Business owners must be aware of important CRA deadlines such as the Corporate Tax due dates, the HST deadline, and the Payroll Remittance deadline. It is critical to remember all due dates or hire a business accountant to remind you, as the CRA may add costly interest and penalties to the amount owed if the payment deadline is missed.
To be subject to the corporate tax due dates, corporations must file their returns within six months of the end of their tax year. As a result, the deadline varies depending on the company’s fiscal year. The due date for filing a corporate tax return is the last day of the sixth month after fiscal tax year-end, provided that the fiscal year ends on a month day.
If your fiscal year ends on November 30, the deadline to file a corporate income tax return the following year is May 31. If your fiscal year ends on August 31, your tax return is due on February 28. You have until the 5th day of the 6th month after the end of fiscal year to file your return if the last day of your company’s fiscal year is in the middle of the month. For those whose fiscal year ends on May 13, the tax return deadline is November 13.
The tax filing deadline may fall on a weekend, holiday, or another day when businesses occasionally close. If this is the case, you still have until the first business day after the deadline to submit it to CRA.
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Date of corporate tax payment
The filing and payment deadlines for corporate tax returns are six months, but the payment deadline is much earlier. The remaining balance is usually due when you file your taxes two months after year-end.
If you paid your taxes in instalments, any unpaid balance (or your entire tax bill if it is less than $3,000) must be paid by this date. However, in some cases, businesses have until the end of the third month to pay their tax liabilities.
Balance-due day
The balance-due day is when you must pay any unpaid tax for the current year.
According to the Income Tax Act, corporation taxes are generally due two months after year-end.
However, if the following conditions are met, the tax payable is due three months after the tax year-end:
- For the duration of the fiscal year, the company qualifies as a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC).
- Businesses that filed itemised tax returns in the current or previous year and took advantage of the small business deduction
- The previous fiscal year’s taxable income was less than the legal business limit, assuming if the business is not associated with any other companies during the tax year)
- The sum of all affiliated corporations’ combined taxable incomes for the fiscal year ending the previous calendar year does not exceed that amount
When a business must file its tax return
Every year, at the close of the sixth month after the end of the year, is when tax returns must be submitted. An organisation’s tax year and fiscal year are the same.
A corporation’s tax return is due on the last day of the sixth month after year-end if its fiscal year ends on the last day of a particular calendar month.
If the last day of the tax year falls on a day other than the last day of the month, the corporate tax return must be filed by the sixth month of that particular day following the end of the tax year.
Conclusion
Unlike large corporations, small businesses can submit their tax returns on paper rather than electronically. To guarantee that the Canada Revenue Agency receives your tax return on time, you should submit it electronically rather than on paper.
The monetary recommendations follow the same advice. You must make CRA payments on time. For instance, the CRA will assess a late payment fee if you send a postdated check after the payment is due.
