A year-end checklist for Langley owner-operators

The year-end run-up for a Langley corporation works best as eight weeks of small jobs rather than one bad fortnight after the year closes. Reconcile early, clear the loose ends while people still remember them, count what needs counting on the day, and hand your CPA a file that already ties out.

The checklist below is written for an owner-managed BC corporation with staff and GST and PST registrations. It works for any year-end date: count the weeks back from yours. Farms and contractors each get extra lines near the end, and the deadlines that follow the year-end are set out in a table at the bottom.

When should year-end preparation start?

Start eight weeks before the last day of your fiscal year. That is early enough to fix a problem account, chase an old invoice or find a missing loan statement while there is still time to do something about it.

If the books are closed every month, the first few weeks are light: a review, not a rebuild. If they are months behind, start with catch-up bookkeeping now, because the eight weeks assume the books are current to last month.

What should be done eight to seven weeks before year-end?

Eight to seven weeks out is for confirming the basics and getting the books current to the end of last month.

• Confirm the year-end date with your CPA and book their time for the weeks after it.
• Reconcile every bank account, credit card, line of credit and payment processor to the latest statement.
• Clear the suspense or "ask my accountant" account. Each item in it is a question someone has to answer eventually.
• Match every loan and lease balance to the lender's statement, with interest split out.
• Review the shareholder loan account. Your CPA will want to know what went in and out, and why.
• Check that GST and PST returns are filed and paid up to date, and that payroll remittances match the payroll reports.

What should be done six to five weeks before year-end?

Six to five weeks out is for the money owed to you and by you.

• Go through receivables invoice by invoice. Chase anything over 60 days, and list anything you think will never be paid so your CPA can decide how to treat it.
• Go through payables. Ask suppliers for statements and match them to your bills; missing bills are the most common reason a year-end profit looks better than it was.
• Start an accruals list: work done for you that will be billed after year-end, and work you did that you have not yet invoiced.
• Gather invoices for every equipment, vehicle or building purchase this year, and note anything you sold, traded in or scrapped.
• If the business owns a vehicle that is also used personally, check the logbook is up to date.

What should be done four to three weeks before year-end?

Four to three weeks out is for payroll, owner pay and planning the count.

• Reconcile payroll year-to-date to the general ledger and to the remittances made. T4s follow the calendar year, so this check also sets up February.
• Ask your CPA about owner pay for the year, salary, dividends or a mix, while there is still time to act. That decision is theirs to advise on; the books need to record whatever is decided.
• Ask your CPA about any large purchase you are considering before year-end. Timing can matter for tax, and only they can tell you how.
• Plan the inventory or work-in-progress count: who counts, what sheets they use, and the date. The count should be as close to the year-end date as you can manage.
• Review prepaid expenses such as insurance, licences and software paid annually, and list what portion runs into next year.

What happens in the last two weeks and on the year-end date?

The last two weeks are for cut-off and counting.

• Note which side of the date each delivery and invoice falls on, especially large orders and big final invoices.
• On the year-end date, count inventory and record the quantities on paper or in the app, signed and dated.
• Record the cash on hand, including any float or petty cash.
• Download or save the final statements for every account as at the year-end date.
• Keep the count sheets, cut-off notes and statements together. They are the evidence for the year-end balances, and the CRA expects records to be kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.

What extra lines does a farm need?

A farm adds lines for inventory, exemptions and the mix of household and business. Many Langley farms choose a fall year-end, after the harvest money is in, which moves this whole run-up into late summer.

• Count crops in storage, feed, supplies and livestock on hand. Your CPA decides how they are valued; the count gives them the quantities.
• Check that each PST-exempt purchase this year has the FIN 458 or BC Farmer Identity Card details on file with the invoice.
• Note any exempt equipment that has started being used off the farm. Under Bulletin PST 101, the exemption holds only while an item is used solely for a farm purpose, and PST can become payable when that changes.
• Separate household spending that went through the farm account, and list shared costs, such as the truck, the well or the house utilities, so your CPA can decide the business portion.
• Confirm piece-rate and seasonal payroll records are complete for every picker or hand, ahead of February's T4s.
• If the farm also boards horses, sells at markets or runs a farm stand, check each enterprise's revenue is recorded under its own class or tracking category.

Bookkeeping for BC farms covers the monthly side of farm records in more detail.

What extra lines does a contractor need?

A contractor adds lines for unfinished jobs, holdbacks and subcontractor reporting.

• List every job that is not finished at year-end, with costs to date, amounts billed and an estimate of how complete it is. This is the work-in-progress figure, and it is usually the hardest number in a contractor's year-end.
• Reconcile holdbacks receivable job by job. Under BC's Builders Lien Act, the holdback is 10%, so each progress draw should show the amount retained, and the total should match what owners say they hold.
• Reconcile any holdbacks you are retaining from your own subcontractors.
• Check that PST was paid on materials bought for installation jobs. Contractors pay PST on those materials whether the contract is lump-sum or time-and-materials.
• If more than half your business activity is construction, prepare the T5018 list: every subcontractor paid more than $500 in the reporting period, not counting GST. Collect any missing business numbers now.
• Separate customer deposits for jobs not yet started from revenue.

The setup that makes these lines quick is in job costing for Langley contractors.

Which deadlines follow the year-end?

The main deadlines after a corporation's year-end are the tax balance at two or three months, an annual GST return at three months and the T2 return at six months. Slips such as T4s and T5s run on the calendar year instead.

Filing or payment	Deadline rule	Example: December 31, 2026 year-end
Corporate tax balance owing	Two months after year-end; three months for a CCPC that claimed the small business deduction and meets the income conditions	End of February 2027, or March 31, 2027
T2 corporation return	Six months after year-end (last day of the sixth month for a month-end year-end)	June 30, 2027
GST return, annual filer	Three months after fiscal year-end	March 31, 2027
GST return, monthly or quarterly filer	One month after the period ends	January 31, 2027 for the last quarter
PST return	Last day of the month after the reporting period	January 31, 2027 for December or the last quarter
T4 and T5 slips and summaries	Last day of February after the calendar year	End of February 2027
T5018 return	Six months after the end of the reporting period chosen	June 30, 2027, if reporting by calendar year

When a CRA deadline falls on a weekend or a public holiday the CRA recognises, a return received or postmarked by the next business day is on time. February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so watch that one.

A farm with a September 30 year-end shifts the corporate dates: the T2 is due March 31, the balance is due November 30 or December 31, and an annual GST return is due December 31. Its T4s still follow the calendar.

If you file more than five slips of one type, such as T4s, the CRA requires them to be filed electronically.

What should go to the CPA when the year is closed?

Your CPA should receive a reconciled trial balance and a schedule behind every balance sheet line, with the source documents in one shared folder. That means bank and loan reconciliations, receivables and payables listings, the accruals and prepaid lists, fixed asset additions and disposals, the inventory or work-in-progress figures, the shareholder loan account and payroll reconciliations.

When the file arrives complete, the CPA's work goes to statements and tax planning rather than reconstruction. Our year-end preparation service builds exactly that package and answers the CPA's questions directly, and the monthly routine that makes it possible is set out in the Langley owner-operator's guide to bookkeeping.