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Business resilience planning, in accounting terms, means knowing how many weeks you can pay your bills if sales stop, and what you’d do about the tax and payroll that keep coming anyway. Write that number down first. Everything else on a resilience plan (backups, credit lines, insurance) is there to stretch it.
What does business resilience planning start with?
Take your fixed monthly costs: rent, wages, loan payments, insurance, software, and the payroll remittances owed to the CRA. Add them up. Divide your cash on hand by that total. The answer is your runway in months.
Most owners guess high. They count the bank balance without the GST/HST they’re holding for the government, or payroll amounts already held back from staff. Those aren’t yours to spend. Take them out before you divide.
The budget calculator is set up for a household, but it does the job for a sole owner’s personal side: how much you need each month to live on, which sets the minimum you must draw from the business.
What does a runway calculation look like?
Say a small print shop in Hamilton has $54,000 in the bank, but $6,000 of that is HST it has collected and not yet remitted. The real cash is $48,000. Fixed costs come to $18,000 a month. Divide $48,000 by $18,000 and you get about 2.7 months, or roughly 11 and a half weeks.
Had the owner used the full $54,000, the answer would have been 3 months. That gap of a few weeks is the difference between a plan and a nasty surprise. These inputs are made up, so run your own. And be ballpark-honest about the cost side: if a big annual bill, like insurance, is paid in one lump, spread it over twelve months before you add it to the fixed total.
What costs carry on when revenue stops?
Payroll is the big one, and it’s bigger than wages. The employer share of CPP and EI sits on top. For one Ontario employee paid $3,000 every two weeks, the payroll remittance calculator shows a full cost of $3,228.41 per pay period, and $961.03 of that goes to the CRA.
With five people on the same pay, it’s $16,142.07 per period, of which $4,805.16 is remitted. If the business closes for a month with everyone still on payroll, that’s the bill.
| Cost | Stops when sales stop? | Planning note |
|---|---|---|
| Wages and employer share | No, until you change hours or pay | Model the full cost, not just gross pay |
| Payroll remittances | No | Late amounts over $500 draw a penalty from 3% to 10% |
| Loan and line of credit payments | No | Know the interest-only amount |
| GST/HST collected | Only on new sales | Earlier sales still have to be reported |
| Corporate income tax | It falls with profit | Estimate with the corporate tax calculator |
Is a line of credit a good backstop?
Sometimes. But it’s a bridge, not a cushion. Say you draw $30,000 at 9%. Interest alone is $225 a month. The line of credit calculator shows what happens to that balance at different payments. The 9% rate is our own assumption, since your rate floats with prime plus your lender’s margin.
At $800 a month you’re paying for 45 months and $5,358.19 in interest. At $1,500 it’s 22 months and $2,626.57. At $200, which is below the interest, the balance never falls.
That last line is the trap. A cash crunch feels temporary, and the minimum payment makes it feel cheap. Decide the payment you’ll make on day one.
What if you can’t pay the CRA on time?
Call early, or go online. The CRA lets you schedule a series of pre-authorized debit payments through My Account or My Business Account, or by contacting them, until the whole debt is paid, interest included. Its page on arranging to pay your debt over time walks through the steps. You may be asked to share details of your income, expenses, assets and liabilities. Interest keeps running while you pay, so an arrangement spreads the pain and doesn’t erase it.
I didn’t find any business-specific relief program that applies right now, so don’t count on one. Check the CRA’s collections pages for current options.
What records do you need when things go wrong?
Records. Keep them somewhere a fire, a flood or a failed laptop can’t reach. The CRA expects you to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, including your electronic systems, and it says you stay responsible for them even if an accountant or bookkeeper holds them. So test your backup by actually restoring a file, once a year.
If you’re choosing between cutting costs and borrowing, see what profit you’re really working with. The corporate tax calculator shows how much of a profit stays after federal and provincial tax for a Canadian-controlled private corporation, which tells you what’s left to rebuild reserves.
Where the numbers come from
Payment arrangement, record-keeping and remittance penalty details come from Canada Revenue Agency pages read in September 2026. Payroll and loan figures come from the calculators on this site. The 9% line of credit rate, the $30,000 balance and the print shop figures are example inputs, not market data. This site is independent and has no tie to the CRA.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my cash runway?
Add your fixed monthly costs, remove money you hold for the government such as GST/HST and payroll deductions from your cash, then divide cash by those monthly costs.
Which costs continue if sales stop?
Wages with the employer share of CPP and EI, payroll remittances, loan and credit line payments, and any rent or insurance.
Can I pay the CRA in instalments?
The CRA offers payment arrangements by pre-authorized debit through My Account, My Business Account or by contacting them. Interest continues until the debt is paid.
Is a line of credit enough as a safety net?
It buys time, but interest adds up. On $30,000 at an assumed 9%, paying $800 a month takes 45 months and costs $5,358.19 in interest.
How long should I keep business records?
Six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, with electronic systems included, unless the CRA gives permission to destroy them earlier.
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