GIFI in both directions, ready for your T2
GIFI, the CRA's General Index of Financial Information, gives each line of a corporation's financial statements a code, and a .gfi file carries those lines into T2 software. AviBooks reads a .gfi file to set up your accounts and opening balances, and writes one from your books for the year-end you pick.
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- Every new account is approved personally.
Export the year for your T2
Open Ledger, then GIFI export, and pick the fiscal year-end; your last one is filled in. AviBooks adds up the accounts that share a GIFI code and writes the .gfi file your T2 software imports.
- Balance-sheet lines are the balances on the year-end date
- Income and expense lines cover the fiscal year that ends on that date; earlier years are in retained earnings
- Retained earnings follow Schedule 100: 3660 at the start of the year, 3680 for the year's net income, 3849 and 3600 at the end
- Contra accounts, such as accumulated amortization, are reported as positive amounts, the way the CRA's GIFI guide asks
- Accounts without a GIFI code are listed at the end of the file, so nothing drops out unnoticed
- Keep several companies? Export each one on its own
Start your books from a .gfi file
Moving a corporation to AviBooks? Import last year's .gfi file, from your T2 software or your accountant. AviBooks creates the accounts with the CRA's official names, tags each with its GIFI code, and posts one balanced opening entry from the balance-sheet lines, dated at the file's fiscal year-end unless you choose another date.
- Every line is shown before anything is saved: the account it lands in, or the new account it creates
- Subtotals post only when their detail lines are missing, so nothing counts twice
- Income-statement lines are shown, not posted: the year's profit is already in retained earnings
- If the file's own totals don't balance, you are told, and the difference goes to Opening Balance Equity
- Importing the same file again never posts a second opening entry
GIFI codes on your own chart of accounts
Already keep your books in AviBooks? Give each account its GIFI code in the account editor, or import a CSV or Excel list with a GIFI column next to the account number or name. A list only sets the codes: balances, names and types stay as they are, and importing it again changes nothing.
Filed means filed
Once the T2 is filed, lock the books through the year-end (Ledger, then Lock date). Journal entries, invoices, bills and bank lines dated in that year can no longer be added, changed or deleted, so the entries behind your GIFI figures stay as they were filed.
Questions about GIFI
What is a .gfi file?
A plain text file: a header with the fiscal year-end, then one line per GIFI code with its amount. T2 software and accountants' working-paper software read and write it.
Which year does the export cover?
The fiscal year that ends on the date you pick: income and expenses from the first day of that year, balance-sheet lines as of the date. Set the month your fiscal year starts in Reports (Fiscal year starts).
Do I need a GIFI code on every account?
Every account with a balance should have one. Accounts without a code are listed at the end of the exported file, so you see what to tag before you import it into your T2 software.
Does AviBooks prepare or file the T2?
No. It writes the GIFI file your T2 software imports. You or your accountant prepare and file the T2 return.
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