against a warehousing contract on the strength of a spreadsheet, so we produce compilation engagement statements over two fiscal years with the notes a credit committee actually reads.
  • Equipment appears on the statement of financial position at net book value class by class, and whatever was disposed of during the year is off the schedule instead of still inflating the asset side.
  • Fee income is presented by service line, so a credit committee looking at a good year can see what share of it came from handling, what from integration work and what from outbound movement.
  • Amounts billed for periods not yet begun are shown apart from amounts earned, so a reader is not measuring money received against work performed and drawing the wrong conclusion about the year.
  • Compiled statements reach you inside 30 days of a complete record set and the year’s T2 figures, because a conditional credit offer expires while everyone is waiting on one last reconciliation.
  • Incorporating puts a company between the owners personally and a claim arising on goods moving through a building, and brings the first $500,000 of active business income to roughly 12.2% combined in Ontario under section 125.
  • A section 85 election on Form T2057 carries existing racking, vehicles, systems and client contracts across at elected amounts, so the gain a straight sale into the company would realise is deferred instead.
  • The rollover figures themselves set where each capital cost pool starts — Class 8, Class 10, Class 12 and Class 50 — so the company depreciates real amounts in year one rather than a later guess.
  • The Business Number, the GST/HST account and the payroll account are opened in the company’s own name, and the client agreements and the insurance move across so nothing still runs through the old one.
  • Whether a building the owners happen to hold belongs inside the operating company is settled early, because property sitting in the opco can disqualify a future share sale years before anyone contemplates one.
  • Books that stopped being posted are rebuilt from bank activity, client invoices, carrier bills and equipment purchases, until there is a ledger a corporate return can genuinely be prepared from.
  • We reconstruct the client-status and certificate record across the missing months, because that is the part of a logistics provider’s file we almost always find empty when we inherit the engagement.
  • Shortfall charges that became receivable and were never invoiced are identified from the contract terms and brought in, which on a catch-up file is often the largest single correction in the whole engagement.
  • We recover tax sitting in unentered equipment, carrier, utility and professional invoices, which is money the company has already paid out and then simply never asked for on any return.
  • Month by month, payroll postings are tied back to the PD7A and the Class 8, Class 10 and Class 50 balances are rebuilt from purchase invoices, so the return that follows rests on documents.
  • Where the client whose goods you handle is a United States company, its own filing position remains its own, but your section 179 question and your certificate file are yours and we document both.
  • A shareholder living outside Canada brings Part XIII withholding on dividends paid out of the company and the NR4 slips behind them, applied at the treaty rate where a treaty genuinely covers the payment.
  • Where the owners hold foreign property above $100,000, Form T1135 is required on its own terms, and the penalty for filing it late applies whether or not a dollar of tax was ever owing.
  • An owner or shareholder who is a United States citizen needs the two returns prepared alongside each other, because the American filing reaches into a Canadian company in ways that catch most families out.
  • The two filings are aligned so foreign tax credits get used rather than stranded, which on a cross-border ownership structure is usually where the avoidable cost has quietly been hiding all along.
  • We bring the company forward where goods were held and shipped for non-resident clients across several years and no certificate position was ever documented, correcting it on your terms rather than a reviewer’s.
  • Shortfall income that became receivable in an earlier year and was never reported is disclosed, because the amount was earned at the time regardless of whether an invoice was ever raised against it.
  • Form RC199 is submitted with each affected year rebuilt out of contracts, invoices and bank records, which is what stops the file turning into an argument about a number somebody at CRA had to invent.
  • Years in which warehouse staff were paid without slips are corrected, which removes the per-slip penalties and heads off the assessment that follows when CRA compares your wage line with its own records.
  • Before anything is sent we check the disclosure is still voluntary, because relief is lost the moment CRA makes contact first, and no amount of merit in the underlying position changes that.

Third-Party Logistics Certificate & Exposure Check

Six questions on client registration status, the certificate behind each non-resident client, your fee supplies, volume shortfalls, record retention and whether incorporating is overdue. No fee shown.

1. Do you know, for every client, whether it is resident in Canada and registered for GST/HST?

2. Where goods are shipped in Canada for an unregistered non-resident client, is a drop-shipment certificate on file?

3. Are your own handling and management fees invoiced with 13% where they are supplied in Ontario?

4. Is a take-or-pay shortfall brought into income when it becomes receivable rather than when somebody invoices it?

5. Will a certificate from three years ago still be findable at the six-year mark section 230 of the Income Tax Act sets?

