6 Past-Due Bookkeeping tax and accounting engagements in full — what the client came to us with, what we did, and what it was worth. Each one is specific to past-due bookkeeping work, not a general example.
Case Study 1 · Deadline rescue
Filed On Time From A Standing Start, $39,500 Penalty Avoided — Small Law Practice, Guelph
Client: A small law practice · Where: Guelph, Ontario · Engagement: 8 weeks, fixed fee
Penalty avoided$39,500
Turnaround8 weeks
FiledOn time
The situation
A small law practice in Guelph, Ontario came to us 8 weeks before its filing deadline with eighteen months of unreconciled transactions and a shoebox of receipts. A late filing would have triggered a penalty of roughly $39,500 before interest.
What we did
We worked backwards from the deadline. We rebuilt the ledger from bank and card statements, matched every receipt to a transaction, and removed duplicated input tax credits before they became a review, prioritising the items that actually gated the filing and deferring everything that did not.
The result
The return was filed on time and complete. The $39,500 penalty never arose, and the compliance calendar we set means the next deadline is scheduled rather than discovered.
Case Study 2 · Records and systems rebuilt
Month-End Close Cut From 8 Weeks To 9 Days — Equipment Rental Yard, Vancouver
Client: An equipment rental yard · Where: Vancouver, British Columbia · Engagement: 9 weeks, fixed fee
Close time before8 weeks
Close time after9 days
Year-endReview, not rebuild
The situation
The accounting file at an equipment rental yard in Vancouver, British Columbia was built on input tax credits claimed on receipts that had already been claimed once. The year-end had taken 8 weeks each of the last three years.
What we did
We separated the owner’s personal spending out of the corporate accounts and cleared the resulting shareholder loan properly and moved the reconciliations into the monthly cycle, so the year-end stopped being a rebuild.
The result
The file reconciles. Month-end closes in 9 days instead of 8 weeks, and the year-end is a review rather than a reconstruction.
Remittances at a specialty coffee roaster in Winnipeg, Manitoba were consistently late by a few days, which was enough to trigger penalties every quarter. Behind it sat a bookkeeping file where owner draws, payroll and supplier payments all landed in the same account.
What we did
We set up a documented chart of accounts, a receipt-capture workflow and a monthly reconciliation that closes within ten days of month-end, then moved the remittance dates into a scheduled process rather than a monthly decision.
The result
Penalties stopped from the following remittance onwards, and $44,000 of overpaid instalments was refunded.
Case Study 4 · Planning that cut the bill
$36,000 Saved By Correcting What Prior Filings Had Missed — Two-Location Cafe, Saskatoon
A two-location cafe in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan asked for a second opinion on past-due bookkeeping after three years of rising tax. The review found three years of returns filed off numbers nobody could trace back to a bank statement.
What we did
We built the comparison first — current structure against two alternatives — and then reconciled receivables and payables to source documents and wrote off the balances that were genuinely uncollectible, with support.
The result
First-year saving of $36,000, with the same benefit recurring. Every position taken is documented and supported in the file.
Case Study 5 · Scaling without breaking
Growth Handled Without A Missed Filing, $141,000 Freed — Subscription Box Retailer, Regina
A subscription box retailer in Regina, Saskatchewan was opening in a second province — different filing obligations, a different payroll regime, and a receivables list that included invoices collected eleven months earlier already in the file.
What we did
We rebuilt the ledger from bank and card statements, matched every receipt to a transaction, and removed duplicated input tax credits before they became a review and put monthly reporting in place so the owner could see the cash effect of growth while there was still time to act on it.
The result
Growth was absorbed without a compliance failure. $141,000 of cash was released, and the monthly reporting now flags a problem while it is still small.
Case Study 6 · CRA review defended
$14,500 Proposed Adjustment Withdrawn In Full — Residential Cleaning Franchise, Windsor
A residential cleaning franchise in Windsor, Ontario received a proposal letter opening a review of past-due bookkeeping. The CRA had identified eighteen months of unreconciled transactions and a shoebox of receipts and proposed an adjustment of $14,500, with 30 days to respond.
What we did
We treated the response as an evidence exercise rather than an argument. We separated the owner’s personal spending out of the corporate accounts and cleared the resulting shareholder loan properly, then indexed every supporting document against the specific line the auditor had questioned.
The result
The proposed adjustment was withdrawn in full — all $14,500 of it. The file closed in 4 weeks with no change to the assessed amounts and no penalty.
Reviewed for the 2025 tax year by Udit Gupta, Certified Tax Accountant. Figures describe representative engagements of this type; outcomes depend on your own facts. Client names and identifying details are omitted for confidentiality.
