Accounting for interior designers in Ontario
Interior designers bill fees plus marked-up furnishings and manage client deposits and trade purchases, which makes revenue timing and job costing central.
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taxifi · Interior Designers
This month
- Bookkeeping Current
- Payroll & source deductions Filed
- HST Filed
- Year-end tax (T2) On track
The problems we take off your plate
Fees and marked-up furnishings
Design fees and product markups are tracked separately so you can see margin on each per project.
Client deposits and trade purchases
Deposits and trade purchases are tracked per project so revenue timing and job cost are accurate.
Your corporation at year-end
The corporate T2 is included, prepared by the same team that kept your books current.
What’s included
Published prices for incorporated Ontario interior designers. Everything below is handled.
- Fee and product-markup bookkeeping
- Client deposit and job-cost tracking
- HST returns prepared and filed
- Year-end corporate tax (T2), from $1,000 a year
- Owner pay planning
| Area | A typical setup | With taxifi |
|---|---|---|
| Your books | Weeks or months behind | Current every day |
| Year-end (T2) | A spring scramble, billed extra | Included, no surprise invoice |
| Your accountant | Metered by the hour | Unlimited questions, flat monthly |
Goods, services, and the markup in between
Interior design mixes two things the tax system treats differently: professional services and tangible goods. Design fees are generally taxable services; furniture, fixtures, and materials you purchase and resell are goods with their own HST treatment and their own margin. When both flow through one invoice, the books need to separate them or your gross margin becomes a guess.
Procurement is where the money and the risk both sit. Whether you buy as principal and resell at markup, or arrange purchases for the client to pay directly, changes reported revenue, HST collected, and who carries the risk if a supplier fails. Client deposits for furniture orders are liabilities until delivery. All of it is contract design first and bookkeeping second.
Common questions
Can you handle client deposits and furnishings?
Yes. Deposits and product purchases are tracked per project so margin is clear.
Do you work with incorporated firms?
Yes. Incorporated design firms are a good fit.
Should design fees and furniture sales be tracked separately?
Yes. Services and resold goods carry different margins and different HST mechanics, and blending them into one revenue line makes it impossible to see which side of the practice earns. Separated lines also make the HST return straightforward instead of reconstructed.
Do I charge HST on furniture I buy for a client?
If you buy as principal and resell to the client, the sale is generally your taxable supply and the HST you paid becomes an input tax credit. If the client purchases directly and you are arranging it, the treatment can differ. Because it follows the contract, decide the model deliberately for each project.
Books and taxes for your interior design firm, done
Bookkeeping from $99 a month, accountant-reviewed from $299, corporate T2 from $1,000 a year. Prices are published; a call confirms the fit.
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