6. Is your third-party logistics business incorporated?

Free CPA Consultation for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Case Studies: Third-Party Logistics Accounting & Tax

Fort Erie Logistics Provider — Two Years of Movements, No Certificate on File

The problem: A Fort Erie provider held inventory for a United States brand owner with no Canadian entity and no GST/HST registration, and shipped it to Canadian retailers on that brand owner’s instruction for a little over two years. It invoiced a handling fee per pallet and an outbound charge, and recorded nothing beyond those two figures. Nobody had established whether the client was registered, no drop-shipment certificate had been requested from any consignee, and the agreement in the file did not mention the point.

What we did: We established the client’s residence and registration position, read the agreement and the shipping instructions, documented the section 179 analysis movement type by movement type, set up a certificate request for the consignees that were registrants, and separated the provider’s fee supplies from the rest of the ledger.

The result:

  • A documented position on every movement type instead of none
  • A certificate procedure running before the next shipment left
  • Client registration recorded as a standing field, not a memory

Welland Logistics Provider — Shortfall Fees Recorded Months Late

The problem: A Welland provider ran three contracts carrying monthly minimum volume commitments, and two of those clients regularly fell short. The shortfall charge was raised only when somebody reviewed the contracts, sometimes a full quarter later, and was then recorded in the month of the invoice rather than the month it was earned. Income sat in the wrong periods, two year-ends did not reflect what the contracts produced, and nobody could explain the margin on any single contract.

What we did: We read the commitment terms, established when each shortfall became receivable, brought the amounts into income under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act in the right periods, restated the two affected year-ends, and set the close so the calculation runs with the month.

The result:

  • Shortfall income recognised when receivable, not when invoiced
  • Two year-ends restated to what the contracts actually said
  • A monthly calculation replacing a quarterly reconstruction

Leamington Logistics Provider — A Client With Nothing Behind It in Canada

The problem: A Leamington provider carried a growing receivable from an overseas client with no Canadian company, no Canadian assets and, towards the end, no useful contact either. Handling and outbound charges kept being invoiced and kept going unpaid while the client’s goods stood in the building. The receivable sat at full value across two year-ends, no reserve had been considered, and nothing was written down about what was known or when.

What we did: We assembled the demand correspondence and what was known at each year-end, claimed a reserve under paragraph 20(1)(l) of the Income Tax Act while recovery was genuinely doubtful, took the deduction under paragraph 20(1)(p) once the amount was beyond recovery, and recorded the reasoning behind each.

The result:

  • A reserve supported by reasons recorded at the time
  • The write-off taken in the year the amount actually went bad
  • Two separate entries in two separate years, kept apart

Our Simple Process

How We Work With Third-Party Logistics Providers

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)

Prior T2 and GST/HST returns, every client warehousing and handling agreement, the client list with residence and registration status, any drop-shipment certificates held, carrier invoices, the equipment list, payroll and bank statements.

Step 2

First 30 Days (Cleanup & Setup)

QuickBooks Online or Xero mapped to your warehouse system, the Class 8, Class 10, Class 12 and Class 50 balances rebuilt from purchase invoices, fee income separated by service, and the certificate record opened.

Step 3

Monthly Close

Fee income posted by service, bought-in capacity matched to the engagement it served, shortfall charges calculated with the month, amounts billed ahead of service kept apart, and payroll reconciled to the PD7A.

Step 4

Quarterly Planning Review

Salary and dividend mix, equipment timing against the year-end, the certificate position on any new non-resident client, the reserve position on slow payers, and cash through the quiet months.

Step 5

Year-End Close & T2 Filing

Trial balance, equipment at net book value by class, fee income by service, the certificate file closed off client by client, and a T2 with GIFI tied back to the GST/HST periods behind it.

Get Your Third-Party Logistics Taxes Done Right Today

Transparent Pricing for Third-Party Logistics Providers

Affordable Pricing for Third-Party Logistics Providers

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 Third-Party Logistics Accountant

One pair of hands on your file year after year: the client-status record, the certificate file behind every non-resident client, and the corporate return, all prepared in the same place.

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

More than 1300 five-star Google reviews from owners of logistics providers, warehousing operators and distribution businesses across Ontario and beyond.

