Missing a CRA deadline is not just a late fee. It's penalties that compound, interest that starts the next day, and in some cases a flag on your account that makes future reviews more likely. The deadlines are not complicated — there aren't that many of them — but they're scattered across different filings, different schedules, and different CRA accounts.

This is all of them in one place.

Important: CRA deadlines can shift for weekends and statutory holidays. Always confirm current dates at canada.ca or in My Business Account before relying on a specific date. This calendar reflects standard deadlines for the 2026 tax year.

Personal Tax (T1) — For Sole Proprietors and Self-Employed

April 30, 2026 — Balance owing due Any personal income tax you owe for 2025 is due April 30, 2026. Interest on unpaid balances starts May 1.

June 15, 2026 — Filing deadline for self-employed individuals If you or your spouse carried on a business in 2025, your T1 return is due June 15, 2026 — not April 30. But your balance owing is still due April 30. Filing late does not extend the payment deadline. Miss April 30 on the payment and interest starts accumulating, even if you haven't filed yet.

What this means practically: Estimate what you owe by late April and pay it, even if you haven't finished your return. Pay the balance, file the return by June 15.

Corporate Tax (T2) — For Incorporated Businesses

Filing deadline: 6 months after fiscal year-end A December 31, 2025 year-end means your T2 is due June 30, 2026. A March 31, 2026 year-end means it's due September 30, 2026. The deadline follows your fiscal year, not the calendar year.

Balance owing:

• 2 months after fiscal year-end for most corporations
• 3 months after fiscal year-end for Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) that meet certain conditions — confirm with your accountant whether your corporation qualifies

A December 31, 2025 year-end typically means the balance is due February 28 (2 months) or March 31 (3 months for eligible CCPCs). The filing deadline is separate from the payment deadline.

Corporate instalments: If your corporation's prior-year tax owing exceeded certain thresholds, the CRA requires monthly instalment payments. These are due on the last day of each month. Your accountant will confirm whether instalments apply and calculate the amounts.

GST/HST Filing Deadlines

Your filing frequency — monthly, quarterly, or annual — was assigned by the CRA when you registered and is reflected in your QBO or bookkeeping software. These are the standard deadlines:

Monthly filers: Return and full payment due by the last day of the month following the period.

• January 2026 → due February 28
• February 2026 → due March 31
• And so on through the year

Quarterly filers: Return and payment due one month after the end of each quarter.

• Q1 (Jan–Mar 2026) → due April 30
• Q2 (Apr–Jun 2026) → due July 31
• Q3 (Jul–Sep 2026) → due October 31
• Q4 (Oct–Dec 2026) → due January 31, 2027

Annual filers (December 31 year-end): Return due June 15, 2026. Payment due April 30, 2026. Annual filers — same as self-employed T1 filers — have a split: the payment is due before the return.

GST/HST instalments: If you're an annual filer and your net tax owing in the prior year exceeded $3,000, the CRA may require quarterly instalment payments. Confirm with your accountant.

Payroll Deadlines

Source deduction remittances — regular remitters: Due by the 15th of the month following the pay period.

• January payroll → February 15
• February payroll → March 15
• And so on

Accelerated remitters (larger payroll accounts) have more frequent deadlines — the CRA will have notified you of your remitter type when your payroll account was set up, or you can confirm in My Business Account.

February 28, 2026 — T4 slips and T4 Summary T4 slips must be distributed to employees and filed with the CRA by February 28. This applies regardless of when in the year you ran payroll or whether any employees are still with you.

February 28, 2026 — T4A slips If you paid subcontractors $500 or more in 2025, T4A slips are due by the same date. This is one of the most commonly missed payroll-adjacent obligations — subcontractors are not employees, but the filing requirement still exists.

The Corporate Annual Return — Not a CRA Filing

If you are incorporated, there is a filing that has nothing to do with the CRA that gets missed constantly.

The Annual Return (also called an Annual Report in some jurisdictions) is filed with your corporate registry — BC Registry, Ontario Business Registry, Corporations Canada for federal corporations, or your province's equivalent.

This is entirely separate from your T2.

Filing your T2 does not satisfy this requirement. The CRA does not send you reminders for it. Your corporate registry does — usually by email, and easy to miss if that email goes to a spam folder or an address you no longer use.

Missing it for multiple years can result in your corporation being administratively dissolved. That is not just a late fee — it's a real problem to reverse.

Due dates vary by jurisdiction and by your incorporation anniversary date. Add it to your calendar the day you incorporate and check your corporate registry's website for your specific deadline.

Penalties for Missing CRA Deadlines

Late filing: 5% of the balance owing on the due date, plus 1% for each complete month the return is late (up to 12 months).

Repeat late filers: If you have been assessed a late-filing penalty in any of the three preceding years, these amounts double — 10% of the balance owing, plus 2% per month.

Interest: Compounds daily on unpaid balances at the CRA prescribed rate, which changes quarterly. Interest starts the day after the payment was due.

Gross negligence penalty: 50% of the understated tax, if the CRA determines a filing was intentionally misleading or grossly negligent.

Penalties and interest are separate. You can owe both on the same amount.

The Reminders You Actually Need

The CRA delivers notices through My Business Account — not by mail, in most cases. If you're not registered or not checking it, you can miss a review request or an assessment notice with a response deadline attached.

Set these reminders in your calendar now:

• February 15 — January payroll remittance
• February 28 — T4s and T4As
• April 30 — Personal tax balance owing (sole proprietors)
• April 30 — Q1 GST/HST quarterly filers
• June 15 — Self-employed T1 filing
• 2 months after fiscal year-end — Corporate tax balance owing
• 6 months after fiscal year-end — T2 filing
• Your corporate Annual Return due date
• Your GST/HST filing dates based on your assigned frequency

If you use QBO, set filing reminders directly in the tax module so they appear alongside your actual filing. Taxes > GST/HST > Manage Sales Tax > Edit agency settings.

FAQ

When is the T4 deadline in Canada? February 28. T4 slips must be distributed to employees and filed with the CRA by that date for the prior calendar year.

When is GST/HST due for quarterly filers in Canada? One month after the end of each quarter: April 30 (Q1), July 31 (Q2), October 31 (Q3), and January 31 (Q4).

Can I get an extension on my T2 corporate return? The CRA does not routinely grant extensions. The filing deadline is 6 months after your fiscal year-end. If you need more time, file what you have or talk to your accountant — the penalties for missing the filing deadline are based on the balance owing, so if you've already paid your balance, the penalty exposure is lower.

What happens if I miss the T4 deadline? The CRA can assess a penalty of $25 per day per slip, to a maximum of $2,500 per type of information return. File as soon as possible — the penalty increases the longer you wait.

What's the difference between the CRA payment deadline and the filing deadline? They're often different. For annual GST/HST filers with a December 31 year-end, payment is due April 30 but the return isn't due until June 15. For corporations, the balance is due 2–3 months after year-end but the T2 isn't due until 6 months. Pay on time even if you haven't filed.

CRA deadlines change annually based on weekends and statutory holidays. Always confirm at canada.ca before relying on a specific date.

Ask Margot for help getting your books and filings organized — the AI bookkeeping assistant built for Canadian small businesses.