The Year-End Bookkeeping Checklist: What to Hand Your Accountant for T2 and T1 Preparation

Your accountant can only work with the books you give them. Hand over clean, reconciled books with a complete supporting package, and year-end goes quickly: fewer questions, fewer adjusting entries and a lower bill. Hand over a shoebox and a bank login, and the accountant ends up doing your bookkeeping at accountant rates while the filing deadline gets closer.

This guide is a year-end handoff checklist for Canadian small businesses, both corporations filing a T2 and sole proprietors filing a T1 with Form T2125. It covers final reconciliations, the schedules your accountant will ask for, payroll and information slips, sales tax, owner transactions and the deadlines to plan around. Filing dates and requirements are drawn from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guidance, including Guide T4012 T2 Corporation – Income Tax Guide, Guide T4002 for self-employed income, and the CRA's pages on information return filing dates and record keeping, as of October 2026. Quebec businesses also deal with Revenu Québec, which is noted where relevant. This is general information; your accountant may ask for more.

Deadlines to plan around

Filing	Who	Deadline (per CRA)
T2 corporation return	Corporations	6 months after fiscal year-end
Corporate tax balance owing	Corporations	Generally 2 months after year-end; 3 months for certain Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) that meet the conditions
T1 return with business income	Self-employed individuals and spouses	June 15
T1 balance owing	Self-employed individuals	April 30
T4 and T4A slips and summary	Employers and payers	Last day of February
T5 slips (dividends)	Corporations paying dividends	Last day of February
T5018 (construction)	Construction businesses	6 months after the reporting period
RL-1 slips (Quebec)	Quebec employers	Last day of February, per Revenu Québec

Work backwards. If your accountant wants the package within a set number of weeks after year-end, put the date in your calendar now.

Part 1: Final reconciliations

Every balance sheet account should be supported by a document or a schedule at year-end.

Checklist

Bank accounts: reconciled to the December (or fiscal year-end) statement, with outstanding items listed.
Credit cards: reconciled to the statement.
Loans and lines of credit: balances agreed to the lender's statement, with the split between interest and principal recorded correctly.
Payment processors and clearing accounts: balances explained.
Petty cash: counted.
Suspense or "ask my accountant" accounts: cleared, or listed with explanations.

Worked example: loan reconciliation

Example numbers for illustration only.

Item	Amount
Loan balance, start of year	$40,000
Total payments in year	($12,000)
Interest portion (per lender statement)	$2,100
Expected year-end balance	$30,100
Lender statement balance	$30,100

A common error is posting the full $12,000 payment to loan principal, which overstates the loan reduction and leaves out the $2,100 interest expense.

Part 2: Receivables and payables

Accounts receivable aging at year-end. Flag invoices you don't expect to collect, so your accountant can consider a reserve or write-off.
Accounts payable aging. Make sure bills dated before year-end for goods or services received before year-end are entered, even if they're paid later.
Customer deposits and deferred revenue for work not yet done.
Accrued expenses such as utilities, professional fees and wages earned but unpaid at year-end.

If you keep cash-basis books, your accountant will use these lists to make accrual adjustments, because the CRA generally requires the accrual method for business income (Guide T4002), with limited exceptions.

Part 3: Inventory

If you sell goods:

Count inventory at or near year-end.
Value the count at cost, using a consistent method.
Write down damaged or obsolete items, with notes.
Provide the count sheets with your package.

Worked example: cost of goods sold

Example numbers for illustration only.

Item	Amount
Opening inventory	$28,000
Purchases	$96,000
Closing inventory (count)	($31,000)
Cost of goods sold	$93,000

Part 4: Fixed assets and capital cost allowance

Your accountant calculates capital cost allowance (CCA), but needs:

a list of assets bought in the year, with invoices, dates and costs;
a list of assets sold or disposed of, with proceeds;
any vehicles, with purchase details and business-use percentage from a logbook;
leasehold improvements.

Expensing a $3,000 computer as office supplies is a common bookkeeping error. Flag capital purchases instead.

Part 5: Payroll and information slips

Reconcile payroll: total gross pay, CPP, EI and income tax in the books should match payroll reports and remittances made to the CRA (and Revenu Québec in Quebec).
Prepare T4 slips and the T4 Summary, due the last day of February.
T4A slips for certain payments to individuals, according to CRA guidance.
Owner-managers: confirm whether you were paid salary (T4) or dividends (T5), and provide the details.
Taxable benefits, such as personal use of a company vehicle, must be included on T4s. Your accountant can help quantify them.

