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Year-End Accounting · T2 Filing · Licensed CPA

Year-End Accounting & T2 Filing for Restaurants

The close that produces the numbers your return reports: POS sales reconciled to deposits and settlements, inventory counted and valued, tips cleared properly, the shareholder loan quantified before it becomes income, and the working papers behind every figure. T2 from $400. All fees include HST.

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Restaurant Corporations
Year-end close, T2 filing and restaurant CPA services
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Weekend and evening support until 9 PM
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Just a call away when you need us

AFFORDABLE Year-End Accounting & T2 Filing for Restaurants

Most owners experience year end as a filing. The paperwork goes to the accountant, a return comes back, tax gets paid. But the return only reports what the close decided. Whether your POS sales reconcile to what actually reached the bank, what your inventory was worth on the closing date, whether the money you drew is a loan or compensation, whether the new walk-in is an expense or an asset: all of it is settled during the close, before the T2 is written.

A restaurant's close is not an ordinary one. Your revenue is thousands of small transactions across cash, cards and delivery apps that never tie to a single deposit figure. You hold real inventory that has to be counted on a date and cannot be recreated afterwards. Tips move through your business without being your money. We close the year and file the T2 from the same office, which is how our restaurant CPA services are set up. Please talk to us before your year end rather than after, because that is when corporate tax planning for restaurants can still change the outcome.

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Gondaliya CPA team - year-end accounting and T2 filing for restaurants

Our Year-End Services for Restaurants

💳

POS Sales Reconciliation

We tie POS sales to deposits, merchant settlements and delivery remittances, gross not net.

📦

Inventory Count & Valuation

We set the count and the valuation basis, so your cost of goods sold and gross margin are real.

💰

Tips & Gratuities

We clear tips through the books correctly, so what is yours and what is not are properly separated.

🏦

Shareholder Loan Review

We quantify what you drew and deal with the balance before it can be included in your income.

🍳

Equipment & Build-Out

We capitalise kitchen equipment and leasehold improvements correctly rather than expensing them.

✅

T2 Filing

We prepare and file the corporate return from a properly closed year. From $400, including HST.

Year-End Accounting for Restaurants by a Licensed CPA

The close that produces the numbers, then the return that reports them. From POS reconciliation to filed T2. AFFORDABLE flat-fee pricing.

1

POS Sales, Deposits and Settlements

Where a restaurant's close differs most.

  • Reconcile POS sales to bank deposits, merchant settlements and platform remittances.
  • Record gross sales, with merchant fees and delivery commissions as their own costs.
  • Account for refunds, voids, comps and chargebacks separately, not by netting.
  • Reconcile cash sales through the POS to the deposit, so the trail is complete.
  • Show what the delivery platforms are actually costing you.
2

Inventory Count and Valuation

The figure that cannot be recreated later.

  • Set the count for your year-end date across food, beverage, alcohol and supplies.
  • Value the count on a consistent basis, generally the lower of cost and net realisable value.
  • Turn purchases into a real cost of goods sold rather than an estimate.
  • Carry the closing figure into next year as the opening position.
  • Give you a gross margin you can actually use for menu decisions.
3

Tips, Gratuities and Payroll

Money moving through, not money earned.

  • Separate tips that are your revenue from tips that are a flow-through.
  • Clear card tips collected and redistributed through the books properly.
  • Confirm the controlled and direct tip treatment for how your house operates.
  • Reconcile payroll, accrued wages and vacation pay at year end.
  • Coordinate the position with your payroll filings.
4

The Shareholder Loan

The balance most owners cannot state.

  • Reconstruct and quantify what you drew from the corporation.
  • Identify personal costs paid from the business account through the year.
  • Deal with the balance before it becomes an inclusion in your income.
  • Model clearing it by repayment, salary or dividends.
  • Set a tracking method so next year is known, not reconstructed.
5

Equipment, Smallwares and Leasehold Improvements

Expensed now, or deducted over years.

  • Separate smallwares and consumables from equipment with lasting value.
  • Capitalise kitchen equipment into the class that fits the asset.
  • Treat the build-out as capital, usually your largest single capital item.
  • Record financing correctly, interest deductible, principal not.
  • Maintain the capital cost allowance schedule year over year.
6

Working Papers and T2 Filing

One firm for the close, the return and the year ahead.

