{ "$schema": "https://schema.org/", "generated": "2026-09-15", "brand": { "name": "SimpleLoonie", "spelling_note": "One word. 'Simple Loonie' is incorrect.", "canonical_origin": "https://simpleloonie.ca", "locale": "en-CA", "country": "CA", "currency": "CAD", "contact_email": "info@shinobimedia.ca", "operated_from": "Ontario, Canada", "same_as": [], "description": "AI receipt scanning, Canadian sales tax handling and a free invoice generator for Canadian small businesses. Built and operated from Ontario, priced in Canadian dollars, available as a shared service or as a private instance deployed against your own database and keys." }, "plans": [ { "name": "Free", "price_monthly_cad": 0, "price_annual_cad": 0, "receipt_scans_per_month": 15, "history": "30 days", "summary": "15 receipt scans a month, 30 days of history, and the invoice generator with no cap." }, { "name": "Growth", "price_monthly_cad": 15, "price_annual_cad": 180, "receipt_scans_per_month": 200, "history": "Unlimited", "summary": "200 receipt scans a month, unlimited history, export to Excel and CSV." }, { "name": "Business", "price_monthly_cad": 39, "price_annual_cad": 468, "receipt_scans_per_month": 500, "history": "Unlimited", "summary": "500 receipt scans a month, custom AI extraction prompts, priority support." } ], "addons": [ { "name": "Google Drive Auto-Import", "price_monthly_cad": 4.99, "summary": "Automatic background and on-demand receipt importing directly from Google Drive for CA$4.99/mo." } ], "pricing_notes": [ "Pricing is per account, not per seat.", "The invoice generator is included on every plan including the free one, with no cap and no watermark.", "Creating an invoice does not consume a receipt scan.", "A private instance is quoted per engagement rather than listed." ], "sales_tax": { "reviewed": "2026-09-15", "note": "Quebec's QST is calculated on the pre-GST amount, not compounded on top of GST. Nova Scotia's HST fell from 15% to 14% on 1 April 2025.", "calculator": "https://simpleloonie.ca/gst-hst-calculator", "rates": [ { "code": "AB", "name": "Alberta", "kind": "GST only", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 0, "provincial_name": null, "combined_percent": 5, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "BC", "name": "British Columbia", "kind": "GST + PST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 7, "provincial_name": "PST", "combined_percent": 12, "authority": "BC Ministry of Finance" }, { "code": "MB", "name": "Manitoba", "kind": "GST + RST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 7, "provincial_name": "RST", "combined_percent": 12, "authority": "Manitoba Finance" }, { "code": "NB", "name": "New Brunswick", "kind": "HST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 10, "provincial_name": "HST", "combined_percent": 15, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "NL", "name": "Newfoundland and Labrador", "kind": "HST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 10, "provincial_name": "HST", "combined_percent": 15, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "NS", "name": "Nova Scotia", "kind": "HST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 9, "provincial_name": "HST", "combined_percent": 14, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "NT", "name": "Northwest Territories", "kind": "GST only", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 0, "provincial_name": null, "combined_percent": 5, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "NU", "name": "Nunavut", "kind": "GST only", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 0, "provincial_name": null, "combined_percent": 5, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "ON", "name": "Ontario", "kind": "HST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 8, "provincial_name": "HST", "combined_percent": 13, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "PE", "name": "Prince Edward Island", "kind": "HST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 10, "provincial_name": "HST", "combined_percent": 15, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" }, { "code": "QC", "name": "Quebec", "kind": "GST + QST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 9.975, "provincial_name": "QST", "combined_percent": 14.975, "authority": "Revenu Québec" }, { "code": "SK", "name": "Saskatchewan", "kind": "GST + PST", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 6, "provincial_name": "PST", "combined_percent": 11, "authority": "Saskatchewan Ministry of Finance" }, { "code": "YT", "name": "Yukon", "kind": "GST only", "gst_percent": 5, "provincial_percent": 0, "provincial_name": null, "combined_percent": 5, "authority": "Canada Revenue Agency" } ] }, "data_residency": { "operated_from": "Ontario, Canada", "privacy_law": "PIPEDA", "application": "Google Cloud, United States", "object_storage": "Cloudflare R2", "ai_processing": "United States and the European Union", "summary": "SimpleLoonie is operated from Ontario under Canada's privacy law, PIPEDA, but the shared cloud service runs on Google Cloud in the United States, uploaded files sit in Cloudflare R2, and receipts are read by AI providers in the United States and the European Union. Every provider is named in the privacy policy. If your records cannot live there, we can set up a private instance deployed in the region you specify, against a database and an AI provider key you own." }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/", "title": "SimpleLoonie: AI Receipt Scanner & Expense Tracker for Canada", "summary": "What SimpleLoonie