Serving Third-Party Logistics Providers Across Ontario

Our clients are logistics providers across Ontario, from one contract warehouse to a multi-site network. The value we add sits in the part that normally goes undone: establishing which clients raise a question under section 179 of the Excise Tax Act, keeping the certificate file that answers it, and putting your fee supplies, volume commitments and equipment pools correctly on the return.

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)

Third-Party Logistics Accounting & Tax FAQs

Should I incorporate my third-party logistics business?
It comes down to two things. One is whether earnings stay in the business. Active business income inside a corporation is taxed in Ontario at roughly 12.2% combined under section 125 of the Income Tax Act on the first $500,000 — measured on active business income, not on revenue — against a personal rate reaching 53.53%, so the advantage is real only where profit is retained. The other is the asset base. A provider owning racking, conveyors, sorters and scanning hardware needs capital cost allowance pools with a traceable history, and a company is where that history stays clean. Limited liability counts too. Once the decision is made, assets move across under section 85 on Form T2057 and the first-year class balances follow from that election.
My biggest client is a company outside Canada with no GST/HST number. Does that change anything for me?
It changes the first question that has to be asked, yes. Where you hold goods in Canada and transfer physical possession to somebody else on the instructions of a person who is a non-resident and not registered for GST/HST, the drop-shipment rules in section 179 of the Excise Tax Act are in play. They can treat the registrant transferring possession as having made a taxable supply of the goods themselves rather than of the handling it was paid for. Whether they reach a particular movement is determined on the agreement, the parties and the goods, and the provision carries its own further rules and exclusions — so nobody should tell you from a web page that you are exposed, or that you are clear. What we will say is that your client’s registration status is a fact about your position, not only theirs, and it needs establishing and recording rather than assuming.
What does subsection 179(2) of the Excise Tax Act actually do?
It provides the relief. Where physical possession goes to a consignee that is itself registered for GST/HST, and that consignee issues a drop-shipment certificate acknowledging that it takes possession as a registrant and accepts the liability the rule would otherwise leave with you, the deemed supply does not apply to that transfer. The important word is conditional. The relief does not follow from the arrangement looking commercial, or from your fee being modest. It follows from obtaining the certificate and keeping it. That is an unusual shape for a tax rule, and it is why this page exists: the outcome turns on a document somebody has to ask for, at the time, from whoever takes delivery.
What is a drop-shipment certificate, and who gives it to me?
It is a written acknowledgement from the person you transfer physical possession to — the consignee — confirming it is registered for GST/HST and accepting the liability the drop-shipment rules would otherwise leave with you. It is not a numbered CRA form you download and tick. That is why it goes missing: nothing in the software prompts anybody to produce one, so unless the step is built into how a client is set up, nobody asks. A certificate is also only any use if the consignee genuinely is a registrant, which is a fact to verify. We build the request into onboarding for any client whose goods arrive from outside Canada.
Why would tax be measured on goods I never owned?
Because where the deeming rule in section 179 of the Excise Tax Act applies, what it deems is a supply of the goods, and the amount is set by reference to their fair market value when physical possession passes rather than by what you invoiced. That contrast is the whole point: a provider earning a few dollars a pallet is not looked at on the few dollars, because the measure attaches to the pallet’s contents. We will not publish a worked figure, since a number produced without the agreement, the parties and the goods in front of us is worse than none. The useful work sits upstream: establish the client’s status, decide whether a certificate is needed, obtain it, and file it where it can be found.
For how long does a certificate have to be kept?
Section 230 of the Income Tax Act requires books and records for six years, and a drop-shipment certificate illustrates perfectly why that period matters. It is produced in a hurry, about one movement, and nobody looks at it again until a review asks — by which point the shipment has gone and the consignee’s contact has changed jobs. Six years on, a certificate never collected cannot be collected. Unlike most bookkeeping it cannot be rebuilt from bank statements afterwards: it either exists or it does not.
Do I charge 13% on my handling and management fees?
Where those supplies are made in Ontario, yes — 13%. Keep this separate from the rest of the page, because the two questions get tangled constantly. Whatever the drop-shipment rules do or do not do with a client’s goods, the management, handling, integration and outbound charges you invoice are your own supplies and are taxed as such. Neither answers the other. We code the fee lines correctly from the first invoice, with the section 179 position documented beside them.
At what point does GST/HST registration become compulsory?
Once taxable supplies pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, registration stops being a choice. Most providers arrive there quickly, because a handling fee charged monthly across two or three contract clients adds up fast. There is also a reason to register before you must — tax paid on racking, systems, utilities and professional fees is recoverable only by a registrant, and on a business fitting out a building those amounts are not small.
A client committed to a volume and fell short. When is the shortfall fee income?
When it becomes receivable, under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act — not when somebody raises the invoice. The shortfall charge is consideration for a supply you stood ready to make, and the contract usually says exactly when it crystallises: at the end of the measurement period, on a stated calculation. That date is the one that matters. Where the charge is worked out a quarter late and recorded in the month of the invoice, income lands in the wrong period and the year-end stops describing what the contracts produced. The fix is mechanical: read the terms, identify the calculation date, run it in the monthly close.
What if a client pays for a period before the work is done?
Then paragraph 12(1)(a) of the Income Tax Act brings the amount into income, and paragraph 20(1)(m) supplies the reserve for the part relating to services still to be performed. The effect is that money received ahead of the work is neither ignored until the work happens nor counted as earned on arrival. Both halves appear on the return. It matters most at a year-end falling mid-contract, and to any lender reading those statements.
A client outside Canada has stopped paying and has nothing here. What can I deduct?
Two separate deductions arise, and each has its own year. While recovery is genuinely uncertain, paragraph 20(1)(l) of the Income Tax Act supports a reserve against the balance outstanding, formed on what is known at that year-end and revisited at each one after. The deduction for the debt itself comes later, under paragraph 20(1)(p), once the amount has gone bad rather than merely looking unlikely. A reserve is temporary and reverses into income when the facts no longer support it; the write-off closes the matter. Where the payer is a non-resident with no Canadian company and no Canadian assets, record that at the time, with the demands sent and the replies that never arrived, because what supports a reserve is the record of what you knew and when.
Which capital cost allowance class takes racking, a sorter or a yard truck?
Class 8 at 20% is where racking, conveyors, sorters, wrapping equipment and general fit-out normally land. Put a yard truck, or any vehicle the company runs, in Class 10 at 30%. Scanning hardware and the servers running your warehouse system belong in Class 50 at 55%, with application software in Class 12 at 100%. Class 1 holds a building you own and Class 13 the improvements to one you lease. Keeping them apart is not pedantry: the rates sit far enough apart that a blended pool misstates the deduction every year, and a disposal moves one class balance while leaving the others alone. Subsection 13(1) of the Income Tax Act then brings an amount back in where proceeds exceed the class balance behind it — impossible to compute on a merged schedule.
Which records matter most here, and what if returns were never filed at all?
Section 230 of the Income Tax Act requires books and records for six years, and on a logistics file the list runs well past bank statements: the warehousing and handling agreement, the client’s residence and registration position, the shipping instructions, every drop-shipment certificate obtained, the carrier invoices and the volume commitment calculations. Those are the papers that decide whether a position holds. Where they are not produced, subsection 152(7) of the Income Tax Act lets CRA assess the amount it considers appropriate on whatever it has. Where returns were never filed, the order of events decides the outcome: approaching CRA yourself under the Voluntary Disclosures Program on Form RC199, with Form RC4288 behind it for penalties an earlier error caused, puts you in a position no reply to an audit letter can reproduce.

