Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Accounting and tax services for a small corporation mostly come down to three jobs: keeping the books, filing the corporate T2 return, and handling the payroll and sales tax filings around it. The T2 is due six months after your year end, but the tax itself is due sooner, generally two months after year end, or three for a qualifying small business.
Searching a firm name like “AB Accounting & Tax Services Inc” tells us you’re probably picking a provider for an incorporated business. We can’t say anything about any particular firm, its fees or its service. What we can do is tell you what to ask, and what deadlines you’re buying help with.
What should a small corporation expect from an accountant?
Start with the return. Most corporations must file the T2 electronically, and the CRA’s guide names a $1,000 penalty for those that don’t. So a firm that only offers paper filing is a poor fit.
Then the extras. Does the fee cover bookkeeping, or only year-end? Who files GST/HST and payroll remittances? Who talks to the CRA when a letter arrives? Get the answers in writing, because “we handle your taxes” can mean anything from a single T2 to your whole back office.
A good test is to ask for a sample list of what they’ll need from you and by when. A firm with a clear checklist and dates is usually organized. One that says “just send everything in the spring” may leave you scrambling.
The dates that matter for a corporation
| Item | When |
|---|---|
| T2 return | Six months after the tax year end |
| Tax balance, most corporations | Two months after year end |
| Tax balance, qualifying small CCPC | Three months after year end |
| Late filing penalty | 5% of unpaid tax plus 1% for each full month, up to 12 months |
| Repeat late filer penalty | 10% plus 2% a month, up to 20 months |
| Records | Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to |
A March 31 year end gives you a September 30 filing deadline, but the payment date falls at the end of May or June. Plenty of owners miss that gap and think they have until September to pay. Ask any accountant you’re considering how they’ll flag the payment date as well as the filing one.
Take a company with a December 31 year end. The tax is due at the end of February, or the end of March if it qualifies for the three-month rule, and the T2 itself is due June 30. Four months can separate the money from the paperwork, and the CRA charges interest on that money in the meantime. The CRA’s balance-due day page lists the conditions for the three-month date, including that the corporation is a CCPC throughout the year.
What does a corporate tax bill look like?
Take a corporation in Alberta with $100,000 of taxable active business income that qualifies as a Canadian-controlled private corporation. The corporate tax calculator shows $9,000 of federal tax and $2,000 of Alberta tax, so $11,000 in all, an 11% rate. That leaves $89,000 in the company.
Without the small business rate, the same $100,000 comes to $23,000, or 23%. The $12,000 gap is why the CCPC status has to be right, and why you want someone who checks it.
The result is for a calendar 2026 year, and it doesn’t include the tax on paying money out to yourself. Getting cash out of the company is a second bill. For that, run the dividend tax calculator, and for a salary, the payroll deductions calculator.
How do you check the firm you’re about to hire?
Ask whether the person who signs is a chartered professional accountant, and check that with the provincial accounting body, not with the firm’s own page. Who will actually do the work? Some firms hand it to junior staff, so ask. Ask what happens if the CRA reviews a return, and whether that’s included in the fee.
Then look at authorization. You can give an accountant access to your business account through My Business Account, or they can submit a request in Represent a Client for you to confirm. Mailing Form AUT-01 works too, but it’s the slowest way, and it gives offline access only. Keep the main login yourself.
One more point that people skip. You stay responsible for your records even when a bookkeeper or accountant keeps them. If the firm closes, you still owe the CRA six years of paperwork, so ask for copies each year.
What should you have ready at year end?
Whoever you hire will ask for roughly the same pile. Have the bank and credit card statements for the year, your sales and purchase records, the payroll summary if you pay staff, and your GST/HST filings. Add the loan statements, any shareholder loan records and the minutes of any dividend you declared. If any of that is missing in March, the T2 slows down, and so does everything after it.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Hiring by the lowest quote is the classic one. A cheap year-end file with no bookkeeping means the accountant works from a shoebox at year end, and you pay for the cleanup in time. Another is confusing the corporation with yourself: the company’s money isn’t yours until it’s paid out, and each way of paying it out is taxed differently.
If you’re a sole proprietor rather than a corporation, the self-employed tax calculator is the closer fit, and the numbers above won’t apply. Treat its result as a rough figure, since it can’t see every detail of your own return.
What this page is based on
Deadlines, penalties and record rules come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s T2 guide and its record-keeping guide, read in September 2026. The corporate figures come from our 2026 corporate tax data. We couldn’t verify any firm’s fees, so we give none. This site is independent and doesn’t offer accounting or tax services.
Frequently asked questions
When is a corporation's T2 return due?
Six months after the end of its tax year. A March 31 year end means September 30.
When is the corporate tax itself due?
Generally two months after year end. A qualifying Canadian-controlled private corporation claiming the small business deduction gets three months.
What if my accountant keeps my books?
You're still responsible for adequate records. The CRA says this applies even when a bookkeeper or accountant keeps them for you.
How long do I keep corporate records?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, unless the CRA allows earlier destruction.
How do I let an accountant deal with the CRA?
Authorize them in My Business Account, or confirm a request they send through Represent a Client. Form AUT-01 is the slowest route.
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