Website costs can be capitalized, but only certain phases qualify as capital expenditures under Canadian accounting standards. The CRA and accounting bodies distinguish between preliminary planning (expensed), application development (capitalized), and post-launch operations (expensed). Under ASPE Section 3064 and IAS 38, you capitalize costs incurred during the application and infrastructure development stage when the website generates probable future economic benefits. This includes programming, coding custom functionality, purchasing software licenses for the CMS or e-commerce platform, and integrating payment systems or databases. You also capitalize costs for creating content that's integral to the application's function, like product catalogs in an e-commerce system. You must expense costs from the planning phase—feasibility studies, vendor selection, defining objectives—and the content development phase when it's not integral to functionality. Graphic design, copywriting, photography, and initial content creation are expensed. Post-launch training, maintenance, and minor updates also hit your income statement immediately. Stock photography, domain registration, and hosting are operating expenses. The capitalized amount amortizes over the website's useful life, typically 3-5 years for most business sites. E-commerce platforms handling significant transaction volume might justify longer periods if you're committed to maintaining them. Start amortization when the site goes live and is available for use. At Ottawa SEO, we see clients capitalize $15,000-$40,000 for custom WordPress builds with e-commerce or membership functionality, while expensing the $8,000-$12,000 in design and content work. A brochure site under $10,000 total often gets fully expensed because the capitalization paperwork exceeds the tax benefit. The decision depends on your revenue size—corporations benefit more from capitalization than sole proprietors. Document everything with vendor invoices that separate design hours from development hours. Your accountant needs this breakdown to defend the capital treatment if CRA audits. Most agencies don't separate these naturally, so request itemized billing upfront.