  • Hold the POS reconciliations, count sheets and calculations behind every figure.
  • Reconcile the HST in your books to the HST on your filed returns.
  • Prepare the T2 from a properly closed year, not a reconstructed one.
  • Track both dates: the return deadline and the earlier balance-due date.
  • Set the pre-year-end review so next year is planned, not discovered.

Free Restaurant Year-End Consultation

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Free Restaurant Year-End Consultation

Case Studies: Restaurant Year-End and T2

Full-Service Restaurant, Toronto (Sales Rebuilt Gross)

Revenue had been recorded from bank deposits, so merchant fees and delivery commissions were invisible and sales were understated. We rebuilt the year on gross POS sales with the fees and commissions recorded as costs, and the owner saw for the first time what the platforms were taking. The figures here are illustrative of the work we do, not a specific client file. Restaurant Corporate Tax Filing →

Sales recorded gross, platform cost visible

Bar and Grill, Mississauga (Inventory Counted)

No inventory count had been taken, so cost of goods sold was an estimate and gross margin was guesswork across two years. We set a proper count and valuation basis at year end and restated the position, so the margin became a number the owner could act on. The figures here are illustrative of the work we do, not a specific client file. Restaurant Bookkeeping →

Real cost of goods sold established

Quick Service Restaurant, Brampton (Shareholder Loan)

Drawings and personal costs had run through the business account for years with nothing tracked, and the loan balance was well beyond what the owner expected. We quantified it and structured the clearing before it could be included in income. The figures here are illustrative of the work we do, not a specific client file. Corporate Tax Planning for Restaurants →

Loan cleared before inclusion

Restaurant Corporation, Ontario (Close Made Routine)

An owner was rebuilding a year of POS and merchant activity every year end, and the count was always missed. We moved them to monthly bookkeeping with a scheduled count and a pre-year-end review, so the close became a confirmation and the T2 flowed from clean records. The figures here are illustrative of the work we do, not a specific client file.

Monthly books, routine year-end

Ordinary Year-End vs a Restaurant's Year-End

Transaction volume, real inventory and money that flows through without being yours make a restaurant close a different exercise.

ConsiderationOrdinary Year-EndA Restaurant's Year-End
RevenueInvoices raised and collectedThousands of small sales across cash, cards and platforms
Sales vs depositsUsually tie closelyNever tie, because deposits arrive net of fees and commission
InventoryOften minimal or noneCounted and valued on the date, and cannot be recreated after
TipsNot applicableFlow through the business without being your revenue
DrawingsSalary or dividends, decidedCash and personal costs, accumulating into a shareholder loan
CapitalOccasional equipmentBuild-out and kitchen equipment, frequently expensed in error

What a Restaurant's Year-End Close Must Cover

Recording transactions is only the start. These items decide your tax position before the return is written.

ItemWhy It Matters for Your CorporationHow We Handle It
POS to depositsUnderstates revenue and hides platform costsSales recorded gross, fees and commission costed separately
Inventory countDecides cost of goods sold and gross marginCounted on the date, valued on a consistent basis
TipsPayroll consequences turn on how they flowCleared properly, treatment confirmed for your house
Shareholder loanCan be included in your personal incomeQuantified and dealt with before the deadline passes
AccrualsOverstates the profit you pay tax onCosts recorded in the year they arose
Equipment and build-outMisstates the deduction and the balance sheetCapitalised into the correct class, schedule maintained
HST reconciliationGaps between books and returns invite reviewCollected and claimed reconciled to what was filed
Working papersDecides whether an assessment is defensiblePOS reconciliations and count sheets held behind every figure

The close records what happened. It cannot change it. Compensation mix, the shareholder loan, whether to buy equipment this year or next: every one is a lever that works before your year end and stops working after. The inventory count is stricter still, because it cannot be taken retrospectively at all. Please see our corporate tax planning for restaurants.

What Is Included in Our Restaurant Year-End Service

Everything from the close to the filed return. No hourly billing. All fees include HST.