is, how receipt scanning works for small businesses and the self-employed, what it costs in Canadian dollars, and the full FAQ.", "kind": "home", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/free-invoice-generator", "title": "Free Invoice Generator for Canada (GST/HST)", "summary": "Make a free GST or HST invoice in any currency and download the PDF. Included on every plan, with no cap and no watermark.", "kind": "tool", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/gst-hst-calculator", "title": "GST/HST Calculator for Every Canadian Province", "summary": "Add or remove GST, HST, PST and QST for any province, with the federal and provincial split worked out on any amount and every rate dated.", "kind": "tool", "modified": "2026-09-17" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/receipt-scanner-for-self-employed", "title": "Receipt Scanner for Self-Employed Canadians", "summary": "AI receipt scanning and expense tracking for freelancers and sole proprietors: receipts sorted by category, GST/HST split out, ready for the T2125.", "kind": "tool", "modified": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/private-instance", "title": "Private Instance: Your Own Database and Keys", "summary": "A dedicated SimpleLoonie deployment we set up and run for you, against your own database, storage and AI provider key. Built for regulated businesses.", "kind": "tool", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/pricing", "title": "Pricing in Canadian Dollars", "summary": "Every plan and price in CAD on one page: free at CA$0, Growth at CA$15 a month, Business at CA$39 a month, plus private instances.", "kind": "company", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides", "title": "Guides for Canadian Small Business Bookkeeping", "summary": "Plain guides to T2125 expense lines, home office and meal deductions, GST/HST registration and input tax credits, sales tax by province and CRA record-keeping.", "kind": "hub", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/about", "title": "About SimpleLoonie", "summary": "Who builds SimpleLoonie, where it runs, what it does and does not claim to do, and how to get hold of a person.", "kind": "company", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/docs/privacy_policy", "title": "Privacy Policy", "summary": "What we collect, which providers touch it, where it goes, and what you can ask us to do with it.", "kind": "legal", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/docs/terms", "title": "Terms of Service", "summary": "The agreement covering the SimpleLoonie cloud service.", "kind": "legal", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/docs/ai", "title": "How We Use AI", "summary": "What the AI does with your receipts, which providers process them, in which countries, and what you remain responsible for.", "kind": "legal", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/docs/cookie", "title": "Cookie Policy", "summary": "The single cookie SimpleLoonie sets, what it does, how long it lasts, and why there are no analytics or advertising cookies at all.", "kind": "legal", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/self-employed-tax-deductions-canada", "title": "Self-Employed Tax Deductions Canada: Full List", "summary": "Every common business expense a self-employed Canadian can deduct on the T2125, the rule that limits each one, and the receipt or record the CRA expects to see.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-requirements", "title": "CRA Receipt Requirements for Businesses", "summary": "What a receipt must show for a CRA deduction and a GST/HST input tax credit, the current CA$100 and CA$500 thresholds, and what is not a receipt.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/t2125-expense-categories", "title": "T2125 Expense Categories: Line-by-Line Guide", "summary": "The CRA's T2125 expense lines for self-employed Canadians, the receipts that go on each one, and the common receipts people put on the wrong line.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-to-organize-receipts-for-taxes", "title": "How to Organize Receipts for Taxes in Canada", "summary": "A receipt system Canadian businesses and freelancers can keep up all year: same-day capture, categories, sales tax, monthly reconciliation and a six-year archive.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-ai-receipt-scanning-works", "title": "How AI Receipt Scanning Works, and Its Limits", "summary": "What happens between photographing a receipt and getting a categorised expense: OCR versus AI, how Canadian sales tax is read, and where errors come from.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-input-tax-credits", "title": "GST/HST Input Tax Credits: A Plain Guide", "summary": "What an input tax credit is, who can claim one, what a receipt must show at each dollar amount, and how long you have before the claim expires.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/sales-tax-by-province", "title": "Canadian Sales Tax Rates by Province (2026)", "summary": "Current GST, HST, PST, RST and QST rates for every province and territory, and which rate applies when you sell or buy across provincial lines.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/small-supplier-threshold-30000", "title": "When to Register for GST/HST ($30,000 Rule)", "summary": "How the CRA's $30,000 small supplier test works, the single-quarter and four-quarter rules, when to start charging tax, and why some freelancers register early.