Catch-up
The corporate tax due date has already passed. What is still due?
2026-10-17 · 6 min read · Tax Everyday, Vaughan
Two clocks start at the fiscal year-end. The tax balance is usually due two months after that date. Some Canadian-controlled private corporations that claimed the small business deduction in the year, and meet the prior-year taxable-income test, get three months. The T2 return itself is due six months after year-end. If both dates are behind you, the balance is late and the return is late. You still file. Late filing with tax unpaid is what draws the penalty: 5% of the unpaid tax plus 1% for each full month the return is late, up to 12 months, plus daily interest.
A year-end of 31 December 2024 made the balance due at the end of February 2025, or the end of March 2025 for a CCPC that qualified for the extra month. The T2 was due 30 June 2025. By November 2026 that return is more than 12 months late, so the monthly penalty has already hit its cap. Interest has not. Interest does not cap at 12 months.
Do not “wait for the next year-end” to clean it up
The next year-end creates another T2. It does not absorb the missing one. Corporations that skip a year and then file only the latest year leave a hole CRA can assess arbitrarily.
- Write the year-end first. Every due date is counted from it, not from 30 April.
- Separate balance-due from return-due. Paying in June does not make a February balance on time.
- A loss year can still be late. The penalty needs unpaid tax. The filing obligation does not.
- Instalments for the current year may already be late while you are looking backward. Ask.
- A demand to file on top of an older penalty moves you to the 10% plus 2% a month repeated-failure rate, capped at 20 months.
A late year is still the corporate package if it is ready
When the statements are done and the HST is reconcilable, Tax Everyday’s corporate package is $2,000 plus HST for that year. A year that is late is the same package. A year that has no books is not. We quote the catch-up when there are several year-ends or the statements have to be built.
Drop the year-end date and the last T2 assessment. Those two pages tell us how late you are. Book a time if you want the penalty estimated before you decide what to pay.
Short answers
We filed the HST. Does that file the T2?+
No. GST/HST returns and the T2 are different filings, often on different schedules. A perfect HST history can sit beside five missing T2s.
Can we change the year-end to make the old returns due later?+
A year-end change does not rewrite returns that are already late. Year-end changes are prospective and CRA has rules for them. They are not a cure for a missed T2.
Want this applied to your file?
These notes are general. A return is prepared only after we see your slips.