Related Industries We Serve

Accountant for Freight Forwarders

  • Master and house document files
  • Currency balances at the year-end rate
  • T2 filing and compiled statements

Accountant for Freight Brokers

  • Brokerage fee income and its timing
  • Carrier settlement reconciliation
  • Corporate tax planning and T2 filing

Accountant for Delivery Businesses

  • Route and driver cost reporting
  • Vehicle pools and WSIB coverage
  • T2 filing and monthly bookkeeping

Accountant for Cross-Border E-Commerce Sellers

  • Goods held off your own premises
  • Cross-border reporting obligations
  • Year-end statements and the T2

Third-Party Logistics Accounting & Tax Done Right.

T2 filing where a client’s residence and GST/HST registration is a recorded fact rather than a memory; the position under section 179 of the Excise Tax Act documented before goods move, and the relief in subsection 179(2) pursued through a drop-shipment certificate obtained from the consignee and retained; your handling, management and integration fees treated as your own taxable supplies at 13% in Ontario; a take-or-pay shortfall brought in when it becomes receivable under paragraph 12(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act; racking and conveyors in Class 8 at 20% with a yard truck in Class 10 at 30%; and the certificate file closed off client by client each year-end. AFFORDABLE flat fees instead of hourly billing. Licensed CPA Ontario. 1300+ five-star reviews. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee.



Scroll to Top