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A business income tax return is one of two things, depending on how you’re set up. A sole proprietor reports business income on form T2125 inside a personal return, and a corporation files its own T2. For the 2025 tax year the self-employed deadline was 15 June 2026, though any tax owing was due 30 April.
Which business income tax return applies to you?
Look at your legal structure first. It decides everything after.
If you run the business yourself with no corporation, you file a personal T1 and attach form T2125, the statement of business or professional activities. You need one T2125 for each separate business or professional activity. Your net income from the form is added to your other income and taxed at personal rates.
A corporation is its own taxpayer. It files a T2 for every tax year, and that includes inactive corporations and ones with no tax payable. The CRA lists only a few exceptions, such as tax-exempt Crown corporations, Hutterite colonies and registered charities.
When is a business income tax return due?
These are the dates the CRA published for the 2025 tax year, filed in 2026. We couldn’t find published dates for the 2026 tax year yet, so don’t assume they’re the same.
| Who | File by | Pay by |
|---|---|---|
| Self-employed person | 15 June 2026 | 30 April 2026 |
| Corporation (T2) | Six months after year end | Generally two months after year end, or three for a CCPC using the small business deduction |
| Self-employed instalments | 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December | |
| GST/HST, annual filers | Three months after year end (30 April for a self-employed person with a 31 December year end) | |
The self-employed date has a trap. June 15 is the filing date only. Tax you owe is still due on April 30, so a June filer who waits until June to pay is late on the payment. Instalments are a separate thing again. The tax instalments calculator shows what those payments look like.
How does the tax compare for a sole proprietor and a corporation?
Take a business with $80,000 of net income in Ontario. As a sole proprietor, the self-employed tax calculator gives $13,233.57 of income tax and $8,892.90 of CPP, $22,126.47 in all. That’s before EI and GST/HST, which it leaves out.
As a corporation, the corporate tax calculator shows $9,356.80 on the same $80,000, an average of 11.7%. Federal tax at the 9% small business rate is $7,200, and Ontario adds $2,156.80.
Stop before you conclude the corporation wins. That $9,356.80 is only the company’s tax. Nothing has reached you yet, and paying yourself a salary or dividend brings personal tax, which that calculator doesn’t count.
The Ontario part is also soft for 2026. Ontario cut its small business rate on 1 July 2026, so the calculator prorates a calendar year. That blend is our own derived figure, not a published rate, and a corporation with another year end gets a different result.
What goes wrong with business filings?
The first slip is thinking no income means no return. For a corporation that’s wrong, since the T2 is due every year.
The second is mixing up the two dates and paying on June 15.
Keep your records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. That covers invoices, receipts and bank statements. If you pay staff, look at the payroll remittance calculator, since source deductions run on their own schedule.
And if your business has employees or sells taxable goods, GST/HST and payroll are separate from the income tax return. A clean T2125 doesn’t cover them.
Where the numbers come from
The dates come from the CRA’s deadlines page for businesses and self-employed individuals (2025 tax year), and the T2 rule from its corporation return pages. Federal corporate rates come from the CRA’s corporation tax rates page. The example amounts are estimates from our own calculators on 2026 rates.
Frequently asked questions
Which form does a sole proprietor file?
Form T2125 goes in with your personal return. You need one for each separate business or professional activity.
When is the self-employed deadline?
For the 2025 tax year you had to file by 15 June 2026, but tax owing was due 30 April 2026.
Does a corporation with no income still file?
Yes. Every corporation files a T2 each year, even if it is inactive or owes no tax, apart from a few listed exceptions.
When is a corporation's return due?
Within six months of its tax year end. Tax is generally due two months after year end, or three for a CCPC using the small business deduction.
Are the 2026 tax year dates published?
We couldn't find them on a CRA page yet. The dates above are for the 2025 tax year.
- Self-employed taxes in Canada: income, CPP and GST
How tax works when you are self-employed in Canada: reporting income and expenses, paying both halves of CPP, instalments and when to register for GST
Information only. This page is general information, not tax, legal or accounting advice. Tax-Services.ca is an independent publisher: we don't prepare or file tax returns or offer tax services, and we have no connection with the CRA, Revenu Québec, any government or any company named on this page. Check the figures that matter with an official source or a qualified professional.