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Ontario

HST for Ontario contractors

The small supplier threshold has two tests, and the one that catches a contractor is the one nobody warns you about. These guides cover when you have to register, what you charge and on which part of the job, what comes back to you as an input tax credit, and how to keep books that turn a CRA letter into a morning of work.

Try this on a real business

Open a seeded business in your trade. Nine jobs on the pipeline, a quote sent and viewed, a deposit paid, an invoice overdue, and a holdback on the current month.

Open the demo business

No card, no form. Sign in later and everything you built stays on the same account.

12 guides on this

How to run the businessStart your business in OntarioThe eight setup stages in order, from incorporation through CRA, WSIB and licensing to bid ready: walk the three-step wizard to a live name check and an all-in filing price with government fees included, free and with no account, nothing filed until you authorize and pay.How to run the businessWe file it for youOne checkbox hands over the Articles of Incorporation and the four CRA program accounts. See the exact wording you authorize, which steps stay yours, what the all-in price covers, and the one panel every number lands in afterwards.How to run the businessReceipts out of the shoeboxFiling a $47 receipt costs more attention than the $47 is worth on the day, so it waits until January. Photograph it in the parking lot, check what was read off it, and claim the HST you paid instead of losing it.How to run the businessDid I make money this monthThe bank balance is a mix of last month's invoices, next month's HST and a deposit on a job that has not started. Read the month, split it by job, and learn the difference between a job losing money and a job you have not invoiced yet.How to run the businessGoing independent, pricedWSIB, CPP at both halves, income tax, HST after $30,000, insurance and plates all arrive together. Add up your real monthly overhead, run it through a six-month cash forecast, and get the number that has to go on top of your rate.How to run the businessBring your businessYou registered something, started charging, got work. Then a builder asked for a certificate you did not have. Drop your documents in, have the numbers read out of them, and land on a compliance checklist with what you already satisfy already ticked.How to run the businessBooks that stand upThe fear is being asked a question about your own business and not being able to answer it. The way out is records made as the work happens, by the system that raised the invoice, so there is nothing to reconstruct in March.After you qualifyCRA RegistrationBusiness Number, HST/GST, payroll deductions, corporate income tax: every CRA account your construction company needs.How to run the businessHow much to chargePrice one real job end to end: every cost on its own line, markup you set on purpose, Ontario HST applied for you, holdback split into what you bill now and what waits, and one list of every quote out with its status and value. Demo business, no signup.How to run the businessHST without the surpriseNobody writes to tell you that you crossed the threshold. Register on time, charge it on the whole invoice, keep the collected money separate, and read your return on the CRA's own line numbers before you sit down with your accountant.How to run the businessInvoice and get paid on timeBuild the invoice straight from an accepted quote, with HST at 13 percent and the 10 percent Construction Act holdback computed for you. Send it with a timestamped record, log partial cheques, and put every held-back dollar on a countdown.How to run the businessGet your 10% holdback backTake the 10% off every invoice automatically, on the pre-tax value, so your client sees what is payable now. Record each release date once, and every held dollar lands in one tracker that turns red the day you are allowed to collect it.

Count it instead of estimating it

HST on holdback calculatorYou charge HST on the full value of the work, including the tenth being held. You do not remit all of it yet. Enter the job and get both numbers, and the date the rest falls due.Free, no signup.Do you have to charge HST yet?The small supplier threshold has two tests. The one that catches a contractor is the single quarter test, and it has no grace month. Enter your quarters and see which one bites first.Free, no signup.Ontario filing deadline calendarEvery date a contractor owes the CRA and WSIB, counted from your own year end. Including the T5018, which is the one that surprises people.Free, no signup.
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The rest of the Ontario library

Finding construction work in OntarioBidding and prequalification in OntarioPricing construction work in OntarioChange orders and extras in OntarioGetting paid on Ontario constructionConstruction holdback in OntarioConstruction liens in OntarioConstruction bookkeeping in Ontario
Every guideThe whole Ontario libraryHow to run the business