Industries
Accountant for Restaurants in Ottawa
BBA Tax is an Ottawa accountant for restaurants, cafes, food trucks and caterers. We match your POS and delivery app sales to the bank, run payroll that treats tips correctly, apply HST to the right menu items, and turn supplier invoices into food cost numbers you can act on. You get books that support the sales you report, plus a clear monthly view of your margins.
How We Help Restaurant Owners
Every day’s POS report, card batch, cash count and delivery app payout is matched to your bank deposits. When an app pays you net of its fees, we record the full sale and the fee separately, so revenue is not understated. Gaps between till and bank are flagged while the shift is fresh.
We set up payroll so controlled tips, like a mandatory service charge or a pool you run, have income tax, CPP and EI deducted and land on the T4, while direct tips customers hand to staff stay off payroll. We also track tip-outs to kitchen staff so each payout is recorded the right way.
Restaurant meals are taxable at 13% and basic groceries are zero-rated, while a cafe or bakery can sell both. We check your POS tax codes for items such as baked goods sold in packs of six or more, and for Ontario’s point-of-sale rebate on qualifying prepared food and drinks totalling $4 or less.
We code supplier invoices by category so you can see food, beverage and packaging costs as a share of sales each month. Your year-end inventory count feeds cost of goods sold, so we help you set a counting routine that gives reliable numbers without shutting down the kitchen.
The CRA selects audit files based on risk and may compare your return with similar files. Daily cash counts, POS end-of-day reports and matched deposits let you prove the sales figures on your return. If a review or audit letter arrives, we help you respond and can represent you with the CRA.
Built Around Service Hours
You cannot step away from a lunch rush for an accounting meeting, so we work from your POS, bank and supplier records and send questions in batches. You approve payroll and read a short monthly report; we handle the reconciliations, HST codes and journal entries behind it.
Seasonal swings are part of the plan. Patio season, holidays and slower months change your staffing and cash needs, so we track labour as a share of sales and prepare Records of Employment when staff leave or are laid off. When you add menu items or catering, we check that the HST treatment still fits.
A Hands-On Accountant for Restaurants
We cover the whole cycle for food businesses: daily sales and QuickBooks bookkeeping, payroll with tips and T4s, WSIB filings, HST returns, monthly reports and year-end returns. If you still operate as a sole proprietor, we look at whether incorporating your restaurant makes sense, weighing the lower small business tax rate against the cost and work of a separate corporate return. If you own more than one location, we also look at how associated corporations share the small business limit.
Why Restaurants Need an Accountant Who Knows Food Service
One shift can include cash and card sales, taxable meals, zero-rated grocery items, tips, service charges and delivery payouts, and each is recorded differently for tax and payroll. A small error repeated across a year of transactions grows quickly, and it can surface if the CRA reviews your HST or payroll.
Ontario Has Its Own Tip Rules
Ontario’s Employment Standards Act limits what an employer can do with tips. You cannot keep staff tips, a service charge that customers would reasonably expect to go to staff counts as a tip, and an owner can share in a tip pool only if they regularly do, to a substantial degree, the same work as tipped employees.
Service Charges Carry HST
A tip a customer chooses to leave is not subject to HST. A mandatory or suggested service charge you add to the bill is, and the CRA’s own example taxes a 15% gratuity of $150 on a $1,000 banquet, for HST on $1,150. Check your group menus and catering quotes for this.
Minimum Wage Rose on October 1
Ontario’s general minimum wage rose to $17.95 an hour on October 1, 2026, and the rate for eligible students under 18 to $16.90. Payroll also means CPP at 5.95% each for employee and employer, EI at 1.63% with the employer paying 1.4 times that premium, and, for regular remitters, deductions sent by the 15th of the next month.
