5 min read · Updated Jun 11, 2026
The tax calendar for an incorporated Ontario trade
Every date the CRA expects something from your corporation — and the one most owners get backwards.
Your year doesn't end on December 31
A corporation picks its own fiscal year-end, and every corporate deadline counts forward from that date. An August 31 year-end means a February T2 — your tax season might be the middle of winter, not April.
Personal deadlines (your own T1, due April 30) still apply on top. Owner-managers live on both calendars at once.
The one everyone gets backwards
Your T2 return is due six months after year-end — but the tax money is due at three months for most small CCPCs (two for some corporations). The cheque leaves before the paperwork does.
Owners who anchor on the six-month filing date discover the interest clock started months earlier. Interest isn't a penalty you can apologize out of; it just accrues. Put the balance-due date in your calendar with more prominence than the filing date.
The recurring dates
Beyond the annual T2 cycle, a working trade with staff and an HST number carries a monthly rhythm:
- HST — one month after each filing period ends (monthly or quarterly filers); three months after year-end for annual corporate filers
- Payroll remittances — source deductions for each month are due the 15th of the next (regular remitters)
- T4 slips — to employees and the CRA by the last day of February
- T5018 slips — six months after year-end if you pay construction subs
- Corporate instalments — monthly or quarterly once your annual tax bill passes $3,000
Weekends and the next-business-day rule
A deadline that lands on a weekend or public holiday is met on the next business day. Useful margin, terrible planning strategy — build the habit of beating the date, and let the rule absorb surprises rather than schedule them.
Our deadline tool builds your next twelve months from your actual year-end and filing frequencies, and exports straight to your calendar with a week's warning on each date.
Want your own dates? The deadline tool builds your next twelve months from your year-end and filing setup.
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