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/meals-and-entertainment-50-percent-rule", "title": "Business Meals: The CRA 50% Deduction Rule", "summary": "The CRA's 50% limit on business meals and entertainment, the exceptions to it, how it affects GST/HST input tax credits, and what to write on the receipt.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/home-office-expenses-self-employed", "title": "Home Office Expenses When Self-Employed", "summary": "The two CRA tests for claiming a home office on the T2125, which costs count, how to work out the business share, and the receipts to keep.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/vehicle-expenses-and-mileage-log", "title": "Vehicle Expenses and the CRA Mileage Log", "summary": "How the self-employed claim car expenses: the business-use percentage, what a CRA logbook must record, the simplified three-month log, and the receipts to keep.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/capital-vs-current-expenses", "title": "Capital vs Current Expenses and CCA Classes", "summary": "How the CRA separates current expenses from capital purchases, the common CCA classes for computers, tools, furniture and vehicles, and what to do with the receipt.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-quick-method", "title": "GST/HST Quick Method: Is It Worth It?", "summary": "How the CRA's Quick Method of accounting for GST/HST works, who can use it, when it saves money, and why you still need receipts for capital purchases.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/year-end-bookkeeping-checklist-sole-proprietor", "title": "Year-End Checklist for Sole Proprietors", "summary": "What a self-employed Canadian needs ready for their accountant at year end, the CRA deadlines that matter, and the mistakes that cost the most to fix in April.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/usd-receipts-to-cad", "title": "Convert a USD Receipt to CAD for Canadian Taxes", "summary": "Which exchange rate the CRA expects on a foreign receipt, why the transaction date beats the statement date, and what to record so the figure holds up.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-record-keeping", "title": "CRA Receipt Rules: How Long to Keep Records", "summary": "How long the CRA requires business records to be kept, whether photos of receipts count, and what happens when a record has gone missing.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/google-drive-receipt-sync", "title": "Google Drive Receipt Sync for Bookkeeping", "summary": "How to automatically import receipts from Google Drive into bookkeeping software, CRA compliance rules for cloud storage, and organizing digital tax records.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/quebec-qst-for-business", "title": "QST for Quebec Businesses: Rates, ITRs, Records", "summary": "How QST works alongside GST, why the rate is 9.975%, how input tax refunds differ from input tax credits, and what a Quebec expense record must carry.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/choosing-receipt-scanning-software", "title": "Best Receipt Scanner App for Canada", "summary": "What to test before committing to expense software in Canada: sales tax handling, currency conversion, export, data residency, and a fair trial.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/receipt-scanning-vs-manual-bookkeeping", "title": "Receipt Scanning vs Manual Bookkeeping", "summary": "Where the time really goes, which errors each method produces, what each costs at your volume, and when doing receipts by hand is still the right answer.", "kind": "guide", "modified": "2026-09-15" } ], "guides": [ { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/self-employed-tax-deductions-canada", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/self-employed-tax-deductions-canada.md", "title": "Self-employed tax deductions in Canada: the full list, and the receipts behind each one", "summary": "Every common business expense a self-employed Canadian can deduct on the T2125, the rule that limits each one, and the receipt or record the CRA expects to see.", "answer": "Self-employed Canadians can deduct any reasonable expense incurred to earn business income, reported on Form T2125. The common ones are advertising, office supplies, software, phone and internet, professional fees, insurance, bank charges, travel, the business share of vehicle and home-office costs, and 50% of meals and entertainment. Equipment such as computers is deducted over several years through capital cost allowance. Personal expenses are never deductible, and every claim needs a receipt kept for six years.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-requirements", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-requirements.md", "title": "CRA receipt requirements: what a business receipt has to show", "summary": "What a receipt must show for a CRA deduction and a GST/HST input tax credit, the current CA$100 and CA$500 thresholds, and what is not a receipt.", "answer": "To support a business deduction, a receipt must show who was paid, the date, the amount and what was bought. To claim a GST/HST input tax credit, the CRA asks for more as the purchase grows: under CA$100, the supplier's name, the date and the total; from CA$100, also the supplier's GST/HST number and the tax charged; from CA$500, also your name, the payment terms and a description of what was supplied. These thresholds replaced the old CA$30 and CA$150 amounts in April 2021.