Every deadline a Canadian small business has to hit

Most of the money Canadian small businesses lose to CRA is not lost to tax. It is lost to dates — a remittance received on the sixteenth, a return filed six months after a balance was due, a T4 batch that slipped past the end of February. Here is every deadline in one place, with the rule behind each one.

Every deadline, in one table

Sources: CRA, 2026 tax deadlines for Canadian businesses and self-employed individuals (page updated 2026-05-15); GST/HST reporting requirements and deadlines (2026-05-13); Payroll remitting due dates (2026-06-11).

The two dates people mix up

Your GST/HST period is assigned, but it can be changed

CRA assigns your reporting period from your annual taxable supplies: $1,500,000 or less gets annual filing, over that up to $6,000,000 gets quarterly, and above $6,000,000 gets monthly with no option to file less often. Annual and quarterly filers can elect to file more frequently, which sounds like more work and often is not — filing quarterly means the GST/HST you have collected leaves the bank account four times a year instead of accumulating into one payment nobody budgeted for.

Payroll: your due date depends on a number you may not have checked

Your remitter type is set by your average monthly withholding amount, and it changes as you grow. A business that crosses $25,000 moves from remitting once a month to twice a month, and the first time that happens the old date is simply wrong. The dollar thresholds are only half the test — quarterly remitting also requires a clean compliance history, and the lowest tier requires being a new employer, so nobody is quarterly just because the arithmetic says so.

Where the detail lives

• GST/HST filing deadlines

  Work out your reporting period, get your actual due date, and see how CRA calculates the late-filing penalty on what you owe.

  When your GST/HST return is actually due

• Payroll remittance due dates

  Identify your remitter type in about ten seconds, get the dates that follow from it, and see what three days late costs on a real remittance.

  When your payroll remittance is due, and what late costs

• The T2 filing and payment split

  Six months to file, two to pay, and the three conditions that all have to hold before a corporation gets three months instead of two.

  Your T2 filing deadline and your payment deadline are different dates

• What late actually costs

  Income tax, GST/HST, payroll and T4 penalties in one table, plus the prescribed interest rate that runs on top of all of them.

  Every CRA late penalty, in one table

• Hitting the dates every month

  A month-end routine built around your remitter type and your GST/HST period, so the deadlines get met by a process rather than by memory.

  The monthly bookkeeping checklist

• Getting year-end done early

  The package your accountant needs, assembled in weeks rather than months, so you know your balance owing before the payment deadline.

  What your accountant actually needs at year-end

If you have already missed some of these

Missed deadlines compound quietly — a late GST/HST return, then a demand to file, then a payroll remittance that slipped while you were dealing with the first two. The arithmetic on all of it is set out on every CRA late penalty in one table, and the practical route back is on what catch-up bookkeeping costs when you are behind. Nothing about being behind gets cheaper by waiting, because interest at the prescribed rate runs the whole time.

Questions people actually ask

When is my corporate tax return due?

Six months after your corporation's tax year-end. The balance of tax owing, though, is due two months after year-end, or three months if the corporation meets all of CRA's exception conditions. Those are two different dates and they are four months apart, so it is entirely possible to file on time and still owe interest. The full rule is on the page explaining why your T2 filing deadline and payment deadline are different dates.

When are T4 slips due in Canada?

The last day of February following the calendar year the slips cover. That is the deadline for both the slips going to your employees and the T4 information return going to CRA. T4A slips follow the same date. Filing late triggers a penalty with a minimum of $100, so if payroll year-end has a habit of sneaking up on you, work backwards from the last day of February when you plan January.

When is my GST/HST return due?

It depends on your reporting period. Monthly and quarterly filers file and pay one month after the reporting period ends. Most annual filers have three months after their fiscal year-end. The exception is an annual filer who is an individual with a December 31 year-end and business income, who pays by April 30 but does not have to file until June 15. Your period is assigned by CRA based on your annual taxable supplies, and you can elect to file more often than assigned.

When do self-employed Canadians have to file and pay?

The return is due June 15 if you or your spouse or common-law partner is self-employed, but any balance owing is due April 30. The payment deadline comes first, which is the reverse of what most people expect and the reason a lot of otherwise punctual filers end up paying interest. If you are required to make instalments, those fall on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15.

What happens if a deadline falls on a weekend?

For payroll remittances, CRA treats the payment as on time if it is received or processed at a Canadian financial institution on or before the next business day. Do not treat that as general licence across every deadline, though — the safer habit is to work to the date itself and build in a couple of days, particularly if you pay through a bank rather than directly to CRA, because what matters is when CRA is credited rather than when you clicked the button.

How do I know which payroll remitter type I am?

By your average monthly withholding amount, which is what you remitted in source deductions averaged over a prior period. Under $25,000 makes you a regular remitter, due on the 15th of the following month. Between $25,000 and $99,999.99 puts you on accelerated threshold 1, remitting twice a month, and $100,000 or more puts you on accelerated threshold 2, remitting four times a month. The quarterly tiers have extra conditions beyond the dollar amount, including a clean compliance history. The page on payroll remittance due dates walks through identifying yours.