Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
The accounting side of a business disruption, like a fire, a flood or a postal strike, starts with one fact: your payroll and GST/HST due dates stay the same unless the CRA says otherwise. What the CRA can do afterwards is cancel or waive penalties and interest, and it names disasters and disruptions in services among the circumstances it looks at.
Which accounting tasks can’t wait?
Two of them, because the money isn’t yours: payroll deductions and GST/HST collected. A regular remitter owes payroll by the 15th of the following month. Bigger employers remit sooner, and the penalty on a late payment starts at 3% and reaches 10%. A delay of a few days on a large payroll remittance costs more than most owners expect.
Everything else can be slower for a short spell, such as tidying the books, chasing small invoices and filing your own reports early. So do the two that cost the most first, then move down the list.
What does the CRA count as a disruption?
| Situation the CRA lists | Example it gives |
|---|---|
| Natural or human-made disaster | Flood or fire |
| Civil disturbance or service disruption | Postal strike |
| Serious illness or accident | You or a person handling your accounts |
| Serious emotional or mental distress | Death in the immediate family |
| Inability to pay | Interest relief may be considered if the CRA confirms it |
Relief isn’t automatic. You have to ask, and the CRA looks at what you did to meet your duties; its taxpayer relief provisions page is the place to start. So keep a dated note of what happened and what you tried. A request for interest that accrued in a given year must fall within the ten calendar years before the year you ask.
How do you keep accounting running when the office is shut?
Move the parts that need a person to places that don’t need a building. GST/HST returns must be filed electronically by registrants, and payroll can be paid online, so neither needs your office. Bank feeds, scanned receipts and cloud copies of your books do the rest. The CRA encourages backups at a separate site, preferably in Canada.
If the disruption destroys books and records, call the CRA’s business line at 1-800-959-5525. The same records duty applies: lost items must be reported and recreated within a reasonable time. Our page on system failures walks through the rebuild.
What should you write down during a disruption?
More than you think, and sooner than feels natural. A short running log is enough: the date things went wrong, which tasks were affected, who you phoned and when, and what you did instead. Add photos and insurer reference numbers if there’s damage.
Think of Lena, who owns a small print shop in Winnipeg. When a pipe burst over a long weekend, she spent ten minutes that night on a list: affected equipment, payroll still due Friday, supplier invoices soaked. Months later, that list answered every question anyone asked. Nobody wants the log. Everybody ends up needing it.
What does a shutdown do to your numbers?
Take the five-person Ontario team paid $3,000 gross each every two weeks. The payroll remittance calculator gives $4,805.16 per pay period to remit and $16,142.07 as the full payroll cost. If sales stop for a month, those numbers don’t.
Now check the other side. A business keeping a 40% margin needs about $40,400 of sales to produce $16,142 of gross profit, because $16,142 is 40% of $40,355. The profit margin calculator does the same sum from your own inputs. Payroll is only one cost, so treat that as a ballpark floor; the true break-even is higher.
A gap like that is when owners look at borrowing. The line of credit calculator shows how long a balance takes to clear at your payment. Cash planning in general is covered in cash flow problems.
What should you do before the next disruption?
Most of the damage in a crisis comes from not knowing who does what. Decisions get made in a hurry, log-ins sit with one person who is unreachable, and the bookkeeper finds out about the flood from the news.
Write a one-page plan. Who can file and pay if you can’t? Where are the log-ins, and who holds them? Where is the latest backup? Then run the plan once, on a quiet day.
We couldn’t confirm any government support program that’s open right now, so none is listed. The CRA’s business pages show what is current.
How we checked the figures
Remittance rules, penalty rates and taxpayer relief situations come from Canada Revenue Agency pages on payroll remittances and on cancelling or waiving penalties and interest. The payroll and margin figures are calculator results on 2026 data. This site is independent of the CRA and of every government.
Frequently asked questions
Do CRA deadlines change during a disruption?
Not by themselves. You may ask for relief from penalties and interest afterwards, and the CRA decides.
Which payments come first?
Payroll deductions and GST/HST, because late payroll remittances carry a penalty of 3% to 10%.
What circumstances can the CRA consider for relief?
Disasters such as a flood or fire, service disruptions such as a postal strike, serious illness or accident, and serious distress.
What if my records are destroyed?
Call the CRA business line at 1-800-959-5525 and recreate the records within a reasonable time.
Do I need paper to file GST/HST?
No. Registrants are required to file GST/HST returns electronically.
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