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A T2 corporate tax return is due six months from the close of the corporation’s tax year, but the tax itself is usually due sooner, two months on from year end. A company with a 31 December 2026 year end files by 30 June 2027 and pays by the end of February 2027.
Who has to file a T2 corporate tax return?
Nearly every resident corporation, every year. The CRA lists a few exceptions, such as registered charities and tax-exempt Crown corporations, but an ordinary business company isn’t one of them. It also doesn’t matter if the company earned nothing, lost money or sat dormant. If it exists, it files, even when there’s no tax payable.
For tax years starting after 2023, the return has to go in electronically. The CRA lists exceptions, including insurance and non-resident corporations, and charges a $1,000 penalty when a corporation that should file online doesn’t.
When are the deadlines?
There are two dates, and they’re easy to confuse.
| Year end | File the T2 by | Pay a balance by (two months) |
|---|---|---|
| 30 September 2026 | 31 March 2027 | 30 November 2026 |
| 31 December 2026 | 30 June 2027 | 28 February 2027 |
| 31 March 2027 | 30 September 2027 | 31 May 2027 |
The filing date is six months after year end. The payment date is generally two months after, though some CCPCs (Canadian-controlled private corporations) get three months. The CRA ties that to conditions on taxable income and the business limit, and to claiming the small business deduction, so check the rule against your own two most recent years before you count on it.
Notice what that means. You pay four months before you file, so you need an estimate of the tax while the books are still being closed.
What does a year look like on the calendar?
Take Nadia, who owns a small landscaping company in Kelowna with a 31 March year end. She closes the books in April and May, owes any balance by 31 May 2027 (two months after year end, and assuming her company doesn’t qualify for the three-month date), and files by 30 September 2027. Her accountant wants the books by the end of July, so the real deadline in her head is earlier than the CRA’s.
That gap is normal. The official date is the last day. Most owners work to an earlier one, and the CRA doesn’t care which day you filed as long as it’s on or before the deadline.
What does filing late cost?
The CRA’s standard penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax plus a further 1% for every complete month of delay, capped at 12 months. Say a corporation owes $10,000 and files four full months late. The penalty is 5% plus 4%, or 9%, which is $900. Interest on the unpaid balance is extra.
The penalty rises to 10% plus 2% a month, up to 20 months, if the CRA has already charged a failure-to-file penalty during the last three years. That’s a bad habit to build.
The penalty is worked out on unpaid tax, so paying your balance by the due date shrinks it. Filing on time avoids it altogether. If cash is tight, file the return anyway and pay what you can, because a late return is the thing that starts the penalty clock.
How much tax will the return show?
Federal tax is 15% for general corporations, and 9% for a CCPC on income up to the business limit of $500,000. Then add the province. Both federal rates are on the CRA’s corporation tax rates page. Our corporate tax calculator shows $35,088 for $300,000 of active business income in Ontario, a 2026 calendar year. That’s $27,000 federal and $8,088 provincial. For a full rate table, read our guide to corporation tax rates.
Ontario’s small business rate changed on 1 July 2026, and the calculator’s blend for a calendar year is our own estimate. If your year end isn’t 31 December the figure will differ, so treat it as a ballpark planning number and not the final line on the return.
What the calculator can’t do is model everything the T2 covers: credits, associated companies, investment income and the balance sheet schedules. Those are why most owners get an accountant to prepare the return.
What should you do before the deadline?
Close the books, reconcile the bank accounts and settle what you owe your staff. If you paid yourself a salary, the payroll remittance calculator helps check the employer’s share of CPP and EI. Then look at your personal side with the dividend tax calculator, since what you take out affects your own return.
Keep the working papers. The CRA says records generally have to be kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Our note on company bookkeeping shows what to keep.
One honest limit: we can’t tell you what an accountant will charge to prepare a T2, because we found no official figure. Ask for a written quote that names the return, the financial statements and any schedules.
What this page is based on
The filing and payment rules, the late penalties and the electronic filing requirement come from the CRA‘s T2 Corporation Income Tax Guide and its corporation income tax return page. The rates come from the CRA’s corporation tax rates page, read on 29 September 2026. The dates in the table are our own arithmetic from the six-month and two-month rules. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
When is the T2 return due?
Within six months from the close of the corporation's tax year. A December 2026 year end gives 30 June 2027.
When is the tax payment due?
Generally two months after year end. Some Canadian-controlled private corporations get three months if they meet the CRA's conditions.
Do I file a T2 if the company had no income?
Yes. Resident corporations must file every tax year, even with no tax payable, apart from a few exceptions the CRA lists.
What is the penalty for filing late?
5% of the unpaid tax plus a further 1% for every complete month of delay, capped at 12 months. Repeat late filers pay 10% plus 2% a month.
Can I file the T2 on paper?
For tax years starting after 2023 most corporations must file electronically. The CRA charges a $1,000 penalty when a corporation that should file online does not.
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