Accountant for Contractors, Builders & Trades
Accounting for contractors, builders and construction trades — subcontractors, holdbacks, work-in-progress and project-level reporting.
Construction accounting turns on three things Québec contractors get assessed on: holdbacks recognised in the wrong year, progress billings that do not match percentage of completion, and GST/QST remitted on amounts not yet collected.
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Key facts
| Holdback income | Excluded from income until you have a legal right to receive it |
|---|---|
| Holdback paid out | Not deductible until it becomes payable to the subcontractor |
| Equipment | Claimed through CCA by class, not expensed |
| Sales tax | GST/QST timing follows its own rules and does not track income recognition |
| Authorities | Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Québec |
Construction accounting has its own rules — holdbacks, work-in-progress and subcontractor reporting. A&S Financials helps Montréal builders and trades track jobs at the project level, manage T5018 subcontractor filings, and keep cash flow visible across long project cycles. We give you the reporting to bid and build with confidence.
Book a consultationHow we help
- Project and job-cost reporting
- Work-in-progress and holdback accounting
- T5018 subcontractor reporting
- Payroll for field and office staff
- GST/QST and progress-billing support
- Corporate tax and year-end filing
Holdbacks are the recurring assessment
Accounting systems commonly record the full progress billing as revenue, holdback included, because that is what the invoice says. For tax the holdback comes out until the right to receive it arises — generally after the lien period following substantial completion. Recognising it early accelerates tax onto money not yet collected. Across several concurrent projects the difference can be large enough to create a genuine cash problem in a profitable year. The mirror error appears on the paying side, where a general contractor deducts holdbacks retained from subcontractors before they become payable. Both directions need the same discipline, and the reconciliation between book and tax treatment has to be maintained rather than rebuilt each year end.
Job costing is what makes the rest possible
Without costs allocated to jobs there is no reliable percentage of completion, no way to see which contracts are actually profitable, and no defensible support for work in progress at year end. That allocation also drives the labour question. Trades engaged as subcontractors who work under your direction, with your equipment and no real risk of loss, can be reassessed as employees — leaving the payer liable for both shares of source deductions across several years at once. Equipment purchases are the third recurring issue: they belong in a CCA class rather than in expenses, and misclassifying them distorts both the current deduction and the pool available in later years.
Frequently asked questions
When does a holdback become taxable income?
Do I remit GST/QST on the holdback?
Are my subcontractors really subcontractors?
Can I expense a new truck or excavator?
Speak with a Montréal CPA
Contact us to discuss your accounting and tax needs — in the language you prefer.