Office Repairs, Moving and Subscriptions Fees

by Suzanne
(Penticton, Canada)

Office Repairs and Moving Fees

Office Repairs and Moving Fees

What things can we generally record to the repair and maintance account?


I am facing an unusual situation:

My boss tried to repair something in his office by himself even though he is not a repair guy. He bought some protective gloves and clothing, a drill, screw driver, drill bits, wrench, copper pipes, gypsum board, saw and many more - ranging in prices from $2 to $200 for each items.

The bad news, he ended up not being able to fix it and ended up hiring a repair person to do everything over again costing $5,000.

Can all the expenses be claimed on this?

What account do bookkeepers usually put rearranging furniture in the office to?

My boss was doing some reorganization in his office and he hired a person to move the furniture from one end of the office to the other for $600.

Where does this moving fee go to?

Does it matter how expenses are classified? Can newspaper subscription fees be put in the office account instead of opening an account called newspaper subscriptions?





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Hi Suzanne,

To facilitate easier tax preparation, I like to use the CRA Form T2125 as the basis for my chart of accounts when doing the books for a small business that is privately owned.

I also prefer to use CCA (Capital Cost Allowance) as my amortization method if GAAP statements are NOT required
by third parties.

So this means I'd charge the subscriptions to Dues and Subscriptions (Line 8760 of the Form T2125) and the moving fees to Repairs and Maintenance (Line 8960 of the Form T2125).

As long as the the materials and tools your boss purchased to make repairs stay with the business ... and don't "walk home for personal use" ... they can be expensed.

I'd charge any small tools to your balance sheet account under capital assets called Small Tools Class 12. This CCA class is written off at 100%. This means you will take amortization on them, which in effect will expense it the same year as purchased.

I'd charge any materials to Repairs and Maintenance ... keeping in mind that your boss CANNOT charge the value of HIS labour but he can charge the value of the labour of the contractor he hired to get the job done.

If the repairs were capital in nature, they will have to be coded to your capital assets to be amortized over time.





P.S. I would like to remind you there is a difference between information and advice. The general information provided in this post or on my site should not be construed as advice. You should not act or rely on this information without engaging professional advice specific to your situation prior to using this site content for any reason whatsoever.

Comments for Office Repairs, Moving and Subscriptions Fees

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Feb 23, 2012
 Equipment Repair
by: Sharon, Calgary

My client has an asset account for medical equipment (capitalized); purchased for his business. Recently there was a purchase made for a part to repair the equipment, which he had delivered via Fed Ex.

I am not sure what the best way would be to record this type transaction and what account(s)to post them to.

I have two purchases on the credit card statement. One for the purchase of the part (foreign currency for the amount in USD at an exchange rate of 1.02150) and one for FedEx (for fees and GST).

Would I do a general journal entry to record first the amount of the purchase?

Would I record the full amount I see on the credit card statement in USD?

Then I need to record Fed Ex. There is a shipping charge and a GST charge. Where I get confused is I don't know what account to apply the shipping and GST to?

This is the bookkeeping entry I think I should do?

DR Office Expense - for full amt of part
DR Office Expense - for the amount of shipping on the Fed Ex receipt
DR GST Paid Liability - for the amount on the FedEx receipt
CR credit card

Am I thinking of this all wrong?



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If the repairs are not capital in nature, I would record them to an account called Repairs and Maintenance, not office expenses.

I'm not sure what software you are using and whether it has multi-currency. If yes, it will likely handle the currency conversion for you as long as you enter the exchange rate in the appropriate spot. If not, see this post on foreign exchange ... with one adjustment ... it has been brought to my attention that the account would more appropriately be called Foreign Currency Conversion than Gain (Loss) on Foreign Exchange.

The shipping expenses I would book to one of two places ... the same account as the repair was booked to OR a separate account called Delivery, Freight, and Express.

The recording of the GST depends on whether your client is GST exempt or not ... as you made reference to medical equipment.

In general, if you are using QuickBooks, it would be better to record these transactions using the credit card slip window (found under banking) rather than make a manual journal entry.

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