IncludedWhat We Do
POS reconciliationWe tie sales to deposits, merchant settlements and platform remittances.
Gross revenue treatmentWe record sales gross with fees and commissions as their own costs.
Inventory count and valuationWe set the count and value it on a consistent basis.
Tips and gratuitiesWe clear tips through the books and confirm the treatment.
Shareholder loanWe quantify the balance and deal with it before it becomes income.
Accruals and adjustmentsWe record costs incurred but not yet paid in the correct year.
Equipment and build-outWe capitalise correctly and maintain the CCA schedule.
T2 preparation and filingWe prepare and file the return from a properly closed year.

The Restaurant Year-End Mistakes We Prevent

#MistakeWhy It HurtsHow We Prevent It
1Recording deposits as revenueUnderstates sales, hides fees and commissionGross POS sales, costs recorded separately
2Netting delivery platform salesYou never see what the platforms cost youSales gross, commission costed as its own line
3Estimating inventory instead of countingCost of goods sold, margin and tax all wrongReal count on the date, valued consistently
4Tips run through the books looselyPayroll exposure and a misstated positionCleared properly, treatment confirmed
5Never tracking drawingsThe loan balance is unknown and already spentQuantified and tracked, not reconstructed
6Expensing the build-outMisstates the deduction and the balance sheetCapitalised into the correct class
7Books not reconciled to HST returnsGaps are a standard review triggerCollected and claimed reconciled to what was filed
8Raising decisions after year endThe levers have already closedPre-year-end review while they still work

Why Choose Gondaliya CPA for Your Year-End and T2?

📊

Built Around a Restaurant

POS reconciliation, inventory, tips and the shareholder loan handled properly, not as an ordinary business.

📋

Licensed CPA Firm

The close, the working papers and the T2 all from a licensed CPA firm, from one office.

🍴

Hospitality Experience

Full service, quick service and franchise. POS, delivery platforms, inventory, tips and T2 filing.

🤝

AFFORDABLE Flat Fee

Quoted upfront, all fees including HST, no hourly billing. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee. 60-Day Fees-Matching Policy.

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Transparent Flat-Fee Pricing

No hourly billing. No surprises. You know your exact fee before we start. All fees include HST.

ServiceFeeIncludes
T2 filing for restaurant corporationsFrom $400Corporate return prepared and filed from a properly closed year.
Restaurant bookkeepingFrom $100/monthMonthly books with POS reconciled and the loan balance tracked.
Year-end close plus T2Quoted upfrontPOS reconciliation, inventory, tips, loan, accruals and the filed return.
Catch-up bookkeepingQuoted upfrontRecords brought current before the close begins.
Free consultationFREEScope review and exact flat-fee quote before any work begins.

All fees include HST, so the number quoted is the number you pay. Fees depend on the size and complexity of the corporation and the state of the records. Payment is by Interac e-Transfer to info@gondaliyacpa.ca with auto-deposit enabled and the security question set to Not Applicable. Please use our pricing calculator to know your exact fee.

How It Works

Four steps. The heavy lifting sits with us.

1

Consult

We learn your year end, whether the bookkeeping is current, whether inventory gets counted, and what you have drawn, then quote a flat fee.

2

Close

We reconcile POS to deposits and settlements, set the inventory count and valuation, clear the tips, quantify the loan and record the accruals.

3

File

We prepare and file the T2 from the closed year, with the working papers held behind every figure.

4

Plan Ahead

We set the count schedule and the pre-year-end review so next year the decisions are made while the levers still work.