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/t2125-expense-categories", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/t2125-expense-categories.md", "title": "T2125 expense categories, and which line each receipt belongs on", "summary": "The CRA's T2125 expense lines for self-employed Canadians, the receipts that go on each one, and the common receipts people put on the wrong line.", "answer": "Self-employed Canadians report business expenses in Part 4 of Form T2125, where each kind of expense has its own numbered line: 8521 for advertising, 8523 for meals and entertainment at 50%, 8810 for office expenses, 8860 for professional fees, 9200 for travel, 9281 for motor vehicle costs and 9270 for anything else. Equipment is claimed through capital cost allowance on line 9936, and home-office costs go on line 9945.", "reviewed": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-to-organize-receipts-for-taxes", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-to-organize-receipts-for-taxes.md", "title": "How to organize business receipts for taxes in Canada", "summary": "A receipt system Canadian businesses and freelancers can keep up all year: same-day capture, categories, sales tax, monthly reconciliation and a six-year archive.", "answer": "The simplest system that works is to photograph every business receipt on the day, file it into categories that match the T2125 or your accountant's chart of accounts, record the GST/HST separately, and match receipts against your bank and card statements once a month. Keep the images, not only the numbers, for six years. Paper folders and spreadsheets work at low volume; receipt-scanning software removes the typing once there are more than a few receipts a week.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-ai-receipt-scanning-works", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/how-ai-receipt-scanning-works.md", "title": "How AI receipt scanning works, what it gets wrong, and how to check it", "summary": "What happens between photographing a receipt and getting a categorised expense: OCR versus AI, how Canadian sales tax is read, and where errors come from.", "answer": "An AI receipt scanner turns a photo or PDF into structured data. The image is prepared, then a multimodal AI model reads it the way a person would, returning the vendor, date, subtotal, each tax, total, currency and a category in a fixed format. Unlike older template-based OCR, it copes with any receipt layout, language or faded print. It still makes mistakes on damaged or ambiguous receipts, so every result should be reviewable before it becomes a record.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-input-tax-credits", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-input-tax-credits.md", "title": "How GST/HST input tax credits work, and what your receipts have to show", "summary": "What an input tax credit is, who can claim one, what a receipt must show at each dollar amount, and how long you have before the claim expires.", "answer": "An input tax credit (ITC) is the GST or HST you paid on a business purchase, claimed back on your GST/HST return so you only remit tax on the value you added. Only GST/HST registrants can claim ITCs, the purchase must be for commercial activity, and you need supporting documents that carry specific information — including the supplier's GST/HST number once a purchase reaches CA$100. Most registrants have four years to claim.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/sales-tax-by-province", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/sales-tax-by-province.md", "title": "GST, HST, PST and QST rates by province, and which one applies to you", "summary": "Current GST, HST, PST, RST and QST rates for every province and territory, and which rate applies when you sell or buy across provincial lines.", "answer": "Every sale in Canada carries 5% federal GST. Five provinces fold their share into a single harmonised tax (HST): Ontario at 13%, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island at 15%, and Nova Scotia at 14%. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba charge a separate provincial tax on top of GST, Quebec charges 9.975% QST on top, and Alberta and the three territories charge GST only, at 5%.", "reviewed": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/small-supplier-threshold-30000", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/small-supplier-threshold-30000.md", "title": "When do I have to register for the GST/HST? The $30,000 small supplier rule", "summary": "How the CRA's $30,000 small supplier test works, the single-quarter and four-quarter rules, when to start charging tax, and why some freelancers register early.", "answer": "A Canadian business must register for the GST/HST once its taxable sales exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Below that it is a small supplier and registration is optional. Passing the threshold in one quarter means charging tax from the sale that crossed it; passing it over four quarters means charging from the start of the second month after that quarter. Either way, registration is due within 29 days. Taxi and ride-sharing drivers must register regardless.", "reviewed": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/meals-and-entertainment-50-percent-rule", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/meals-and-entertainment-50-percent-rule.md", "title": "How much of a restaurant receipt can a Canadian business deduct?", "summary": "The CRA's 50% limit on business meals and entertainment, the exceptions to it, how it affects GST/HST