For wedding, portrait and commercial photographers and videographers. Your books done the day you upload your statements, for $79 CAD a month.
Free to join. The first 1,000 in get their catch-up free.
Sales tax
Alberta charges only the 5% GST, with no provincial sales tax. You register once your sales pass $30,000 in four quarters in a row (or in one quarter).
Income tax
Alberta taxes income at 8% to 15% in 2026, on top of federal tax of 14% to 33%, on the profit from your business.
CPP
Working for yourself, you pay both halves of CPP: 11.9% of your earnings from $3,500 to $74,600 in 2026, plus 8% more up to $85,000.
Deadlines
Sole proprietors file by June 15 and pay by April 30. Once you owe more than $3,000, CRA asks for instalments on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15.
Contractors
Paid someone more than $500 for services in a year? They may need a T4A slip by the end of February.
What every business here keeps track of in 2026. Rates change, so check with your accountant before you file.
Why photographers need different books
Deposits taken months before the shoot, expensive gear that lasts years, travel to every job, prints and albums next to session fees, and software subscriptions. Deposits are the tricky part: the money arrives long before the work is done.
What a bookkeeper for photographers in Alberta keeps track of
Booking deposits and final payments
Cameras, lenses and computers
Travel to shoots
Prints and albums
Software and subscriptions
Taxes for photographers in Alberta
Sessions and prints in Alberta take 5% GST once you're registered.
Session fees and prints take GST/HST once you're registered.
Cameras and computers are claimed through capital cost allowance (CCA); computers have their own faster class.
GST/HST on a booking deposit counts once the deposit is applied to the work, not when you take it.
What SumSwift does for photographers and videographers, for $79 CAD a month
Booking deposits and retainers applied to the final invoice
Big purchases get one question, "Is this equipment?", so they're written off over the right years
Invoices made, emailed and chased in SumSwift, with a pay link your customers can use
A mileage log (a CRA logbook in Canada) and the business share of your vehicle worked out for taxes
Subscriptions watched for price rises
Every statement checked against the balances your bank printed, to the cent, with personal spending kept off your profit
Up to 3 accounts included. Prices in CAD. Your accountant still files your tax return, with clean books and free access.
Questions.
How much does a bookkeeper for photographers cost in Alberta?
Published price guides put most small businesses at $300 to $1,500 a month for a bookkeeper, more when the books are busy, as they often are for photographers. SumSwift does the monthly work for $79 CAD a month, the day you upload your statements.
How do I handle wedding deposits?
SumSwift keeps them as retainers and applies them to the final invoice, so you always know what's left to pay.
Can I write off my camera?
Yes, over the years it's used or sooner where the rules allow. SumSwift asks once whether a big purchase is equipment.
Does SumSwift know Alberta's tax rules?
Sessions and prints in Alberta take 5% GST once you're registered. Session fees and prints take GST/HST once you're registered.
Behind on my books. Can you catch me up?
Yes. A catch-up of up to 12 months is $599, once, checked against your bank to the cent.