Small Business Accounting Software for Canada
Record a payment and iBill posts the journal entry, updates your balance sheet, and calculates your GST/HST liability. Accounting built for Canadian small businesses.
Everything a Canadian Small Business Needs
Invoicing, double-entry general ledger, financial statements, bank reconciliation, CRA tax reports — all included, all built for Canada.
What Canadian Small Businesses Need from Accounting Software
Running a small business in Canada means juggling invoicing, tax collection, bookkeeping, and CRA compliance — often without a dedicated accountant. You need software that handles the accounting automatically so you can focus on running your business.
Most small business owners need three things from their accounting system:
- Automatic tax calculations — GST, HST, PST, and QST applied correctly based on your province, with the right rates for Ontario (13% HST), Quebec (5% GST + 9.975% QST), British Columbia (5% GST + 7% PST), and every other province and territory.
- Financial statements on demand — a balance sheet, income statement, and trial balance that update in real time as you record transactions, without waiting for month-end.
- CRA-ready records — numbered invoices, a complete audit trail, and tax liability reports that give you exactly what you need when filing GST/HST returns or responding to a CRA review.
iBill delivers all three. Every payment you record posts a journal entry to your general ledger, updates your financial statements, and calculates your tax liability — automatically.
CRA Requirements for Small Businesses (ITA s.230)
The Canada Revenue Agency requires every business to maintain adequate books and records under the Income Tax Act, section 230. For small businesses, this means:
Record-Keeping Obligations
- General ledger — a chronological record of all financial transactions, with debits and credits that balance. iBill maintains a full double-entry general ledger with numbered journal entries.
- Source documents — invoices, receipts, bank statements, and contracts. iBill stores your invoices with automatic numbering (INV-YYYYMM-NNN format) and links every payment to its source invoice.
- 6-year retention — records must be kept for at least 6 years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. iBill's append-only audit trail preserves every transaction with SHA-256 document hashing for tamper detection.
Invoice Requirements
If you are registered for GST/HST, your invoices must include: your legal business name, business address, GST/HST registration number, invoice date, a description of goods or services, the amount of GST/HST charged, and the total. iBill's CRA-ready invoice templates include all required fields automatically.
Tax Filing
GST/HST registrants must file returns (annually, quarterly, or monthly depending on revenue) and remit the difference between tax collected and input tax credits (ITCs). iBill's tax reports calculate your net tax by filing period so you can file accurately and on time.
Complete Accounting for Canadian Small Businesses
Every feature a small business needs to stay organized, ready, and in control of its finances
Invoicing with Auto Tax
Create professional invoices with GST/HST/PST/QST calculated automatically based on your province. Invoices are numbered sequentially for CRA compliance. Send by email or share a client portal link.
Double-Entry General Ledger
Every payment, expense, and asset transaction posts to the correct GL accounts automatically. Debits always equal credits. Your chart of accounts is seeded with Canadian-standard accounts on signup.
Financial Statements
Auto-generated balance sheet, income statement, trial balance, and cash flow statement. All generated from your GL in real time — no manual data entry or month-end closes.
Bank Reconciliation
Import bank statements and match transactions to your GL entries. Auto-categorization rules learn your patterns. Reconciled transactions lock to prevent accidental changes.
CRA Tax Reports
GST/HST liability by filing period, tax collected vs input tax credits, and 9 CRA compliance reports including voided invoice register, credit note register, and audit trail export.
Expense & Receipt Tracking
Log business expenses with receipt photo uploads stored securely in the cloud. Expenses post to your GL automatically with ITC tracking for GST/HST input tax credits. Categorized by CRA-standard expense categories.
Start Your Small Business Accounting
Invoicing, general ledger, financial statements, and CRA tax reports. Get started in minutes, no time limit, no feature restrictions.
Create AccountCash-Basis vs Accrual Accounting for Small Businesses
One of the first decisions a Canadian small business makes is whether to use cash-basis or accrual accounting. Here is how they differ and why it matters.
Cash-Basis Accounting
Revenue is recognized when payment is received. Expenses are recognized when paid. This is the simpler method and is permitted by the CRA for most small businesses and sole proprietors. It gives you an accurate picture of actual cash flow — you only report income you have actually collected.
Accrual Accounting
Revenue is recognized when earned (invoice issued), regardless of payment. Expenses are recognized when incurred. Accrual is required for corporations with revenue above $1 million and gives a more complete picture of financial obligations.
How iBill Handles It
iBill uses a layered model. The underlying GL posting on the AR side happens at payment date (revenue posts when payment is recorded). Revenue display in your dashboard uses the accrual basis — sent and unpaid invoices are visible alongside collected cash. Sales tax follows the Excise Tax Act s.168 timing rule (earlier of invoice date or payment date). Vendor bills are accrual on both layers so you always know what you owe. Your tax preparer determines which filing basis (cash or accrual) applies to your filing.
Year-End Tax Preparation for Small Businesses
Tax season is stressful for small business owners. iBill makes year-end preparation straightforward by keeping your books organized throughout the year.
What You Need at Year-End
- Income statement — total revenue (cash received) and expenses for the fiscal year. iBill generates this from your GL with a single click.
- Balance sheet — your financial position as of year-end: assets, liabilities, and equity.
- GST/HST summary — total tax collected, input tax credits claimed, and net tax remitted. iBill calculates this by filing period.
- Capital cost allowance (CCA) — depreciation on business assets. iBill's CCA module calculates depreciation by CRA class with half-year rule and AIIP support.
- Expense breakdown — categorized expenses for your T2125 (business income) or T2 (corporate) return.
Period-End Reconciliation
Before closing a fiscal period, iBill runs 8 automated checks: trial balance (debits = credits), balance sheet equation (A = L + E), AR reconciliation, tax sub-ledger vs GL reconciliation, revenue reconciliation, orphaned journal entry detection, invoice sequence gap analysis, and pending approval review. These checks catch errors before you file.
Small Business Accounting FAQs
Ready to simplify your small business accounting?
Create AccountSmall Business Accounting — For Canadian Businesses
Trusted by Canadian businesses using iBill for invoicing, bookkeeping, and CRA compliance.
Create AccountUnlimited Invoices • CRA Audit-Ready