Kitchen Equipment Has Its Own Classes
Ovens, refrigeration and furniture generally go in Class 8 at a 20% capital cost allowance rate, while china, cutlery, linen, uniforms and kitchen utensils under $500 go in Class 12 at 100%. A federal proposal from September 15, 2026 would let businesses fully expense eligible equipment acquired from that date, but it is not yet law.
Tax Preparation & Filing for Restaurants
A restaurant files more than one kind of return. Payroll remittances come due through the year, monthly or quarterly HST returns are due one month after each period, 2026 T4 slips are due by March 1, 2027, and an incorporated restaurant has six months after year-end to file its T2. We help with:
T2 corporate returns and T5 slips for incorporated restaurants
GST/HST returns with POS rebate and tax code checks
T4 slips, Records of Employment and WSIB filings
What Restaurant Owners Get From BBA Tax
We work from a Westboro office at 203-307C Richmond Road, so an in-person meeting can fit between lunch and dinner service, and we also work remotely with food businesses elsewhere in Canada. Karim Bitar, our Lead Accountant, is an ELITE Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, useful when your POS, payroll and bank data all need to land in QuickBooks.
Bookkeeping starts from $1,225 a year, GST/HST filing is $500 a year and corporate T2 returns start from $1,000, with bundles saving 10% to 25%. Try the five-minute instant quote, or bring last month’s POS summary and bank statement to a free intro call.
What We Handle for Restaurants
These are the recurring jobs we take on so you can stay focused on the kitchen and the dining room.
Daily POS and deposit reconciliation
Payroll, tips and T4 slips
HST returns and POS tax codes
Monthly food cost reports
Year-end and T2 corporate returns
Restaurant Accounting FAQ
Are tips taxable for restaurant employees in Canada?
Yes. Tips and gratuities are employment income for tax purposes, but who handles the deductions depends on control. Controlled tips, such as mandatory service charges or a tip pool the employer runs, go through payroll with income tax, CPP and EI withheld and are reported on the T4. Direct tips, such as cash left on the table or a pool the staff run themselves, have no deductions at source, and employees report them on their own returns.
Do restaurants charge HST on food in Ontario?
Yes. Meals and drinks sold by restaurants, cafes, caterers and food trucks are taxable at 13% HST, while basic groceries are zero-rated. Where 90% or more of your food and drink sales are taxable, almost all the food and drink you sell is taxable, except items not suitable for immediate consumption and packs of six or more sweet baked goods sold to take away. Ontario also rebates the 8% provincial part at the till on qualifying prepared food and drinks (not alcohol) totalling $4 or less before tax.
Should I incorporate my restaurant?
It can make sense once the restaurant earns more profit than you need to take out. A Canadian-controlled private corporation pays tax at a combined federal and Ontario rate of 11.2% (since July 1, 2026) on up to $500,000 a year of active business income, a limit shared with any associated corporations, and you pay personal tax when you withdraw salary or dividends. The Ontario government fee to incorporate is $300, and you take on a separate T2 return and corporate books.
What records does a restaurant need to keep for the CRA?
Generally, keep all required records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. For a restaurant, that includes POS end-of-day reports, cash counts and deposit records, supplier invoices, delivery app statements, payroll and tip records, and your HST working papers. These are what you rely on to show that the sales, costs and tips on your returns are complete if the CRA reviews or audits you.
Guides for Restaurant Owners
Go deeper with these guides from the BBA Tax blog:
- How to Set Up Small Business Payroll in Canada (2026 CRA Guide)
- What Triggers a CRA Audit? Top Red Flags for Canadian Businesses
- How to Protect Your Small Business from a CRA Tax Audit
- GST/HST Quick Method in Canada: Could Your Business Save Thousands?
- What is the Difference Between Sole Proprietorship and Incorporation in Canada?
Success Stories
I'm an ELITE Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Business owners regularly face issues with bookkeeping & this is where a ProAdvisor can help! Using my skills & experience, I can help you organize your books & even bring you back up to date if required. Let’s build up your books in order to provide you with the most up to date, reliable and accurate information about your company!
