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A corporation has to file its T2 corporate tax return within six months of the end of each tax year, and that goes for years with no tax owing too. The balance is usually due sooner than the return: two months after year end, or three for a qualifying small business. Mix those two dates up and you’ll pay interest and penalties you could have dodged.
When is a corp tax return due?
The CRA sets the filing date at the last day of the sixth month after year end, when the year ends on the last day of a month. If it ends on another day, use the same day of the sixth month. Take a corporation with a 31 December 2025 year end. The return is due 30 June 2026. No 2026 year end dates were published yet when this page was last checked.
| Item | Rule (T2 guide) | For a 31 Dec 2025 year end |
|---|---|---|
| File the T2 | Six months after year end | 30 June 2026 |
| Balance due, most corporations | Two months after year end | 28 Feb 2026 |
| Balance due, qualifying CCPC | Three months after year end | 31 March 2026 |
The last two dates are our count from the CRA’s rule. The three-month deadline applies to a CCPC that claims the small business deduction and whose taxable income doesn’t exceed its business limit, so read the guide’s full wording before you lean on it.
What if the year end isn’t December?
Plenty of companies close their books on another date, and the same counting applies. Picture a small Ontario company with a 30 September 2026 year end, which is just behind us as you read this. Its T2 is due 31 March 2027. A qualifying CCPC owes any balance by 31 December 2026, and every other corporation by 30 November 2026. Notice how the tax payment lands a few months before the return. Plenty of owners only see the filing date on their calendar and get caught by the earlier one.
Who has to file if the company earned nothing?
Everyone. The CRA’s corporation income tax return page says corporations file a T2 every tax year even if there is no tax payable. That covers inactive companies and non-profits. A dormant company that skips the return can still collect a penalty. The exceptions are narrow, such as some Crown corporations and corporations registered as charities throughout the year.
Most corporations must also file electronically. Insurance and non-resident corporations are among the exceptions, and a corporation that should have e-filed and didn’t faces a $1,000 penalty.
What does a late corporate return cost?
The late-filing penalty is 5% of the tax unpaid at the deadline, plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months. If the CRA demanded a return from you and charged this penalty in the previous three years, it rises to 10% plus 2% a month, for up to 20 months.
Say $10,000 was still unpaid on 30 June and you file three full months late. That’s 5% plus 3%, or $800, before arrears interest. Pay the balance on time and the penalty base shrinks to nothing, which is why the payment date matters more than the filing date.
How much corporate tax might you owe?
Use the corporate tax calculator to estimate it. On $100,000 of active business income in Alberta, our engine’s 2026 rates give $11,000 for a CCPC using the small business rate (9% federal, 2% provincial). Without that rate the same profit costs $23,000. That gap is the reason the small business deduction gets so much attention.
Treat this as a ballpark. The calculator ignores the taxable capital limit and credits, and it handles passive income and associated corporations through optional boxes. Provincial rates come from provincial pages, and not every one has been double-checked. Ontario’s 2026 figure is a derived blend of two rates over the year, so don’t quote it on a return.
What else lands around the same time?
Paying yourself matters as much as the return. Dividends carry their own tax, and the dividend tax calculator shows what you’d pay personally. If the company has staff, the payroll remittance calculator covers what you send the CRA each period. To check whether the business is earning anything, try the profit margin calculator before you sit down with the books.
What if the company can’t pay the balance yet?
File on time anyway. The late-filing penalty is built on the tax still unpaid at the deadline, so a partial payment before that date makes the penalty smaller, and a return filed on time avoids it altogether. Interest on whatever is left keeps running until it’s paid. If cash is tight, a call to your accountant before the date beats a surprise notice after it.
Mistakes to avoid
Paying late because the return isn’t ready. Estimate, pay, then file.
Assuming the small business rate is automatic. Only a CCPC with income under its limit gets it, and the CRA’s guide spells out the tests.
Leaving a dormant company alone. It still files. And when several years have piled up, take that to an accountant, because catching up is easier with one.
The sources behind this page
Deadlines, penalties and the filing rules come from the CRA‘s T2 Corporation Income Tax Guide, read on 30 September 2026. Rates in the example come from federal and provincial tax data checked on 29 September 2026, with the caveats above. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
When is a corporate tax return due in Canada?
Within six months of the end of the tax year. For a 31 December 2025 year end, that's 30 June 2026.
When is the tax itself due?
Generally two months after year end, or three months for a qualifying CCPC, per the CRA's T2 guide.
Do I file if the corporation had no income?
Yes. The CRA says all corporations, including inactive ones, file a T2 for every tax year, even if there is no tax payable.
What is the late-filing penalty?
5% of the unpaid tax at the deadline plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months. Repeat offenders face 10% plus 2% a month.
Do I have to file the T2 online?
Most corporations do. Insurance corporations, non-resident corporations and a few others are excepted, and missing a required e-filing carries a $1,000 penalty.
- How to file your tax return in Canada: steps and dates
What to gather, when your return is due and how to file in Canada, from the first slip to the notice of assessment that closes the year