Sell the work, skip the spreadsheets
Commissions, gallery sales, markets, Etsy, supplies and studio costs — sorted into records your accountant (and the CRA) can follow.
Bookkeeping · Toronto
You did the work. You just forgot to keep the books.
Carsa Books is bookkeeping for very small businesses — artists, YouTubers, freelancers, and one-person shops — who were busy making things and selling things, and are now staring at a year of receipts, payouts, and bank statements. We sort it out. No lecture, no judgement.
Behind by a few months? A few years? That's most of our clients. You're not the exception here — you're the specialty.
Catch-up firstMonths or years of backlog, reconstructed and reconciled.
Then monthlyBooks kept current every month, so it never piles up again.
Toronto-basedOntario HST, CRA deadlines, and Canadian creator income — handled.
Sound familiar?
- Receipts in a shoebox, a glovebox, and 400 phone photos
- Business and personal spending on the same card
- Platform payouts you can't quite match to your bank account
- An accountant asking for records you don't have yet
- “I'll do the books this weekend” — said many weekends ago
- No idea if you crossed the $30,000 HST registration line
If you nodded at two or more: that's exactly who we built this for.
How it works
Three steps, and the first one is just handing us the mess.
1
Hand it over
Bank statements, receipts, payout reports — photos, PDFs, a literal box. Whatever form it exists in is fine. We give you a short list and you send what you have.
2
We rebuild it
Every month gets categorized and reconciled against your bank and credit card statements, so the finished books actually tie out — not just a spreadsheet that looks tidy.
3
Stay current
After the catch-up, we keep the books monthly and send you a short, plain-English summary: what came in, what went out, and what's set aside for tax.
Built for the way you actually earn
Irregular income is normal for our clients. Multiple platforms, multiple currencies, fees taken off the top — we track it the way it really arrives.
Payouts from everywhere
AdSense, sponsorships, Patreon, affiliate income and merch, including USD payouts and platform fees, matched to what actually landed in your account.
One person, every hat
Invoices, expenses, subcontractors and HST — kept up monthly so tax time is a handoff, not a panic.
Everything between “pile of receipts” and “ready for your accountant.”
Most clients start with a catch-up, then move to monthly bookkeeping. Every service below can stand on its own, too.
01 Catch-up & cleanup
Our most common starting point. We rebuild months — or years — of books from your statements and records.
- Reconstruct income and expenses from bank & card statements
- Reconcile every month so balances tie out
- Sort the personal-vs-business tangle
- A clear list of anything genuinely missing
02 Monthly bookkeeping
The “never again” plan. Your books stay current while you get on with the actual work.
- Transactions categorized and reconciled monthly
- A short plain-English monthly summary
- Receipt capture set up so paper stops piling up
- Year-end package ready for your accountant
03 Creator income tracking
Built for income that arrives from five platforms, in two currencies, minus fees you've never seen itemized.
- YouTube AdSense, sponsorships & affiliate payouts
- Patreon, Ko-fi, Twitch and similar platforms
- USD income recorded at proper exchange values
- Platform fees separated from real revenue
04 HST prep (Ontario)
We keep your HST collected and HST paid tracked all year, so filing is arithmetic, not archaeology.
- HST collected on sales, tracked by period
- Input tax credits gathered from your expenses
- Figures ready for your return — or we flag when to register
- Reminders before CRA deadlines, not after
05 Invoicing & getting paid
For freelancers whose “accounts receivable” is currently a feeling.
- Invoices sent and tracked
- Gentle follow-up on overdue payments
- Deposits and partial payments matched properly
- A simple view of who owes you what
06 Year-end handoff
Tax time should be an email, not an emergency.
- Clean, reconciled books for your tax preparer
- Business income & expense summary for sole proprietors
- Receipts and statements organized and findable
- Questions from your accountant answered with records, not guesses
What we're not
We're bookkeepers, not accountants or tax advisors. We keep clean, complete records and prepare your HST figures; for tax filing and tax advice, we'll hand your accountant a tidy package — and if you don't have one, we can point you to the kind of questions to ask when choosing one.
Very small businesses. Often one person. Always behind — at first.
If your “finance department” is you, at midnight, the night before a deadline, you're our typical client.
