Bookkeeping and tax for the self-employed across Canada
Get your books past the crux.
Crux Accounting catches up your books, files your GST/HST returns, prepares your personal tax return, and stands with you when CRA has questions. Software and AI do the heavy hauling. Mario Cumal makes every judgement call and checks every number before it reaches you or CRA.
Pitch notes
Who we work with
Crux works with a small number of clients so each one gets a careful review. You're a good fit if most of this sounds like you.
Self-employed across Canada
Sole proprietors and small businesses in any province or territory: guides, trades, consultants and creatives who run the business themselves. We work online, so where you live doesn't matter.
On QuickBooks Online
Your books live in QuickBooks Online, or you're ready to move there. We work inside your file, so you always see what we see.
Behind, or done with doing it alone
Years of unfiled returns, a GST/HST account in arrears, or simply a business that has outgrown the shoebox.
Routes we guide
Services
Each engagement is scoped and priced before work starts, and confirmed in a signed engagement letter.
Catch-up bookkeeping
Prior years recoded, receipts matched and every bank and card account reconciled, so every figure traces back to a statement or a receipt.
One-time, per year caught upGST/HST returns
Returns prepared from reconciled books and filed on time, including late returns brought current.
Quarterly or annualPersonal tax for the self-employed
Your T1 with the business statement, home office, vehicle and capital cost allowance worked out from records, not guesses. Prepared for you to file online on a short call with Mario.
Each spring: balance due 30 April, return due 15 JuneCRA voluntary disclosures and letters
When filings are late, an application under CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program can reduce penalties and interest. Mario acts as your authorized representative with CRA on the years we work on.
As neededOngoing review
A monthly or quarterly sweep of your books with a short close note, and the questions that come up asked once, not every week.
Monthly or quarterly
The beta
How we work
Every client climbs the same eight-pitch route. The order is the point: nothing is built until your questions are answered and the judgement calls are made, so your numbers don't keep moving.
- P1
Agree and tie in
A fit call, a fixed quote and a signed engagement letter. You give us access to QuickBooks and authorize Mario with CRA.
- P2
Ask once, climb on
One question list, built from your books and past returns. Each question shows the default we'll use if you don't know.
- P3
Clean and balance
Transactions recoded, receipts matched and every account reconciled to the statement.
- P4 · Mario
Send the crux
Every judgement (home office, vehicle, what counts as business) decided once, written down, with the record that supports it.
- P5
Build and inspect
Returns built on the decided positions, then checked line by line against the books.
- P6 · Mario
Sign and anchor
One approval pack with every figure, signed once. After you sign, the figures don't move unless you agree.
- P7 · Mario
File and top out
Returns filed exactly as you approved them: Mario files your GST/HST, and you file your personal return on a short call with him. The CRA confirmation numbers go on file the same day.
- P8
Basecamp debrief
A look back at the year with you: your books updated to the filed figures, the next deadlines set, and a smoother route for next year.
The rope team
Who does what
Automation and AI carry the load so that Mario's time goes where judgement matters: the calls, the review and you.
Software and AI
The hauling
- Bank feeds and first-pass coding in QuickBooks Online
- Reconciliations, receipt matching and checks
- Draft working papers, returns, letters and reminders
Mario
The lead
- Every tax judgement call
- Review of every figure and document before you see it
- GST/HST filing, and your representative with CRA
- Approves every message before it is sent
You
The answers
- One question list, answered once
- Receipts forwarded as you go
- One signature on the approval pack
The cost of the trip
Fees
No hourly surprises. You know the price before the first pitch.
Fixed quotes
Every engagement is quoted after the fit call and set out in the engagement letter before work starts.
Monthly payments
Larger engagements can be spread over equal monthly payments on a schedule in your letter.
CRA representation
For the years we work on, Mario is your authorized representative with CRA: he can see your CRA accounts and deal with CRA for you. CRA still sends its letters to you, so pass them on as they arrive. Your engagement letter sets out what's included.
Your guide
About Mario
Mario Cumal runs Crux Accounting, a bookkeeping and tax preparation practice for the self-employed across Canada, based in British Columbia.
The name comes from climbing. The crux is the hardest part of a route, and for many self-employed people that's the books: years of transactions, a GST/HST account that has fallen behind, or a letter from CRA. Mario's job is to lead you through it, then hand back books that stay on route.
Mario has worked in accounting since 2014. He started as a staff accountant at Bench Accounting, looking after the reporting for hundreds of clients, then spent ten years with real estate developers. There he prepared financial statements under ASPE and IFRS, monthly progress draws for bank funding, budgets and cash flow forecasts, and answered CRA's questions in GST audits. He started Crux Accounting in September 2023.
He works with modern tools, including QuickBooks Online and AI, to do the routine work quickly, and spends his own time on the calls, the review and you. Every figure that leaves Crux has been checked by him.
Work experience
Founder
Crux Accounting · 2023–present
Catch-up bookkeeping, GST/HST and personal tax returns, and CRA representation for self-employed clients.
Senior Project Accountant
Intracorp Homes · 2022–2023
Full-cycle project accounting, financial statements and reporting packages; documented procedures and mentored team members.
Development Accountant
Westbank Corp · 2021–2022
Monthly progress draws for bank funding, year-end financial statements under ASPE and internal reporting.
Corporate Accountant, then Project Accountant
Woodbridge Homes · 2017–2021
Progress draws and financial statements; GST remittances and the company's contact with CRA during GST audits.
Teaching Assistant
UBC Sauder School of Business · 2015
Tutorials and marking for auditing, financial accounting and managerial accounting courses.
Staff Accountant
Bench Accounting · 2014–2017
Reporting for hundreds of clients.
Education
CPA Professional Education Program (CPA PEP)
2020
Diploma in Accounting
UBC Sauder School of Business · 2016
B.A., Psychology & Economics
UBC Faculty of Arts · 2014
Summit register
Client reviews
Climbers sign the register at the top. If you've worked with Crux, you can leave a review here. Mario checks that each one comes from a client, then posts it as written, glowing or not. If a review includes tax details, figures or account numbers, he'll ask you to send it again without them rather than edit it.
Rope up
Book a fit call
Twenty minutes to see where your books stand and whether Crux is the right guide. Tell us a little first.
Start here
Take the five-minute fit check
Multiple-choice questions about your business and where things stand. If Crux is the right guide, you book your call at the end.
What happens next
Mario replies within two business days
With times for a 20-minute phone or video call.
The fit call
Where things stand, what is behind, and what it would take to catch up.
A fixed quote
In writing, with an engagement letter you can sign online.