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One blog post closer to clean books.
Each blog post from the Castle team is packed with practical tips, real-world experience, and clear answers to common bookkeeping questions. Whether you're sorting expenses or planning for tax time, you'll find guidance to help you run your business with clarity and confidence.
Terms of Service
Welcome to Castle! These terms of service outline the rules and regulations for the use of our bookkeeping services.
By accessing this website and using our services, you accept these terms and conditions in full. Do not continue to use Castle services if you do not accept all of the terms and conditions stated on this page.
Castle offers professional bookkeeping services including transaction categorization, reconciliations, financial reporting, GST/HST filing, and other related services as agreed upon with the client.
2. Billing and Payments
All services provided by Castle are billed on a recurring basis unless otherwise
agreed upon. Payments are due upon receipt of invoice. We accept payment via credit card, debit card, and electronic funds transfer.
3. Cancellation and Refund Policy
Clients may cancel services at any time by providing 30 days’ notice in writing or via email. Refunds for prepaid services will be prorated based on the remaining unused portion of the services.
4. Privacy Policy
Our privacy policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your personal information. We do not sell or share your information with third parties without your consent, except as required by law.
5. Liability
Castle will perform all services with reasonable care and skill. However, we do not accept liability for losses resulting from acts of nature, third-party errors, or misuse of financial information or reports by the client.
6. Amendments
Castle reserves the right to amend these terms of service at any time. Amendments will be effective immediately upon posting on this website.
7. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:
Castle
316 1st Ave NE
Phone: 587-872-0602
Email: info@bookwithcastle.com
One blog post closer to clean books.
Each blog post from the Castle team is packed with practical tips, real-world experience, and clear answers to common bookkeeping questions. Whether you're sorting expenses or planning for tax time, you'll find guidance to help you run your business with clarity and confidence.
How to Record CRA Payroll Remittances Properly
(So your payroll and CRA balances actually line up at year-end)
When you run payroll in Canada, your remittance to CRA is made up of several components. The most common bookkeeping mistake is recording the remittance as a single “expense,” when in reality most of it is clearing payroll liabilities.
If it is recorded incorrectly, your books will show payroll expense twice, CPP/EI will be misstated, and your payroll liability account will never clear properly.
What is actually included in a CRA payroll remittance
A single remittance contains:
- Income tax withheld from the employee
- CPP deducted from the employee
- CPP contributed by the employer
- EI deducted from the employee
- EI contributed by the employer
The employee portions (tax, CPP, EI) are amounts the business is holding in trust until they are forwarded to CRA.
The employer portions are the business’s true payroll expense.
How QuickBooks handles this correctly
When payroll is processed:
- Wages are posted to Wage Expense
- Employee deductions are posted to Payroll Liabilities
- Employer CPP and EI are posted to Employer Contribution Expense
When the CRA remittance is paid, the payment should not be recorded as another expense. Instead, it should be coded against the payroll liability account to clear out the deductions that were already set aside.
The proper flow
- Payroll run creates the liability
- CRA payment clears the liability
In accounting terms, you are reducing what you owe, not creating a new expense.
What happens if you code it as an expense
If the remittance is posted to Payroll Expense:
- Your payroll costs will be doubled
- Net income will be understated
- Payroll liability accounts will never clear
- Year-end and T4 totals will not match CRA
This is one of the most common corrections accountants have to fix during cleanup.
Month-end best practice
To keep payroll perfectly aligned with CRA:
- Ensure employee deductions are sitting in Payroll Liabilities after each pay run
- When you remit, apply the payment to the liability account (not an expense)
- Confirm the liability account clears to zero for that remittance period
Key takeaway
The payroll expense happened on payday.
The CRA remittance is simply transferring those withheld amounts out of your liability account.
The payment is not a new expense — it is clearing the obligation you were already holding.
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