Restaurant Year-End and T2: Cities We Serve

We handle year-end and T2 filing for restaurants across every Ontario city and Canada. No distance limits, no extra fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does year-end accounting for a restaurant involve?
It is the work that produces the numbers your T2 reports: reconciling POS sales to deposits and merchant settlements, counting and valuing inventory, clearing tips through the books, quantifying the shareholder loan, recording accruals, separating equipment from smallwares, and assembling the working papers behind each figure.
How is a restaurant's year-end different from an ordinary business?
Three things: your revenue is thousands of small transactions across cash, cards and delivery apps that never tie to one deposit figure; you hold real inventory that has to be counted and valued on a date; and tips flow through your business without being your revenue. Miss any of them and the close is fiction.
Why does my POS total never match my bank deposits?
Because deposits are net. Card processors settle with fees deducted, delivery platforms remit after commission, cash is banked separately and sometimes late, and refunds and voids move independently. Sales are what you rang; deposits are what survived the trip to the bank. Both figures are right and they are never the same.
How should restaurant revenue be recorded at year end?
Gross sales from the POS, with merchant fees, delivery commissions, refunds and chargebacks recorded as their own costs rather than netted away. Recording only what landed in the bank understates both revenue and expenses, and it hides the commission that is quietly eating your margin.
What about delivery platform sales?
They are your sales, recorded gross, with the platform's commission recorded as a cost. Netting them to the deposit makes revenue look smaller and margin look better than it is. It also means you never see what the platforms actually cost you, which for many restaurants is the largest single question about their year.
Do I have to count inventory at year end?
Yes, and it is the count that matters, not an estimate. Food, beverage, alcohol and supplies on hand at your year end have to be counted and valued, because that figure is what turns purchases into cost of goods sold. A guessed count means a guessed gross margin and a guessed tax result.
How is restaurant inventory valued?
Generally at the lower of cost and net realisable value, counted on or as close as practicable to your year-end date. Consistency matters as much as method, because a valuation basis that changes between years moves profit between them. We set the basis and hold it.
What happens if I do not count inventory properly?
Your cost of goods sold is wrong, so your gross margin is wrong, so your reported profit and your tax are wrong. It also compounds: this year's closing inventory is next year's opening figure, so one bad count misstates two years. It is the single most common restaurant close failure.
How are tips handled at year end?
Depends on how they flow. Tips paid directly by customers to staff are generally not your revenue. Tips collected on card and redistributed through your payroll are a flow-through that must clear properly, and controlled tips paid out by the employer carry their own payroll consequences. The books must reflect what actually happens.
Are tips subject to payroll deductions?
It depends on whether they are controlled or direct, which turns on how they are collected and distributed rather than on what they are called. Controlled tips paid by the employer generally attract source deductions. The distinction is fact-specific and worth confirming for your house. See our restaurant payroll.
What is a shareholder loan and why does it come up at year end?
It is what money you took out of the corporation becomes when it is neither salary nor dividend. Restaurant owners take cash and pay personal costs from the business account without deciding anything, and the balance grows. Year end is where it gets confronted, because an unrepaid balance can be included in your personal income.
What happens if my shareholder loan is not cleared?
The amount can be included in your personal income, meaning money already spent becomes taxable. It sits on the balance sheet where any reviewer sees it. In restaurants it is often larger than the owner expects, because the drawings were never tracked as drawings.
How do I clear a shareholder loan?
Usually by repaying it, or declaring salary or dividends to offset it, each with different consequences and different deadlines. Which route suits depends on your income and position. That is a planning decision, not a closing one. See our corporate tax planning for restaurants.
Do I decide salary versus dividends at year end?
The decision should be made before your year end, because most of the levers close when the year does. The close confirms the position and executes what was decided. An owner raising it while the return is being prepared has fewer options than one who planned ahead.
What are accruals and why do you ask about them?
Costs incurred before year end but not yet paid: the last food deliveries, utilities, rent adjustments, professional fees, accrued wages and vacation pay. They belong in the year the cost arose. Missing them understates expenses and overstates the profit you pay tax on.
Is kitchen equipment expensed or capitalised?
Equipment with lasting value is capitalised and deducted over years through capital cost allowance. Smallwares, plates, glassware and utensils are generally treated as consumed. The line matters because expensing a walk-in cooler in full misstates both the deduction and the balance sheet a landlord or lender reads.
What about leasehold improvements?
The build-out is capital, not an expense, and it is deducted over time rather than in the year you paid for it. It is usually the largest single capital item a restaurant has, and expensing it is a common and expensive error. The treatment also matters when the lease ends.
How is HST handled at year end?
Restaurant sales are generally taxable, so you charge HST and recover the HST on your costs through input tax credits. The close reconciles what you collected and claimed against what you filed. Gaps between the HST in your books and the HST on your returns are a standard review trigger. See our restaurant GST/HST filing.
Why does my accountant ask about cash sales?
Because the CRA examines them closely in restaurants, and because unrecorded cash is the assumption an auditor starts from if your margins look wrong. A properly closed year shows cash sales reconciling through the POS to the deposit, which is the answer to a question you would rather not be asked twice.
Can I pay my spouse through the restaurant?
You can, where the work is real and the pay is reasonable for what they actually do. A genuine wage for genuine work is deductible and needs duties, hours and a defensible rate documented. Paying family well above market for minimal work is a common reassessment finding.
What do you need from me at year end?
Bank and credit card statements through year end, POS reports, merchant and delivery platform settlement statements, your inventory count sheets, supplier invoices, payroll records including tips, loan and lease documents, and a clear account of what you drew from the business.
How long does a restaurant year-end close take?
Where the bookkeeping has been kept monthly and the inventory was counted, weeks. Where it has not, months, because the close then begins with rebuilding a year of POS and merchant activity before the real work starts. And an inventory count cannot be recreated after the fact at all.
My bookkeeping is a year behind. What does that mean?
That the close becomes a rebuild first, and that your year-end inventory figure is already lost if nobody counted. Everything else can be reconstructed from records; the count cannot. See our past account clean-up.
How often should my books be done?
Monthly. A restaurant reconciling annually cannot see food cost drifting, cannot see what the delivery platforms are taking, meets the shareholder loan when it is already a problem, and makes menu and staffing decisions on instinct. See our restaurant bookkeeping.
What is the T2 filing deadline for my restaurant corporation?
Six months after your year end for the return. The balance of tax is generally due earlier, two or three months after year end depending on the corporation. Filing on time and paying on time are separate obligations, and owners usually discover the difference through interest charges.
What if I miss my T2 deadline?
Late filing generally attracts a penalty based on the tax owing, and interest runs on the balance from when it was due regardless of when you file. Both compound where it happens repeatedly. If several years are already outstanding, see our catch-up corporate tax filing.
Do I need financial statements as well as a T2?
Your corporation needs financial statements, and landlords, lenders, franchisors and buyers may ask for them at moments you do not control. Restaurant owners most often need them when renewing a lease or refinancing, which is rarely when you want to explain that the books are not current.
What is a working paper file and why does it matter?
It is the support behind every number on your return: the POS reconciliations, the inventory count sheets, the calculations. It is what makes the position defensible if the CRA asks, and in an industry the CRA watches for cash, it matters more than most. See our restaurant CRA audit support.
What does a restaurant year-end close and T2 cost?
T2 filing starts from $400 and restaurant bookkeeping from $100 per month, quoted as an exact flat fee upfront with no hourly billing. All fees include HST. Payment is by Interac e-Transfer to info@gondaliyacpa.ca, auto-deposit enabled, security question Not Applicable. Please use our pricing calculator.
How do I get started?
Please book a free consultation and tell us your year end, whether the bookkeeping is current, whether inventory gets counted, and roughly what you have drawn from the business this year. We confirm what your close involves and quote a flat fee. Book Free Consultation →