input tax credits, and what to write on the receipt.", "answer": "A Canadian business can generally deduct only 50% of what it spends on food, drinks and entertainment, whether it is a client lunch, a coffee meeting or event tickets. Self-employed individuals report the deductible half on line 8523 of Form T2125. The same 50% limit applies to the GST/HST input tax credit on those purchases. Exceptions include up to six staff events a year open to all employees at a location, and 80% for eligible long-haul truck drivers.", "reviewed": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/home-office-expenses-self-employed", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/home-office-expenses-self-employed.md", "title": "How to claim home office expenses when you are self-employed in Canada", "summary": "The two CRA tests for claiming a home office on the T2125, which costs count, how to work out the business share, and the receipts to keep.", "answer": "A self-employed Canadian can deduct part of their home costs on line 9945 of Form T2125 if the workspace is their principal place of business, or if it is used only for the business and regularly to meet clients. The deductible share is usually the office's floor area as a fraction of the home, applied to rent or mortgage interest, utilities, insurance, property tax and maintenance. The claim cannot create or increase a business loss; the excess carries forward.", "reviewed": "2026-09-25" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/vehicle-expenses-and-mileage-log", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/vehicle-expenses-and-mileage-log.md", "title": "What the CRA requires in a mileage log, and which vehicle receipts count", "summary": "How the self-employed claim car expenses: the business-use percentage, what a CRA logbook must record, the simplified three-month log, and the receipts to keep.", "answer": "A self-employed Canadian can deduct the business share of vehicle costs, such as fuel, insurance, repairs, licence fees and lease or loan interest, on line 9281 of Form T2125. The share is business kilometres divided by total kilometres for the year, which the CRA expects to see backed by a logbook recording the date, destination, purpose and distance of each business trip. Driving between home and a regular workplace counts as personal. The vehicle itself is claimed through capital cost allowance.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/capital-vs-current-expenses", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/capital-vs-current-expenses.md", "title": "Is a laptop a current expense or a capital cost? Capital vs current for small business", "summary": "How the CRA separates current expenses from capital purchases, the common CCA classes for computers, tools, furniture and vehicles, and what to do with the receipt.", "answer": "A current expense gives a short-term benefit and is deducted in full in the year, such as supplies, repairs and subscriptions. A capital expense buys something that lasts for years, such as a computer, furniture, tools or a vehicle, and is deducted gradually through capital cost allowance (CCA). Computers are Class 50 at 55% a year, furniture and most equipment are Class 8 at 20%, vehicles are Class 10 at 30%, and small tools under $500 and application software are Class 12 at 100%.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-quick-method", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/gst-hst-quick-method.md", "title": "Should a small business use the GST/HST Quick Method?", "summary": "How the CRA's Quick Method of accounting for GST/HST works, who can use it, when it saves money, and why you still need receipts for capital purchases.", "answer": "The Quick Method lets a GST/HST registrant with no more than $400,000 of annual taxable sales, including tax, remit a fixed percentage of its tax-included sales instead of tracking input tax credits on everyday expenses. You still charge customers the normal rate. It suits service businesses with low expenses, and it adds a 1% credit on the first $30,000 of eligible sales each year. Accountants, bookkeepers, lawyers and financial consultants cannot use it. Capital purchases still earn input tax credits.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/year-end-bookkeeping-checklist-sole-proprietor", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/year-end-bookkeeping-checklist-sole-proprietor.md", "title": "Year-end bookkeeping checklist for Canadian sole proprietors and freelancers", "summary": "What a self-employed Canadian needs ready for their accountant at year end, the CRA deadlines that matter, and the mistakes that cost the most to fix in April.", "answer": "Before year end, a sole proprietor should have every receipt captured and categorised, bank and card statements reconciled, income matched to invoices, unpaid invoices reviewed, the GST/HST collected and paid totalled, the vehicle log and home-office figures ready, and a list of equipment bought. For a 31 December year end, the return is due 15 June but any balance owing is due 30 April, and interest runs from 1 May.