Services, and how deadlines are worked out¶
A service is work you do for a client, such as its T2 or GST/HST. Firmdesk works out its deadlines from the client's year-end, its type and a few questions, and lists them under Deadlines.
Add a service to one client¶
- Open the client's Engagements and deadlines tab and, under Services, select Add a service.
- Select Add on the service. Services that don't fit the client's type, such as a T2 for an individual, are greyed out.
- Answer the questions, such as How often is it filed? or Do they pay instalments?. What this adds under Deadlines lists the deadlines before you save.
- Select Add and the service's name, for example Add T2 corporate return.
Every service also asks Who files it?: what the client files itself shows under Deadlines, greyed out. Start with deadlines due from leaves out earlier deadlines; set it earlier to catch one still outstanding.
Set up services for many clients¶
- Go to Clients. Tick the clients and select Add services, or open More actions (⋯) and select Set up services for the clients in this list. After an import, Set up their services picks your new clients.
- On Set up services, untick any clients to leave out.
- Tick each service and answer its questions, once for all the clients. By default, a T2's provincial return follows each client's province.
- Select Preview. What this adds shows each client's deadlines per service, or why a service is left out: the client has it already, it isn't for that type of client, or (for QST) the client isn't in Québec.
- Select the Add button, for example Add 40 services.
Tip
Name your choices and select Save as a preset; next time, select Use it under Your presets. A preset keeps the answers, not the start date.
How the dates are worked out¶
| Service | Due |
|---|---|
| T2 corporate return | Return 6 months after year-end. Balance 2 months after, or 3 for a CCPC claiming the small business deduction. Instalments at the end of each month or quarter. AT1 or CO-17 with the T2. |
| T1 personal return | Return and balance April 30; self-employed file by June 15. Instalments the 15th of March, June, September and December. |
| T3 trust return | Return and balance 90 days after the trust's year-end. |
| GST/HST, QST | Monthly or quarterly: a month after each period. Annual: 3 months after year-end, but individuals and sole proprietors with a December 31 year-end file by June 15 and pay by April 30. Annual filers' instalments: a month after each fiscal quarter. |
| Payroll remittances | Quarterly and regular remitters: the 15th of the next month. Threshold 1: the 25th for the 1st to 15th, the 10th of the next month for the rest. Threshold 2: 3 working days after the 7th, 14th, 21st and month-end. |
| T4, T4A, T5 slips | The last day of February after the calendar year. |
| T5018 | 6 months after the fiscal or calendar year. |
| T5013 | March 31 after the calendar year if all partners are individuals, 5 months after year-end if all are corporations, the earlier of the two if mixed. |
| T3010, T1044 | 6 months after year-end. |
| Bookkeeping, WSIB / WCB | When you set, after each period. |
| Records of Employment (ROE) | Nothing is scheduled: add each one with Add ROE when it comes up. |
| Other (custom) | Named by you, on the schedule you set. |
Counting in months, a month-end stays a month-end: a June 30 year-end has its T2 due December 31.
A date on a weekend or a public holiday is on time the next business day, and both dates show. The holidays are those on the CRA's list, with Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in place of the Civic Holiday for clients in Québec.
When things change¶
- Deadlines are added about 15 months ahead, and more as the months go by.
- Change a service's settings, or the client's year-end or type, and its deadlines follow. One that no longer applies is removed, or marked Not required if work on it had started. Done ones stay.
- To stop a service, untick Keep adding its deadlines: nothing new is added, and what was done is kept. Delete this service, in the service's More actions, also deletes its deadlines, even completed ones.
Good to know¶
- Anyone on the team can add a service to a client. Setting up many clients at once is for owners and admins.
- A client has one of each service, except Other (custom).
- The Deadlines board hides payroll deadlines until you tick Show payroll in its Filters.
- Firmdesk works out dates from your settings and CRA and Revenu Québec rules, as we understand them. Your firm remains responsible for the deadlines it meets, and Firmdesk doesn't file anything.