Time Tracking Software for Ontario Accounting Firms
Workload, assignment and capacity visible from real task data.
Time tracking software for Ontario accounting firms means tracking the work rather than keeping the books: Ontario clients file one 13% HST return, and every corporate file runs a T2 six months after its fiscal year-end with the balance due earlier. SpidNums puts those obligations on one colour-coded board, hosted in Canada.
Combined HST rate in Ontario
CRA
Ontario small-business rate on the first $500,000
TaxTips.ca, 2026
Federal small-business rate on the first $500,000
CRA
Small employer businesses in Ontario
ISED, December 2024
How does time tracking software work for firms in Ontario?
The CRA administers Ontario's HST — one registration, one return. Ontario clients file a single 13% HST return with the CRA rather than separate federal and provincial sales-tax returns.
One HST return per registered client keeps the recurring filing load predictable in Ontario, which means capacity planning here is mostly about the corporate calendar: how many year-ends fall in which months, and whether the T1 peak and the T2 flow collide.
Which CRA deadlines apply?
These rules are federal and apply in every province and territory. Where a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, the CRA treats the next business day as on time — compute the shifted date each year rather than carrying the calendar forward.
| Filing | Applies to | Filing deadline | Payment | If it is late |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 personal income tax return | Most individuals. | File and pay by April 30 of the following year. Where April 30 falls on a weekend or public holiday, the CRA treats the next business day as on time. | Any balance owing is due April 30. | Late filing costs 5% of the balance owing plus 1% for each full month late, to a maximum of 12 months. Where a late-filing penalty applied in any of the three prior years and the CRA issued a demand to file, the penalty rises to 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months. Compound daily interest runs on unpaid balances from May 1. |
| Fiscal year-end conventions | All businesses. | A corporation chooses its fiscal year-end on its first T2. Any date may be chosen and the fiscal period may not exceed 53 weeks; changing the year-end afterwards requires CRA approval. Unincorporated businesses generally must use a December 31 year-end unless they elect the alternative method. | Financial statements accompany the T2 as GIFI schedules and are due with the return, six months after year-end. | No penalty applies |
What is different about running a practice in Ontario?
Four things a firm working Ontario files should be able to state without looking them up. Each is verified against a primary source, linked at the foot of this page.
CPA Ontario is the provincial body; 410,154 of Ontario's 418,322 employer businesses were small businesses as of December 2024.
- Canada's largest market for accounting services — Ontario had 410,154 small employer businesses as of December 2024 — more than Quebec and British Columbia combined. Every one of them is a potential compliance client.
- One 13% HST return — Ontario harmonized its provincial sales tax with the GST, so Ontario businesses charge 13% HST and file one sales-tax return with the CRA instead of two.
- Small-business rate dropping in 2026 — Ontario's provincial small-business rate is 3.2% and falls to 2.2% effective July 1, 2026, which affects year-end planning for corporations straddling that date.
- An Employer Health Tax to watch — Ontario levies an Employer Health Tax on payrolls above an exemption threshold, so Ontario payroll clients carry a provincial obligation on top of CRA source deductions. Confirm the current rate and exemption with the Ontario Ministry of Finance before advising.
Managing time tracking software across a client book in Ontario
Most firms do not need timesheets — they need to know who is overloaded this week and which files have not moved.
A three-partner Mississauga firm with roughly 220 T1 clients and 45 corporate year-ends spread across the calendar never has an off-season. April 30 is the visible crunch, but the quieter risk is the corporate file whose year-end was in September: the T2 is due in March, the balance was due in December, and nothing on a calendar-year spreadsheet says so. Fiscal-year-end-driven reminders are what close that gap.
How SpidNums handles it
SpidNums models the firm as clients, services and work. Assigning a typed service to an Ontario client is what generates the recurring projects, the stages and the reminders — the cadence is recorded once rather than remembered each period.
Every open obligation is then ranked by how close its due date sits and coloured accordingly, so the morning question — what is late, what is close, what is fine — is answered by looking.
- Team roster with live workload computed from real task data
- Clients handled and open tasks per staff member
- Per-assignee filtering on the firm-wide deadline board
- Reassignment that carries the full file record
- Stage-level ownership on every recurring engagement
- Capacity view before a season, not after it
Where this goes wrong
Capacity failures are visible only in hindsight unless the firm is measuring the work rather than the hours.
- Capacity is estimated from last season's feeling rather than counted from this season's file list.
- Workload is measured by hours logged rather than by open obligations, so the person with the most stuck files looks the least busy.
- A partner stays the routing layer because nobody else can see what is unassigned.
- The plan is made in January, when every lever that could have changed the season has already been pulled.
What SpidNums does not do
SpidNums does not run timesheets or bill by the hour. It shows workload and capacity from the work itself — open tasks, assigned clients and approaching deadlines. If your firm bills hourly and needs timesheet-level data, pair it with a dedicated time system.
If your firm already runs a tracking system it trusts, the honest answer is that you do not need this one. The pages on this site are written to help you decide, not to pretend every firm has the same problem.
Time Tracking Software in nearby provinces
Also for Ontario firms
Related guides
Ontario overview
Frequently asked questions
What is the HST rate in Ontario?
Ontario's HST rate is 13%, made up of the 5% federal component and 8% provincially. The CRA administers Ontario's HST — one registration, one return. Ontario clients file a single 13% HST return with the CRA rather than separate federal and provincial sales-tax returns.
What corporate tax rates apply in Ontario?
Ontario's provincial small-business rate is 3.2% on the first $500,000 of active business income, and its general provincial rate is 11.5%. Those sit on top of the federal rates — 9% federally on the first $500,000 and 15% federally on general income. Ontario's small-business rate falls from 3.2% to 2.2% effective July 1, 2026.
How is workload calculated without timesheets?
From real task data: clients handled, open tasks and approaching deadlines per staff member. The board can be filtered per assignee, so the question 'who has capacity this week' is answered from the work itself rather than from a status meeting.
Is client data stored in Canada?
Yes. SpidNums hosts client data in Canada, in the ca-central-1 region, with row-level tenant isolation, an append-only audit log and staff roles that support confidential-client gating.
Does SpidNums run timesheets?
No. SpidNums does not record time or bill by the hour. It shows workload and capacity from the work itself — open tasks, assigned clients and approaching deadlines. If your firm bills hourly and needs timesheet-level data, pair it with a dedicated time system.
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