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Corporate tax filing in Canada means one T2 return per tax year, due within six months of your year end. You file it even if the company earned nothing and owes nothing.
When is corporate tax filing due?
Six months after the year end. If the year ends on the last day of a month, the return is due on the last day of the sixth month after it. A December 31 year end gives you June 30. A September 30 year end gives you March 31, and an August 31 year end lands on February 28.
The payment is a separate date, and people mix the two up all the time. The CRA says the balance is paid two or three months after year end, depending on your balance-due day. The exact test for the three-month rule isn’t something we could pin down on the pages we opened, so read the CRA’s payment page for your company before you count on the longer wait.
File your return within six months of the end of each tax year.
T2 Corporation Income Tax Guide, before you start, canada.ca
| Item | What the CRA says |
|---|---|
| Who files a T2 | Every resident corporation, every year, even with no tax payable |
| Filing date | Within six months of the tax year end |
| Balance owing | Two or three months after year end, by balance-due day |
| Filing method | Electronic for tax years after 2023, with a few exceptions |
| Penalty for not filing electronically | $1,000 |
| Refund claims | Return must be filed within three years of the year end |
What goes into a corporate tax filing?
The CRA offers two forms. The regular T2 is a nine-page return that any corporation can use. The T2 Short Return is two pages plus one schedule, and only some corporations qualify. Guide T4012 lists the tests, so check it before you assume your company fits.
Most owners never fill either one in by hand. Your accountant or tax software builds the return from your year end books, which is why tidy books matter more than the form itself. We come back to that in the mistakes section.
Inactive companies still file. So do non-profit corporations. Registered charities, Hutterite colonies and some Crown corporations are the exceptions the CRA names.
What will the filing cost you in tax?
Here’s the calculation the return ends up doing. A Canadian-controlled private corporation in British Columbia with $100,000 of active business income pays $9,000 federal and $2,000 provincial, so $11,000 in total. That’s 11%.
The same profit in a corporation that isn’t a CCPC comes to $15,000 federal and $12,000 provincial, or $27,000. Same income, more than double the tax, because the small business rate is only for CCPCs. You can test your own figures in the corporate tax calculator.
The calculator is an estimate. It leaves out associated corporations, the passive income and taxable capital limits, and tax credits. Provincial rates also move, and Ontario’s small business rate changed in July 2026, so a company with a mid-year year end gets a blended figure.
What does the money side look like after you file?
Corporate tax is only part of it. If the company pays you a salary, it has to send income tax, CPP and EI to the CRA every pay period. One Ontario employee paid $3,000 every two weeks means about $961 sent in each period, made up of $733 held back from the pay and $228 the employer adds. The payroll remittance calculator does the same sum for your pay.
If you’d rather take dividends, the dividend tax calculator shows what you’d owe personally on top of the corporate tax. And if you’re also a sole proprietor on the side, the self-employed tax calculator covers that income.
Where do corporate tax filings go wrong?
Missing the electronic filing rule is the cheap one to avoid, because the penalty is a flat $1,000. Paying late while filing on time is the more common trap, since the two dates differ.
Then there’s the records problem. The CRA wants business records kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and that includes computer records. If your bookkeeping lives in a shoebox, your return is only as good as your memory.
And don’t skip the return just because cash was thin. The rules ask for it whatever the profit. Can’t get the numbers together in time? File what you can and ask your accountant about corrections rather than letting the date pass.
What if the company did nothing this year?
Picture Dana in Winnipeg, who set up a corporation in the spring, never sent an invoice and shut the bank account in November. She still owes a T2 for that year. A nil return takes little time, but skipping it is how a quiet company turns into a pile of late filings that someone has to clear up later.
The same goes for a company you plan to wind up. Until it’s properly closed, the yearly return keeps coming due. Ask your accountant about closing it rather than letting it drift.
How we checked the figures
Filing dates, the electronic filing rule, the three-year refund window and record keeping come from Canada Revenue Agency pages for corporations, read on September 30, 2026. Federal and provincial rates come from the CRA’s corporation tax rate pages, with the 2026 data on this site checked on September 29, 2026. We’re an independent site, and no government body is behind it.
Frequently asked questions
When is corporate tax filing due?
Within six months of the end of your tax year. A December 31 year end means June 30 of the next year.
Do I file a T2 if the company had no income?
Yes. The CRA says every resident corporation files each year, even when no tax is payable.
Can I file a corporate return on paper?
For tax years after 2023 most corporations must file electronically. The CRA charges a $1,000 penalty when a required e-filer doesn't.
When do I pay the tax, at filing time?
Not usually. The balance is due two or three months after year end, depending on your balance-due day.
How long can I wait to claim a refund?
The return has to be filed within three years after the end of the 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