Meet Your Restaurant Year-End Team

Sharad Gondaliya CPA

Sharad Gondaliya, CPA

Founder & Managing Director
Gondaliya CPA Professional Corporation

Sharad leads the year-end close, shareholder loan planning and T2 filing for restaurant corporations.

Vandana Goel CPA

Vandana Goel, CPA

Senior Accountant
Gondaliya CPA Professional Corporation

Vandana handles the POS reconciliation, inventory valuation, tips, accruals and working papers.

What Our Clients Say

1300+ five-star reviews from restaurant owners and business owners across Ontario and Canada.

Related Services for Restaurants

Corporate Tax Planning for Restaurants

  • Pre-year-end review
  • Salary and dividend planning
  • Shareholder loan strategy

Corporate Tax Filing for Restaurants

  • T2 preparation and filing
  • Corporate compliance
  • From $400, including HST

Restaurant Bookkeeping

  • Monthly POS reconciliation
  • Shareholder loan tracking
  • From $100/month, including HST

Catch-Up Corporate Tax Filing

  • Unfiled years brought current
  • Penalty and interest exposure
  • Records rebuilt in order

A Close That Confirms, Not One That Excavates.

Gondaliya CPA reconciles your POS sales to deposits and settlements, records revenue gross so you see what the platforms cost, sets the inventory count and valuation, clears the tips, quantifies the shareholder loan before it becomes income, capitalises your equipment and build-out correctly, and files the T2 from a properly closed year. T2 from $400. All fees include HST.

Licensed CPA Ontario
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Flat-Fee, Including HST
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