An incorporated IT contractor’s compliance calendar doesn’t run on a single deadline. It runs on several overlapping ones, each tied to a different date: the corporation’s fiscal year-end, the calendar year, and in some cases a payroll remittance cycle that resets every month. Missing one doesn’t usually cause a large problem on its own, but the deadlines interact, and a corporation that loses track of one filing tends to lose track of the ones that depend on it. This guide lays out what’s due, when, and what each deadline depends on.
The Corporate Filings: T2, Balance Due, and Instalments
The T2 Corporation Income Tax Return is due no later than six months after the corporation’s fiscal year-end, regardless of whether the corporation owes tax. A corporation with a December 31 year-end files by June 30; a corporation with a June 30 year-end files by December 31. The six-month filing deadline does not move based on whether the corporation owes money.
The balance-due date is a separate deadline from the filing deadline, and it’s shorter. Most corporations must pay any balance owing two months after the fiscal year-end. Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) that claimed the small business deduction in the current or preceding tax year, and that meet the taxable income and taxable capital thresholds on the balance-due day page, get an extra month: three months after year-end instead of two. That extension applies only to payment. The six-month filing deadline for the return itself does not change.
Corporations with prior-year tax owing above the CRA’s instalment threshold have to pay monthly or quarterly instalments throughout the following fiscal year, estimated against either the current year’s expected liability or the prior year’s actual tax. Instalments are the most commonly missed piece of the corporate calendar, because they’re due monthly regardless of whether a return has been filed, and they don’t generate a reminder the way a filing deadline does.
The Personal Return: T1 and the Self-Employment Deadline
The shareholder’s personal T1 has its own calendar, separate from the corporation’s fiscal year. If the shareholder or their spouse carried on a business (including through a corporation where self-employment income is reported) at any point in the year, the filing deadline extends to June 15. The balance-due date does not move with it: any personal tax owing is still due April 30, even though the return itself isn’t due until June 15. Paying by April 30 and filing by June 15 are two different obligations, and treating June 15 as the date everything is due is a common and avoidable error.
GST/HST and QST: Filing Frequency Sets the Calendar
GST/HST filing deadlines depend on the assigned reporting period, not the corporation’s fiscal year-end.
- Monthly filers: return and payment due one month after the end of each reporting month.
- Quarterly filers: return and payment due one month after the end of each three-month period.
- Annual filers: return and payment generally due three months after the fiscal year-end, with one exception. Annual filers with a December 31 fiscal year-end and business income have a filing deadline of June 15, but the payment deadline stays at April 30, mirroring the same file-later/pay-earlier pattern as the personal T1.
Most registrants are required to file GST/HST returns electronically for reporting periods ending in 2024 and later; paper filing when not exempt can trigger a penalty. Quebec-incorporated contractors or those with a Quebec establishment file QST on the same reporting-period logic through Revenu Québec, as a separate return from the federal GST/HST filing. The GST/HST and QST ITC/ITR documentation guide covers what supporting evidence each return needs.
Payroll Remittances: The Deadline That Resets Monthly
A corporation running payroll for its owner-manager has a remittance obligation that operates on its own schedule, driven by the average monthly withholding amount (AMWA) from two calendar years prior:
- Regular remitters (AMWA under $25,000): remittance due the 15th day of the month following the month wages were paid.
- Threshold 1 accelerated remitters (AMWA $25,000-$99,999.99): remittance due the 25th of the same month for wages paid before the 16th, or the 10th of the following month for wages paid after the 15th.
- Quarterly remitters (new small employers with monthly withholding under $1,000 and a clean compliance history): remittance due quarterly instead of monthly.
Most single-shareholder IT contractor corporations fall into the regular remitter category, but the remittance frequency is assigned by CRA based on withholding history, not chosen by the corporation, and it can change year to year as the corporation’s payroll grows.
Year-End Slips: T4 and T5
Both the T4 information return (employment income, including a shareholder-employee’s salary) and the T5 information return (dividends, including shareholder dividends) are due by the last day of February following the calendar year the slips cover, not the corporation’s fiscal year. If the last day of February falls on a weekend, the deadline moves to the next business day. Recipients need their copy by the same date. A corporation with a non-calendar fiscal year-end still has one T4/T5 deadline: the last day of February, covering all salary and dividends paid in the prior calendar year regardless of when the fiscal year closed. The dividend declarations and T5 slips guide covers the resolution and slip-preparation mechanics in more detail.
The Annual Corporate Return: A Different “Annual” Than the Tax Return
The corporate annual return filed with the corporate registry (Corporations Canada for a federally incorporated business, or the applicable provincial registry) is not a tax filing and is easy to confuse with the T2. It’s due within 60 days of the corporation’s anniversary date, the date of incorporation, amalgamation, or continuance, not the fiscal year-end and not a calendar date. Filing before the anniversary date isn’t accepted. Missing this deadline doesn’t generate a tax bill, but it does put the corporation’s registry status into an overdue state, which can block a Certificate of Compliance if one is needed for a bank, lender, or client due-diligence request.
Putting the Calendar Together
The deadlines that actually govern an incorporated IT contractor’s year run on four separate clocks:
| Filing | Deadline | Anchor |
|---|---|---|
| T2 return | 6 months after fiscal year-end | Fiscal year-end |
| Corporate balance due | 2 months (3 for eligible CCPCs) after fiscal year-end | Fiscal year-end |
| Corporate instalments | Monthly or quarterly through the year | Prior-year tax owing |
| T1 return (self-employed) | June 15 | Calendar year |
| T1 balance due | April 30 | Calendar year |
| GST/HST and QST | Monthly, quarterly, or annual per assigned frequency | Reporting period |
| Payroll remittances | 15th, 25th, or 10th depending on remitter type | Calendar month |
| T4 and T5 slips | Last day of February | Calendar year |
| Corporate annual return | Within 60 days of anniversary date | Incorporation anniversary |
None of these deadlines move to accommodate another one. A corporation that changes its fiscal year-end, for example, changes the T2 and balance-due dates but not the T4/T5, GST/HST reporting period, or annual-return anniversary date. Keeping all four clocks on a single calendar, rather than tracking the corporate fiscal year-end as if it were the only date that mattered, is what keeps a growing contractor corporation from missing the ones that don’t reset with it.