CORPORATE TAX · PLAN YOUR YEAR-END
Corporate tax deadlines: filing your T2 and paying the balance
Your T2 filing date and corporate tax payment date can differ. Understand the general CRA timelines and organize your year-end preparation.
Your corporation’s T2 filing date and its tax payment date are different checkpoints. Treating them as one deadline can leave too little time to prepare the books, estimate the balance and review the return. Start by confirming the corporation’s fiscal year-end.
The T2 filing deadline
The general deadline is six months after the end of the corporation’s tax year. For a month-end year-end, the filing date is the last day of the sixth following month. For example, the CRA gives March 31 and September 30 as a year-end and filing-date pair. When the year-end is not a month-end, its general rule uses the corresponding day six months later.
The CRA also explains how weekends and recognized public holidays affect a filing due date. Check its corporation filing-deadline guidance for your date.
The tax balance may be due earlier
Corporate tax balances are generally due two months after year-end. Certain Canadian-controlled private corporations qualify for a three-month balance-due date for specified taxes when the CRA’s conditions are met. Those conditions include small business deduction and prior-year income tests; the longer period does not apply automatically to every small corporation.
Confirm the corporation’s actual balance-due date using the CRA balance-due rules and advice based on your circumstances.
Keep each obligation on your calendar
| Item | What to establish |
|---|---|
| Corporate income tax balance | The applicable payment date and amount, which may precede filing. |
| T2 return | The filing date based on the corporation’s tax year. |
| Corporate income tax instalments | Whether instalments are required during the year and when they fall due. |
| Other business accounts | Any separate GST/HST, payroll or provincial obligations in your engagement. |
The CRA explains that corporate income tax can involve instalments during the year followed by a year-end balance. Review its corporate payment overview rather than assuming one annual payment covers the account.
A practical preparation sequence
- Confirm the dates. Have the fiscal year-end, prior return and any CRA notices ready for the first conversation.
- Assess the records. Tell your preparer whether the books are reconciled and whether any source documents are missing.
- Agree on the work. Establish who is completing bookkeeping, tax preparation and any other filings, with a fee for each agreed service.
- Leave review time. Plan for follow-up questions and your authorization before filing.
- Keep the final records together. Retain the completed return, relevant confirmations and payment records with the corporation’s year-end file.
What if the deadline is close or has passed?
Contact us with the tax year, the filing status and any CRA notice. Do not wait to assemble a perfect folder before asking about the next step. We will discuss the information needed, whether we can take on the work and the scope of a quote. An introductory call does not itself extend a deadline or complete a filing.
Use our corporate tax document checklist to get organized, then see corporate T2 filing in London, Ontario and online across Canada for how to work with our team.
General information, based on the official CRA sources linked above. Requirements can change, and your corporation or personal circumstances determine the advice and filings you need.
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The intro call covers your needs, documents, process and fee estimate. Detailed advice and preparation are quoted separately.