It’s Tax Time! Here’s Everything You Need to Give to Your Accountant

Onyx Accounting
Mar 10, 2023
2 min read

Tax time is here! Are you prepared? Many people dread doing their taxes, but it can be especially complicated if you’re a small business owner.

Hiring an accountant is beneficial if you don’t have the time or resources to do your taxes, but it’s important to gather all the necessary information needed for your accountant to do their job accurately.

This might seem like a daunting task if you’re unfamiliar with what documents your accountant needs, or if you’ve haven’t kept up with your organization system. If that’s the case, you should do your best to organize your information before involving an accountant. Making sure your records are organized will help you avoid filing delays and extra charges for bringing your books up to date.

Not sure which documents you need? Here’s your ultimate checklist of what you need to give your accountant this tax season.

5 documents you need to give your accountant for tax season

Business Records

To start off, you’ll need all your business records. This includes:

Deposit slips
Bank statements
Business credit card statements
Income records
- Sales invoices
- Receipts
- Bank deposit slips
- Fee statements
- Contracts
Loan Agreements and year-end balances statements
Detailed year-end inventory listing
Receipts on capital purchases or sales in 2022

Employee Information

T4SUM: Summary of Remuneration Paid
Worker’s compensation payments or benefits
Payroll, source deductions and taxable benefits for employees
T5018: Statement of Contract Payments

Tax Slips, Correspondence And Receipts

2021 Tax Return(s)
- T1. T2125
2021 Notice(s) of Assessment
CRA correspondence received throughout the year
Instalment payments made for income tax, GST/HST/PST and payroll
T4: Statement of remuneration paid
T4A: Pension, retirement, annuity, and other income (including COVID individual support benefits)
If you’re in a partnership, also include:
- T5013: Partnership information return

Investment Information

RRSP contribution slips
T3 slips
T5 slips
TFSA Transactions
T5008 Statement of Security Transactions
Stock purchases and sales invoices

Personal Receipts (T1 Only)

Receipts for eligible medical expenses
Receipts for charitable donations
Tuition or educational expenses
Interest paid on student loans
Childcare expenses
Moving expenses

Self Employed vs. Incorporated

If you’re self-employed, or your business is a sole proprietorship or partnership, you’ll report your business income on both your T1 personal tax return form and on a Form T2125 (Statement of Business or Professional Activities).

If your business is incorporated, you’ll report your business income on a T2 corporate income tax return form. When working with your accountant on your taxes for your incorporated business, you’ll need:

T2: Incorporation income tax return for 2021
Shareholder transactions and dividends
T2 Financial Statements
T5SUM: Return of Investment Income
Articles of Incorporation
Annual Registry Return

Business Deductions

As a business, there is a list of common expenses that you can write off. The prerequisite for any write-off is that it must be incurred to earn the business income and must be reasonable under the circumstances. It’s important to keep all receipts for business expenses in case the CRA conducts an audit.

Here are examples of business expenses you can claim: