Bookkeeping services for Vancouver small businesses
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Monthly books, GST and PST, payroll and year-end returns for businesses across the city, done online from West Vancouver at a fixed monthly fee.
Short answer: we keep the monthly books for Vancouver small businesses, file their GST and PST returns, run payroll with T4s and ROEs, and prepare T1 and T2 returns from the same books. The work is done online from our office in West Vancouver, so nothing needs dropping off. Pricing is a fixed monthly fee set by your transaction volume and what needs filing, and the quote arrives in writing within one business day, in English or Mandarin.
What we do for Vancouver businesses
- Monthly bookkeeping: every bank and card account reconciled, books closed each month
- GST returns to the CRA and PST returns to the province, on the schedule each assigns you
- Payroll, source deductions, T4s and ROEs, and the WorkSafeBC reporting alongside them
- Year end: T1 returns for sole proprietors and T2 returns for corporations, from the books we kept
- Catch-up bookkeeping when months or years are behind, quoted once before it starts
- QuickBooks Online, Xero or Sage 50, set up properly or taken over as it is
What is different about the books in Vancouver
Vancouver has the widest mix of businesses in the region, and two problems come up more than any others. The first is PST on services. A large part of what the city sells is professional services, and five kinds of them were set to carry PST from 1 October 2026 until the province paused the change. A pause is not a repeal, so registrations, tax codes and invoices need to be ready to change again.
The second is the receipt that carries taxable and exempt lines at once, in restaurants, cafés and shops. That is usually a point-of-sale setup question before it is a bookkeeping one, and a wrong item setting repeats itself on every sale until someone changes it.
Your Vancouver business licence
The City of Vancouver requires every business operating in the city to hold a licence, including one run from home. A home-based business has to be run by a resident, in a building that is mainly a home, and can use up to 33.3% of the home’s floor area or 46 square metres, whichever is less. Trades and construction businesses working in more than one city can add the Metro West inter-municipal licence, which covers Vancouver, Burnaby, Delta, New Westminster, Richmond and Surrey.
How it works without an office visit
You add us to your accounting file the way you would add an employee, connect the bank feeds, and send receipts by email or from your phone. Returns are filed electronically. If you prefer to meet, we are a short drive away in West Vancouver, but almost nobody needs to.
Questions Vancouver owners ask
Do you have an office in Vancouver?
Our office is in West Vancouver, and the work for Vancouver businesses is done online. There is nothing to drop off, and the price and turnaround are the same as for a business next door to us.
Do I have to charge PST on my professional services in Vancouver?
Not now. The expansion of PST to five kinds of professional services, due on 1 October 2026, was paused. It was paused rather than cancelled, so the guide on the pause explains what to keep ready.
Do you work in Mandarin?
Yes. The quote, the monthly reports and the conversations can all be in English or Mandarin.
Does a home-based business in Vancouver need a licence?
Yes. The City of Vancouver licenses every business in the city, home-based ones included, and limits how much of the home a home-based business can use.
Can you take over from my current bookkeeper?
Yes. We agree a cutoff month, take the handover pack and start from agreed balances. The handover checklist sets out what to ask for.
The paused PST expansion, and what to keep ready →
Reconciling Square and Clover deposits →
Bookkeeping for restaurants and cafés →
Bookkeeping for consultants and professional services →
Get a written quote
Tell us where you are, roughly how many transactions a month and what you need filed. A written scope and a fixed monthly price follow within one business day.
info@orbisaccounting.ca