A Canadian corporation files its financial statements with its T2 return in the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI): every figure carries a numbered GIFI code instead of your own account names. The T2 / GIFI screen lets you give each account in your chart its GIFI code once, then produces the GIFI Schedule: your balances for the fiscal year, grouped and totalled by code, ready for your accountant or tax software.
SeroBooks does not file the T2 for you. It prepares the figures in the form CRA asks for.
Opening it
Choose Company ▸ Income Tax (T2 / GIFI). The screen is titled T2 / GIFI, with a line such as "112 assigned · 9 still to map".
The mapping screen
Each account in your chart is one row.
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Account | The account name. |
| Type | The account's type. |
| GIFI code | The code assigned to it, or Not mapped. |
| Suggested | The code SeroBooks suggests. |
| What CRA calls it | CRA's name for that code. |
| From | What the suggestion is based on: Account name, Sub-type, Type only, or No guess. A suggestion from the account name is the most specific; Type only is a broad guess. |
| Pencil button | Assign a GIFI code for that account. Double-clicking the row does the same. |
Click a column heading to sort; for example, sort by GIFI code to bring every unmapped account together. The table can be exported.
Buttons
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Accept all suggestions | Gives every unassigned account its suggested code. Codes you have already assigned are never overwritten. Available while any account is unassigned. |
| GIFI schedule | Opens the schedule (below). |
Assigning codes, step by step
- Choose Company ▸ Income Tax (T2 / GIFI).
- Look down the Suggested and What CRA calls it columns. If the suggestions look right, press Accept all suggestions, read Accept every suggestion?, and press Accept all. You see "Codes assigned."
- For any account whose suggestion is wrong or missing, press the pencil. The window, titled with the account's name, shows "Suggested: code — name" when there is one.
- Type the code in GIFI code and press Assign. Clear removes the account's code; Cancel leaves it unchanged.
- Repeat until the heading shows nothing still to map, then open the GIFI schedule.
Only digits are kept in a code. Ask your accountant for the right code when you are unsure.
The GIFI Schedule
Press GIFI schedule. It opens on the current income tax year, shown under the title as start → end. The year starts in the First month of the income tax year set in Edit ▸ Preferences… ▸ Accounting; when that is not set, it follows the First month of the fiscal year. The schedule opens with the note "The figures as CRA wants them numbered. Only assigned codes appear."
At the top a banner says whether the schedule is complete:
- Green: "Every account with a balance carries a GIFI code. This schedule is complete for the year."
- Red: "n account(s) holding $… have no GIFI code, so they are NOT on this schedule. It is not ready to file until they are mapped."
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Code | The GIFI code. |
| Section | Where on the statements it belongs. |
| What CRA calls it | CRA's name for the code. |
| Accounts | How many of your accounts are grouped under it. |
| Amount | Their total. |
Accounts with a balance but no code are listed at the bottom with an Unmapped label, so nothing silently disappears.
How the amounts are worked out:
- Balance sheet codes (assets, liabilities, equity) are balances at the year end, from the beginning of your books.
- Income statement codes (revenue and expenses) cover the year only.
- Retained earnings and this year's profit are not held in any account; SeroBooks works them out, as the Balance Sheet does, and shows them under 3620 (retained earnings or deficit at the start of the period) and 3660 (net income or loss for the period). If you have also mapped an account to one of those codes, both amounts are added together.
Because it follows the same rules as the Trial Balance, Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet, the schedule agrees with your financial statements for the same year. Export it for your accountant or tax software from the table's export button.
A company in the United States
For a US company the same screen is titled Income Tax and maps accounts to the lines of your federal income tax return instead of to GIFI codes.
- The first button names the return you file. Press it to choose from Which return do you file? (the corporation, S corporation, partnership and sole proprietor returns). Changing it keeps your mapping and simply renumbers the lines.
- The columns read Line, Suggested line and What the form calls it. Pressing the pencil (Choose a line) opens a list of the return's lines by section; a line your return does not have says "not on form".
- The Schedule shows the figures on each line for the income tax year, found the same way as for the GIFI schedule. Accounts mapped to a line your return does not have are listed as Passes through (for example items a partnership passes to its partners), so the money is not lost.
Permissions
Assigning or clearing a code, and accepting suggestions, each need the matching permission for Income Tax in your role. See Roles and permissions explained.
Tips
- Map codes once, when you set up your chart; new accounts then show as Not mapped until you give them a code.
- Close the year first (see Set Closing Date and Year-End), so the figures cannot change after you hand them over.
- Record depreciation and capital cost allowance before producing the schedule (see Fixed Asset Manager and CCA).
- Give your accountant direct access instead of files if you prefer; see My Accountant.
Common problems
The schedule says it is not ready to file. Some accounts with a balance have no code. They are listed at the bottom as Unmapped; assign them codes on the mapping screen.
A total does not match my Balance Sheet. Check that the dates are the same year end — when your income tax year starts in a different month from your fiscal year, run the Balance Sheet to the income tax year end — and that every account with a balance is mapped.