Bookkeeping › British Columbia › North Vancouver › Photographer bookkeeping
Bookkeeping for photographers in North Vancouver, BC.
For wedding, portrait and commercial photographers and videographers. Your books done the day you upload your statements, checked against your bank.
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Sales tax
British Columbia charges 5% GST plus 7% PST, which you file with the province (the GST goes to CRA). GST registration starts once your sales pass $30,000 in four quarters in a row (or in one quarter).
Income tax
British Columbia taxes income at 5.6% to 20.5% in 2026, on top of federal tax of 14% to 33%, on the profit from your business.
CPP
Working for yourself, you pay both halves of CPP: 11.9% of your earnings from $3,500 to $74,600 in 2026, plus 8% more up to $85,000.
Deadlines
Sole proprietors file by June 15 and pay by April 30. Once you owe more than $3,000, CRA asks for instalments on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15.
Contractors
Paid someone more than $500 for services in a year? They may need a T4A slip by the end of February.
What every business in North Vancouver (about 88,000 people) keeps track of in 2026. Rates change, so check with your accountant before you file.
Why photographers need different books
Deposits taken months before the shoot, expensive gear that lasts years, travel to every job, prints and albums next to session fees, and software subscriptions. Deposits are the tricky part: the money arrives long before the work is done.
What a bookkeeper for photographers in North Vancouver keeps track of
- Booking deposits and final payments
- Cameras, lenses and computers
- Travel to shoots
- Prints and albums
- Software and subscriptions
Taxes for photographers in British Columbia
Sessions and prints in British Columbia take 5% GST plus PST once you're registered.
- Session fees and prints take GST/HST once you're registered.
- Cameras and computers are claimed through capital cost allowance (CCA); computers have their own faster class.
- GST/HST on a booking deposit counts once the deposit is applied to the work, not when you take it.
What SumSwift does for photographers and videographers
- Booking deposits and retainers applied to the final invoice
- Big purchases get one question, "Is this equipment?", so they're written off over the right years
- Invoices made, emailed and chased in SumSwift, with a pay link your customers can use
- A mileage log (a CRA logbook in Canada) and the business share of your vehicle worked out for taxes
- Subscriptions watched for price rises
- Every statement checked against the balances your bank printed, to the cent, with personal spending kept off your profit
Your accountant still files your tax return, with clean books and free access.
Questions.
How much does a bookkeeper for photographers cost in North Vancouver?
Published price guides put most small businesses at $300 to $1,500 a month for a bookkeeper, more when the books are busy, as they often are for photographers. SumSwift does the same monthly work the day you upload your statements.
How do I handle wedding deposits?
SumSwift keeps them as retainers and applies them to the final invoice, so you always know what's left to pay.
Can I write off my camera?
Yes, over the years it's used or sooner where the rules allow. SumSwift asks once whether a big purchase is equipment.
Does SumSwift know British Columbia's tax rules?
Sessions and prints in British Columbia take 5% GST plus PST once you're registered. Session fees and prints take GST/HST once you're registered.
Behind on my books. Can you catch me up?
Yes. Upload every month's statements at once and the books are done in minutes, checked against your bank to the cent.
Other businesses in North Vancouver.
Clean books for your photographer in North Vancouver.
Upload your statements and see your books in minutes.
Free to join. Share your link to get in sooner.