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/usd-receipts-to-cad", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/usd-receipts-to-cad.md", "title": "How to convert a USD receipt to CAD for your Canadian books", "summary": "Which exchange rate the CRA expects on a foreign receipt, why the transaction date beats the statement date, and what to record so the figure holds up.", "answer": "Convert a foreign-currency receipt to Canadian dollars using an exchange rate for the day the transaction happened, not the day you do your books and not the day your card statement closed. The Bank of Canada daily rate is the standard reference, and the CRA also accepts another source used consistently. Record the original amount, the currency, the rate and the CAD figure together, so the conversion can be checked later.", "reviewed": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-record-keeping", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/cra-receipt-record-keeping.md", "title": "CRA record-keeping rules for receipts, and how long you have to keep them", "summary": "How long the CRA requires business records to be kept, whether photos of receipts count, and what happens when a record has gone missing.", "answer": "The CRA requires business records to be kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Electronic images of paper receipts are acceptable provided they are readable, complete and can be produced on request — you do not have to keep the paper once you have a faithful copy. Records must be kept in Canada, or made available here, unless the CRA has given written permission otherwise.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/google-drive-receipt-sync", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/google-drive-receipt-sync.md", "title": "How to automatically sync receipts from Google Drive for Canadian bookkeeping", "summary": "How to automatically import receipts from Google Drive into bookkeeping software, CRA compliance rules for cloud storage, and organizing digital tax records.", "answer": "Canadian businesses can automatically import receipts from Google Drive by connecting a dedicated sync folder to receipt scanning software. Under CRA guidelines, electronic copies of receipts are fully valid for expense claims and input tax credits provided they remain legible and complete. Automated sync captures metadata, extracts totals, taxes, and vendor names, and archives processed receipts for the required six-year period.", "reviewed": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/quebec-qst-for-business", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/quebec-qst-for-business.md", "title": "QST in Quebec: the rate, input tax refunds, and what your records have to show", "summary": "How QST works alongside GST, why the rate is 9.975%, how input tax refunds differ from input tax credits, and what a Quebec expense record must carry.", "answer": "Quebec charges 9.975% QST on top of the 5% federal GST, for a combined 14.975%. Both are calculated on the pre-tax amount — QST has not been compounded on GST since 2013. A registered business recovers GST as an input tax credit from the CRA and QST as an input tax refund from Revenu Québec, which means a Quebec business files into two systems and its records have to keep the two taxes apart.", "reviewed": "2026-09-15" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/choosing-receipt-scanning-software", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/choosing-receipt-scanning-software.md", "title": "How to choose the best receipt scanner app for a Canadian business", "summary": "What to test before committing to expense software in Canada: sales tax handling, currency conversion, export, data residency, and a fair trial.", "answer": "Judge receipt scanning software on how it handles the parts that are specific to Canada: whether it records GST, HST, PST and QST as separate amounts rather than one tax figure, whether it converts foreign receipts at the transaction-date rate, whether it prices in Canadian dollars, whether you can export everything, and whether it tells you where your data is processed. Extraction accuracy matters, but every vendor claims it — test it on your own worst receipts.", "reviewed": "2026-09-26" }, { "url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/receipt-scanning-vs-manual-bookkeeping", "markdown_url": "https://simpleloonie.ca/guides/receipt-scanning-vs-manual-bookkeeping.md", "title": "Receipt scanning versus doing it by hand: what actually changes", "summary": "Where the time really goes, which errors each method produces, what each costs at your volume, and when doing receipts by hand is still the right answer.", "answer": "Manual entry costs roughly one to two minutes per receipt and produces transcription errors that are invisible once made. AI scanning costs seconds per receipt and produces a different error — a confident wrong field — which is why review matters more than raw accuracy. For most Canadian businesses the break-even is somewhere around 20 to 30 receipts a month; below that, a spreadsheet is genuinely fine.", "reviewed": "2026-09-15" } ], "corrections": [ "There is no mobile app. The web app works in a phone browser.", "There are no integrations with other accounting platforms today. CSV import and export work.", "SimpleLoonie records the tax printed on a receipt. It does not file GST/HST returns and is not tax advice.", "SimpleLoonie is not distributed as software to run yourself. Organisations needing their own database and keys are served by a private instance we deploy and operate.", "SimpleLoonie publishes no customer ratings or reviews. Any rating attributed to it did not come from this site." ], "other_formats": { "llms_txt": "https://simpleloonie.ca/llms.txt", "llms_full_txt": "https://simpleloonie.ca/llms-full.txt", "sitemap": "https://simpleloonie.ca/sitemap.xml", "feed": "https://simpleloonie.ca/feed.xml" } }