Worked example: payroll tie-out

Example numbers for illustration only.

Source	Gross wages
General ledger wage expense	$184,500
Payroll register total	$184,500
Sum of T4 box 14	$184,500
Difference	$0

If the three don't match, look for manual cheques outside payroll, bonuses posted to another account, or a payroll from the last week of the year recorded in the wrong period.

Part 6: Sales tax

Reconcile GST/HST payable to the returns filed for the year. The year-end balance should equal the amount owing on the last return (or the open period).
PST, RST and QST accounts reconciled separately where applicable.
Notices of assessment for sales tax periods, plus any CRA or Revenu Québec correspondence.
ITCs supported by invoices with the supplier's registration number where the CRA requires it.

Worked example: GST/HST payable check

Example numbers for illustration only. An Ontario company files quarterly. The Q4 return (October–December) shows net HST of $7,450 owing, paid in January.

Item	Amount
HST payable per general ledger at December 31	$7,450
Net tax on Q4 return	$7,450
Difference	$0

Part 7: Owner transactions

These are among the items accountants ask about most.

Corporations

Shareholder loan account: a schedule of every amount the shareholder took out of or put into the company. Personal expenses paid by the company belong here or in a taxable benefit, not in business expenses. Your accountant needs this because the Income Tax Act has rules about shareholder loans that aren't repaid within certain time limits.
Dividends declared, with minutes or resolutions.
Related-party transactions, such as rent paid to a shareholder.

Sole proprietors

Owner draws and contributions, recorded separately from expenses.
Business-use-of-home calculations and bills.
Vehicle logbook for the year.

Part 8: Supporting documents

Provide or make accessible:

Document	Why
Year-end bank, card and loan statements	Confirms balances
Prior-year financial statements and tax return	Opening balances and carry-forwards
Notices of assessment (income tax and sales tax)	Confirms prior filings and balances
Instalment payment records	Credits against tax owing
New leases, loans or major contracts	Disclosure and classification
Grant or government assistance agreements	May affect income and deductions
Insurance claims or legal settlements	Unusual items
Minute book updates (corporations)	Dividends and changes in directors or shares

The CRA generally requires you to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.

Part 9: The handoff package

Put it together in one place:

Trial balance and financial statements (income statement and balance sheet).
General ledger detail export.
Reconciliations for every bank, card and loan account.
Schedules: AR, AP, accruals, prepaid expenses, deferred revenue, inventory, fixed asset additions and disposals, and shareholder loan.
Payroll and slip summaries.
Sales tax reconciliation.
A memo of unusual items: new loans, large purchases, lawsuits, a change in business, or a move to a new province.
Open questions you want the accountant to answer.

Common mistakes

Sending raw bank exports instead of reconciled books.
Personal expenses buried in business accounts.
Loan payments posted entirely to principal.
Capital purchases expensed.
Payroll that doesn't tie to T4s.
GST/HST payable that doesn't match filed returns.
Missing the last two weeks of December transactions.
Waiting until the T2 is nearly due to start.

How an online bookkeeper helps

Year-end is easiest when every month was already closed. Accelo Bookkeeping has a dedicated bookkeeper work your file and a reviewer close each month, and its plans include year-end tax-ready financials. You upload statements, receipts and an existing general ledger, and only uncategorized charges come back to you. Accelo doesn't file tax returns, so the package goes to your accountant. If prior months are behind, Accelo offers catch-up, working the oldest month first. Plans start at $199/month (Starter, under 100 transactions, cash-based, first month free), and Growth at $349/month adds accrual accounting and sales tax reconciliation (prepare). Details are on the Accelo pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

When is a corporation's T2 due?

Six months after the fiscal year-end, according to the CRA. Any balance owing is generally due two months after year-end, or three months for certain CCPCs that meet the conditions.

When do self-employed individuals file?

By June 15, but any balance owing is due April 30, according to the CRA.

Does my accountant need my bank statements if the books are reconciled?

Usually yes, at least the year-end statements, to confirm balances.

What's the most common year-end problem?

Owner transactions: personal spending mixed into business accounts, and an unclear shareholder loan balance.

What if my books are months behind at year-end?

Start with the oldest month and work forward, reconciling as you go, before the accountant starts. Catch-up work is easier with a fixed process.

Conclusion

A good year-end handoff is reconciled accounts, complete schedules, payroll and sales tax that tie to filings, clean owner transactions and a short memo of anything unusual. Build the package in the weeks after year-end, well before the T2 or T1 deadline, and your accountant can spend their time on tax planning instead of cleanup.

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