Annual corporate compliance checklist for Ontario corporations

Build the calendar around your year-end

An incorporated business answers to two governments and to its own record-keeping rules, and the dates all hang from the corporation’s fiscal year-end. Write that date at the top of a page, then list each duty beneath it: Ontario filings, CRA returns and payments, sales tax, payroll and the internal records. Repeat the page each year and update it when anything changes.

This checklist is about the annual rhythm. It does not replace our guide to T2 filing versus payment dates, which explains the tax deadlines in more depth, or the year-end accounting checklist, which covers what your accountant needs from you.

File the Ontario annual return

Ontario requires corporations to file an annual return through the Ontario Business Registry within six months of their fiscal year-end. You sign in with your Ontario.ca Login, and the registry lists the annual return as a common transaction. The province’s fee schedule shows no government fee for the filing itself.

The registry also expects the information on file to stay accurate. The province says you must report changes within 15 days, and it recommends keeping the official email address current because that is where ministry messages and a requested company key are sent. Changes to directors, officers or the registered address are the usual triggers, so tell whoever keeps your records when they happen, not at year-end. If you use an accountant or lawyer as an intermediary, you can give them your company key, but keep it private otherwise.

These steps are for an Ontario corporation. A corporation incorporated federally or in another province has its own filing regime, so confirm with your lawyer or accountant which one applies.

Keep the beneficial ownership record

Privately held Ontario business corporations must keep a record of individuals with significant control. That generally means anyone who owns, controls or directs at least 25 percent of the voting shares or of the fair market value of the shares, or who has direct or indirect influence without reaching 25 percent. Related people, such as a spouse or a child, can count together.

For each person, the register holds the name, date of birth and last known address, the jurisdiction where they are resident for tax purposes, the dates they became or stopped being a person with significant control, and a description of how they hold control. You also record the steps the corporation takes to keep the information current. Ontario says the information must be updated at least once a year and within 15 days of the corporation learning about a change. The register can be kept at the registered office and does not need to be filed with the registry, but you must give it to law enforcement, tax and certain regulatory authorities if asked.

Review it on the same day each year as the annual return, and log a new shareholder or share transfer within 15 days.

Track the CRA dates

A T2 return is due within six months of the tax year-end. The balance of tax is generally due two months after year-end, or three months for a Canadian-controlled private corporation claiming the small business deduction, if the conditions for that later balance-due day are met. Corporations that pay tax by instalments pay monthly or quarterly during the year, so instalments can fall well before the balance is due. A first-year corporation is generally exempt from most instalments, but confirm with your accountant before assuming that applies.

Here is an illustration with a June 30 year-end. The T2 and the Ontario annual return are both due by December 31. The tax balance is due August 31, or September 30 if the three-month rule applies. An annual GST/HST filer’s return and payment would be due September 30. Your own dates will differ, so use your own year-end and the dates shown in your CRA account.

GST/HST registrants file and pay one month after a monthly or quarterly period, and three months after the year-end for most annual filers. A registrant must file even when there is nothing to report. If you have employees, your remittance dates depend on your remitter type, and T4 and T4A returns are due by the last day of February. For 2026 slips, February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so the return is on time if it is received on Monday, March 1, 2027.

Keep the corporation’s records

The CRA lists specific records a corporation must keep: minutes of directors’ meetings, minutes of shareholders’ meetings, information on who owns the shares and any transfers, the general ledger or other books of final entry, and any special contracts needed to understand the ledger entries. Keep dividend and loan resolutions with them.

Generally, records and supporting documents are kept for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. Records on long-term property acquisitions and disposals, the share register and other historical information that could affect a sale or wind-up are kept indefinitely. They must be kept at your place of business or residence in Canada unless the CRA gives written permission otherwise, and records on a server outside Canada do not count as kept in Canada. Cloud accounting software is therefore a question to ask, not an assumption to make.

Hold a yearly review with your accountant

Once the filing dates are on the calendar, schedule one conversation each year, ideally before the fiscal year-end, so there is still time to act. Bring the list of officers, directors and shareholders and any changes, the beneficial ownership record, the loan and dividend resolutions, and the year’s bank and payroll reports.

Ask which filings have been completed, who is responsible for the next ones and what the CRA account currently shows owing. A missed annual return or a late T2 usually begins as a task nobody owned, so name an owner for each line of the calendar, and tell your accountant when ownership or the registered address changes.