If you run a trade, a farm, or a business that lives off the highway, most of your expenses go through a vehicle, a piece of equipment, or a fuel card. That’s also where most of the tax you’re entitled to claim goes missing, because nobody kept the log.
Accounting Moncton handles bookkeeping, payroll, HST and business registration for small businesses across Greater Moncton, including Salisbury and the communities that joined it in 2023. We’re a certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor practice, 19 minutes west, and the first consultation is free.
Book a free consultation, or call (506) 854-6490
Salisbury runs on vehicles, equipment and the highway
Salisbury sits on one of the busiest Trans-Canada interchanges in New Brunswick, with roughly 17,500 vehicles a day passing Intersection 3. That location is the local economy. It’s why the Giant Tiger Maritime Distribution Hub opened here in 2023 with 70-plus jobs, why Country Tractors and Machinery is here, why the Irving Big Stop is a landmark, and why so many of the businesses around town are trades, transport, agriculture and the services that support them.
Businesses like that share a specific bookkeeping problem: the biggest deductions are the hardest to substantiate.
Vehicles. If you use a vehicle for both business and personal driving, you can only claim the business share, and the CRA expects a logbook to back it up. Not an estimate, a log. Total kilometres for the year, business kilometres, and enough detail to show the trips were real. Set up a phone app in January and it costs you seconds a day. Try to reconstruct it in April and you’re guessing, which is exactly what gets disallowed.
Equipment. A tractor, a trailer, a compressor or a work truck isn’t deducted the year you buy it. It’s capitalised and claimed over time through capital cost allowance, at different rates depending on what it is. Getting the class right matters, and so does the timing of the purchase relative to your year end.
Fuel, tools and supplies. These are straightforwardly deductible, and they’re also the receipts most likely to end up in the truck’s door pocket. Photograph them at the pump. QuickBooks will attach the image to the transaction, and the receipt is then somewhere other than a glovebox.
Farm businesses have their own rules. Many basic agricultural products are zero-rated for GST/HST, which means you charge no tax on them but can still claim back the HST you paid on your inputs. That usually makes registration worth it even below the $30,000 threshold. If you’re selling at the Salisbury Farmer’s and Artisan Market or direct off the farm, it’s worth working out where you actually sit.
What we do for Salisbury businesses
- Monthly bookkeeping: transactions categorised, accounts reconciled, books closed on time
- Vehicle and equipment tracking: logbooks set up properly, capital cost allowance handled correctly
- HST: registration, zero-rated supplies where they apply, returns filed on schedule
- QuickBooks Online setup and training: receipt capture from your phone, so paperwork stops living in the truck
- Payroll: pay runs, source deductions, remittances, T4s
- Financial reporting: Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, cash flow, budgets
- Business registration: sole proprietorships, incorporation, NUANS name searches, annual returns
We work in English, French, Spanish and Ukrainian.
See our full services and pricing.
Starting a business in Salisbury
Registration is provincial. Both sole proprietorship name registrations and New Brunswick incorporation go through the Corporate Registry at Service New Brunswick, not the Town of Salisbury, and not federal unless you deliberately incorporate federally.
Sole proprietorship is faster and cheaper, and the income lands on your personal return. Incorporation costs more up front and adds a corporate return each year, but New Brunswick’s small business rate is 2.5% on active business income up to $500,000 against a general rate of 14%, and it puts a legal wall between your personal assets and the business. For trades this last point does a lot of work. If you’re on other people’s property with tools and a vehicle, the liability separation is often the reason to incorporate, well before the tax saving is.
We’ll talk you through which fits, run the NUANS search, and handle the filing.
One local thing worth knowing: Salisbury became a town on January 1, 2023. It was a village before that, and the new town merged the former village with parts of four local service districts, including River Glade, taking the population to around 7,745. If you’ve been operating here a while, your municipal contacts and your tax bill may have changed even though your address didn’t.
How we work
Most of our Salisbury clients never drive to us, which suits people who are already in the truck all day. QuickBooks Online means we work in the same live file you do. You photograph receipts on your phone, and we handle the categorising, reconciling and filing.
When you’d rather sit down together, we’re at 83 Barrieau Road in Moncton, about 19 minutes away. First consultation is free with nothing attached to it.
Common questions from Salisbury business owners
Do I really need a mileage log?
Yes, if you want the vehicle deduction to survive a review. The CRA’s position is that you claim the business portion of your vehicle costs, and the log is what proves the portion. A phone app that runs in the background is enough. What doesn’t work is a round number written down in April.
I bought a truck this year. Can I write it off?
Not in one go. It’s a capital asset, claimed over several years through capital cost allowance at a rate set by its class, and the amount you can claim in the first year is limited. There are also rules specific to passenger vehicles that don’t apply to work trucks. Worth a conversation before you buy, not after.
I sell produce. Do I charge HST?
Many basic agricultural and food products are zero-rated, meaning you charge 0% but can still recover the HST you paid on inputs. Not everything qualifies, and prepared or processed goods often don’t. We’ll go through your actual product list rather than guessing.
Do I need a bookkeeper in Salisbury?
No. Bookkeeping isn’t regulated by municipality, and cloud accounting makes your bookkeeper’s address close to irrelevant. What matters is that they know New Brunswick rules and understand how trades and farm businesses actually operate. We’re 19 minutes away if you want to sit down.
Let’s talk about your books
Free consultation, no obligation. Call (506) 854-6490, email accounting@startupsupportplus.com, or book a time that works for you.
Serving Salisbury, Petitcodiac, Moncton and Greater Moncton.
Accounting Moncton
83 Barrieau Road, Moncton, NB E1G 1J5
(506) 854-6490
accounting@startupsupportplus.com
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
English, Français, Español, Українська
Serving Salisbury and Greater Moncton