Artists & makers
Painters, illustrators, ceramicists, photographers, musicians — selling originals, prints, commissions and teaching.
Money in
- Commissions & gallery sales
- Markets, Etsy & online shops
- Grants and workshop fees
Money out we track
- Materials & studio supplies
- Booth, framing & shipping costs
- Home-studio portion of expenses
YouTubers & streamers
Channels that grew from a hobby into real income — often before anyone mentioned the word “bookkeeping.”
Money in
- AdSense & channel memberships
- Sponsorships & brand deals
- Patreon, merch & affiliates
Money out we track
- Gear, software & subscriptions
- Editors, thumbnail artists & contractors
- USD payouts & conversion to CAD
Freelancers & consultants
Designers, writers, developers, tutors and coaches billing clients directly, project by project.
Money in
- Client invoices & retainers
- Deposits & milestone payments
- Occasional product or course sales
Money out we track
- Software & professional fees
- Subcontractors
- HST collected on every invoice
Tiny shops & sellers
One-person retail, online sellers, and side businesses that quietly became real businesses.
Money in
- Point-of-sale & online store sales
- Market & pop-up days
- Gift cards & pre-orders
Money out we track
- Inventory & packaging
- Platform & payment processing fees
- Rent, utilities & delivery costs
Quoted up front. No surprise hourly bills.
Every business's backlog is different, so we look before we quote: you get one clear price for the catch-up, and one flat monthly price after that. The quote is free, and it comes before any commitment.
Catch-Up Cleanup
One-time · quoted by scope
For getting from “nothing is recorded” to clean, reconciled books.
- Priced by months behind & transaction volume
- Bank & card reconciliation for every month
- Personal/business spending untangled
- Missing-items list — only what truly matters
Monthly Bookkeeping
Flat monthly · after catch-up
Stay current without thinking about it. The price is set once your books are clean and we can see your normal volume.
- Monthly categorization & reconciliation
- Plain-English monthly summary
- HST tracked all year
- Year-end accountant package included
Creator Plus
Flat monthly · higher volume
For multiple income platforms, USD income, or a team of contractors to keep straight.
- Everything in Monthly Bookkeeping
- Multi-platform & USD payout tracking
- Contractor payment records
- Invoicing & overdue follow-up
How big is my catch-up?
A rough sense of scope — not a price. Your quote comes after we see the actual statements.
Likely scope: a tidy-up
A few months at low volume usually reconciles quickly once we have your statements.
Pricing questions
Why no prices on this page?
Because a catch-up for 3 quiet months and a catch-up for 3 busy years aren't the same job, and a made-up “starting at” number would tell you nothing real. We look at your statements first, then quote one fixed price — that's the number you pay.
Do you charge by the hour?
No. Catch-ups are a single quoted price and monthly bookkeeping is a flat monthly price, agreed before work starts. If we find something unexpected mid-catch-up, we tell you before doing anything that changes the price.
What do you need to give me a quote?
Roughly how far behind you are, how many bank and card accounts are involved, and about how many transactions run through them in a month. The estimator above covers it — or just tell us in the form on the Get Started page.
Can I just do the catch-up, without monthly?
Yes. Plenty of people book a one-time cleanup before tax filing and keep their own books afterward. We'll set things up so that's as easy as possible — and the monthly option is there if the pile starts growing again.
Tell us where the books stopped.
Fill in what you know — guesses are fine, “I have no idea” is an acceptable answer in every box. The button builds a short summary you can copy and send us, so nothing gets lost.
What happens next
- 1. We read your summary and reply with any quick questions.
- 2. You share statements for a look — no commitment yet.
- 3. You get one fixed quote for the catch-up.
- 4. Approve it, and the pile becomes our problem.
Helpful to have (not required)
- Bank statements for the period that's behind
- Credit card statements, if business spending is on them
- Payout reports — AdSense, Etsy, Patreon, your shop platform
- Receipts in whatever form they exist
- Last tax return or notice of assessment, if you have one
Missing half of that list? Normal. Send what exists; we'll tell you what actually matters.
Based in Toronto
We work with very small businesses across Toronto and the GTA, mostly online — send records digitally, talk by phone or video, and never commute to drop off a shoebox unless you want to.