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For Canadian bookkeepers, year-end payroll season feels like preparing for a marathon at spring pace. T4s, subcontractor payments, taxable benefits, and CRA deadlines all converge — usually accompanied by clients scrambling to send last-minute information.
But it doesn’t have to be chaos. We caught up with our community of bookkeepers, to dig into their battle-tested strategies that transform this hectic period from survival-mode to manageable routine. From early planning and proactive reconciliation to setting clear client expectations and smart technology use.
Here’s how seasoned bookkeepers navigate year-end with confidence thanks to the expertise of Bianca Mueller CPB, PCP, Community Manager at Wagepoint, Tanya Hilts, CPB, CFCC, FCPB, AIA, and CEO of Cloud Business Services, Laura Acs, CPB, PCP, and Founder of Collective Finance, and Faithe Rouse, CPB, and Founder of Faithe Rouse Accounting Services.
What’s the biggest year-end challenge you face and/or your firm faces?
Tanya Hilts: “Clients sending e-transfers for bonuses without processing them through payroll. This creates extra work, since we need to manually calculate and back out the employer’s EI and CPP contributions. It also increases the risk of PIER reviews.”
Laura Acs: “Subcontractor payments often get made outside of payroll, making them easy to lose track of. At year-end this creates extra work and risks missing or inaccurate T4As.”
Bianca Mueller: “Breaking out the tax in order to file contractor T4As. When processing contractor payments through Wagepoint, treat it like you would for expense reimbursements in payroll. Code the tax to an expense reimbursement code on a separate line. Anything paid through payroll that does not report to a YE form (T4/T4A) should be paid using this type of code.”
Faithe Rouse: “Keeping everything organized so details don’t slip through the cracks. To stay ahead, batch your year-end work for efficiency: start by reconciling all payroll expense and liability accounts, then confirm employee details like SIN, address, and CPP/EI exemptions before generating T4s. A clear checklist is your best friend as it ensures nothing gets overlooked.”
Key Takeaway → Most year-end headaches come from missing data — off-payroll bonuses, subcontractor payments, or overlooked employee details. The fix is keeping everything in payroll, reconciling early, and following a clear checklist.
What’s your go-to tip, process, or hack for staying on top of year-end payroll?
Tanya Hilts: “I start by exporting the T4 and T4A data into a spreadsheet and building a detailed pivot table to analyze it. From there, I run reports against what should have been paid and review any e-transfers issued in the final days of the year. I then calculate the net-to-gross amounts and update the payroll data as needed, ideally running a final pay dated December 31 to ensure the T4s are accurate and fully reconciled.”
Laura Acs: “Process subcontractor payments directly through Wagepoint so they are tracked for T4A purposes throughout the year. This way, every payment is recorded as you go, and issuing accurate T4As at year-end becomes a simple, one step process. We also leverage T4A tracking in QBO for honorariums, fees and other non-employment payments.”
Bianca Mueller: “If I have had to run off-cycle pay runs at any point, I always reconcile them separately to make sure they’re captured.”
Faithe Rouse: “Always reconcile your payroll liability accounts before preparing T4s. It’s far easier to catch and correct discrepancies in November than to scramble for answers in February when deadlines are right around the corner.”
Key Takeaway → Build verification into your monthly routine rather than saving it all for year-end. Export data regularly, reconcile accounts monthly, and track off-cycle payments separately to spread the workload throughout the year.
Pro Tip: T4s and T4As must be filed by the last day of February, but many small businesses underestimate the time needed to gather, reconcile, and file everything properly.
– Bianca Mueller, CPB, PCP
Do you have a boundary or system you use with clients to keep year-end on track?
Tanya Hilts: “We allow late submissions once without applying any additional charges. However, if the client chooses to go rogue and bypass payroll again, we’ll bill them at our out-of-scope rate to correct the issue.”
Laura Acs: “We start our year-end process with a newsletter for our payroll clients. This helps us set the stage and set the expectation on what we need from the client. Early communication has been a game changer. Starting the conversation in early December, before the holiday and year-end rush sets in.”
Faithe Rouse: “We’ve built strong, tested workflows with all our steps mapped out so nothing falls through the cracks.”
Key Takeaway → Boundaries and communication matter. Setting expectations early, enforcing clear deadlines, and mapping workflows ensures clients stay accountable and the process stays on track.
Pro-Tip: I added a “Holiday Bonus Communication Policy” for all clients—if they want to give out bonuses or gifts, they have to notify us by mid-December. We now run a final payroll dated December 31 for these payments. It’s saved us from countless headaches, and it positioned me as a trusted advisor rather than just the clean-up crew, and we now include a penalty for not advising us of these payments, so there’s accountability built in.
– Tanya Hilts, CPB, CFCC, FCPB, AIA
What do you think is the most often overlooked or forgotten aspect of year-end?
Tanya Hilts: “For clients, many small business owners don’t realize that the pay date, not the work date, determines the tax year. Those Dec 31 e-transfers or “holiday thank you” bonuses count in that year—even if they mentally earmarked them for January. For the payroll processor, they may not proactively run net-to-gross or reconciliation checks to pre-empt a PIER review, instead waiting for CRA’s notice.“
Bianca Mueller: “The privacy and security laws that regulate the distribution of T4’s are often overlooked by many employers.“
Faithe Rouse: “Not taking the time to verify employee contact info throughout the year.”
Key Takeaway → Overlooking small details like pay dates, T4 privacy rules, or outdated employee info can create outsized problems. Staying diligent with the basics keeps year-end on track.
Do you have an example of a year-end that didn’t go as planned, and the lessons you took from it?
Tanya Hilts: “One client handed out holiday bonuses by personal e-transfer on Dec. 30, thinking it ‘didn’t count as payroll’ since it wasn’t run through the software. Because nothing was grossed up or reported, I had to back-calculate EI/CPP, make emergency CRA remittances, and handle a PIER review. What they saw as a quick gift turned into hours of cleanup.”
Laura Acs: “T4s and T4As must be filed by the last day of February. One year I had to chase the CRA to confirm filings, which taught me to always keep my confirmations.”
Faithe Rouse: “Don’t wait until the CRA calls you. Trust exams are painful, do the work right the first time.”
Key Takeaway → The smoothest year-ends come from proactive habits — setting clear bonus policies, keeping CRA confirmations, and maintaining clean records so audits hold no surprises.
The insights from these experienced payroll professionals reveal a clear pattern: successful year-end processing isn’t about working harder during the busy season—it’s about building better systems throughout the year. By documenting workflows, setting client expectations, and leveraging automation, bookkeepers can shift year-end from a scramble to a repeatable process. And when those systems are in place, the payoff is more than compliance — it’s confidence.
