T2 deadlines: six months to file, two or three to pay.
The T2 has two clocks, and they end months apart. Most late-payment interest we see comes from owners who knew the filing deadline and assumed the money was due the same day.
Updated August 2026 · Reviewed by the VertAcc accounting team · Ottawa, Canada
The filing clock
A T2 corporate income tax return is due six months after your corporation’s tax year-end. If the year ends on the last day of a month, the return is due the last day of the sixth month after; if it ends mid-month, it is due the same numbered day six months on.
| Year-end | T2 filing deadline | Balance due (CCPC, 3-month rule) |
|---|---|---|
| December 31 | June 30 | March 31 |
| March 31 | September 30 | June 30 |
| June 30 | December 31 | September 30 |
| September 23 | March 23 | December 23 |
If a deadline lands on a weekend or a CRA-recognized holiday, the return is on time if the CRA receives it the next business day.
The payment clock — the one that bites
Tax owing is generally due two months after year-end. Many Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) that claim the small business deduction and meet the CRA’s conditions get three months instead. Either way, the money is due months before the return itself — interest starts accruing on any unpaid balance from the balance-due day, even if your filing deadline is still comfortably ahead.
A December 31 year-end CCPC owes its tax by March 31 but can file until June 30. Treating June as the money deadline is the single most common — and most avoidable — source of corporate interest charges we clean up.
What late filing costs
The late-filing penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax plus 1% per full month late, to a maximum of 12 months — up to 17% on top of the balance, before interest. Repeat late filers can face doubled rates. The details, and the one move that always limits the damage, are in our guide to late-filing penalties.
What filing actually requires
A T2 is prepared from year-end financial statements, which are prepared from reconciled books. That chain is why “can you just file my T2” is rarely a one-step job: if the books are behind, the books come first. It is also why we run clients on a monthly close — a year-end from current books is a review, not a reconstruction. GST/HST returns follow their own calendar entirely; see the GST/HST guide for where that starts.
The short version of working with us
VertAcc is an Ottawa accounting firm that writes its own software. Bookkeeping, tax, payroll and year-end run on a fixed monthly fee — no hourly meter, calls never billable, and the accounting platform is included with setup done free. If your books are behind or a deadline on this page is already past, that is ordinary work for us, not a judgement.