Enter your fiscal year end and this works out the dates that follow from it: when the T2 return is due, when the tax itself has to be paid, and when the slips go in. For an individual, switch to the personal tab.
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The two dates people confuse
A corporation's return is due six months after its year end. The balance of tax is due two months after it — three for a Canadian-controlled private corporation that claimed the small business deduction and meets the income conditions. Interest runs from the payment date, which means a company that files perfectly on time can still have four months of interest on the bill.
The same shape appears on the personal side. If you or your spouse carried on a business, the return is due 15 June but the money is due 30 April.
A worked example
For a Canadian-controlled private corporation with a 31 December 2026 year end that claims the small business deduction:
- T2 corporate return filed: 30 June 2027 — Six months after the year end. Filing late attracts a penalty even when the tax is already paid.
- Balance of corporate tax paid: 31 March 2027 — Three months after the year end, which applies to Canadian-controlled private corporations that claimed the small business deduction and meet the income conditions. If yours does not, the date is two months — 28 February 2027. Interest runs from this date, not from the filing date.
- T4 and T5 slips filed: 28 February 2027 — The last day of February, for calendar year 2026. Slips follow the calendar year whatever your fiscal year end is, so this date does not move with your year end.
- GST/HST return: varies — Depends on your filing cycle rather than your year end: monthly and quarterly filers are generally due one month after the period, annual filers three months after their fiscal year end — and an annual filer with a 31 December year end has a different date again. Worth confirming against your own account.
And for an individual filing for the 2026 tax year, not self-employed:
- T1 personal return filed: 30 April 2027 — 30 April. If the date falls on a weekend or a holiday the CRA generally accepts the next business day.
- Balance owing paid: 30 April 2027 — 30 April, the same day as the return.
- RRSP contribution for this tax year: 1 March 2027 — Generally the first 60 days of the following year. The exact date shifts by a day or two depending on the calendar, so check before leaving it to the last week.
- Instalments, if you pay them: varies — Quarterly, in March, June, September and December, and only if the CRA has told you that you have to. Instalment interest is charged on what was due on each date, not on the year as a whole.
What this does not cover
Instalments, which depend on what you owed in previous years rather than on your year end. GST and HST, which run on their own cycle. Trust returns, which are generally due 90 days after the trust's year end — see trust returns. And anything specific to your own situation, which is what a conversation is for.
If a date here is already close
Tell us what is outstanding. Late is better than later, and a return filed before the CRA asks about it is a different conversation from one filed afterwards.
Related
- Corporate tax returns (T2)
- Personal tax returns (T1)
- Payroll, T4s and remittances
- HST and GST filing
These are the general rules and they do not take account of your own circumstances. Confirm anything that matters against your CRA account or with us before you rely on it.
