First T2 Year-End Options Generator
Enter the incorporation date and every month-end available as a first year-end appears, with the length of the year and the T2 date.
Written and reviewed by Sharad Gondaliya, CPA (Ontario), CPA Ontario Membership 61040184.
Last reviewed: October 29, 2026
Enter the incorporation date and the options appear here.
Gondaliya CPA Professional Corporation is a registered EFILE electronic filer. Returns are prepared and transmitted in Canada. Credentials are never shared and never used offshore.
The First Year-End Is a Choice, and It Is Made Once
A corporation picks its own fiscal year-end. Nothing assigns one, and there is no default to fall back on. The choice is made by the first return filed, and from then on the date is fixed on the record.
Changing it afterwards needs the written approval of the Canada Revenue Agency, which makes this the one decision in a corporation’s tax life that is easy now and awkward later. The year-end change impact calculator shows what changing it costs.
The 53-Week Limit Sets the Ceiling
A first tax year may not exceed 53 weeks, which is 371 days counting the day of incorporation. That is what bounds the table: every row in it is within the limit and there is no row beyond it, because a year-end past that point is not available.
The 53-week first tax year checker tests one proposed date against the limit. This page does the opposite and lists them all, which is the more useful order to see them in when the date has not been picked yet.
Why the Table Lists Month-Ends
A year-end does not have to be the last day of a month. Any date inside the limit is available, and a corporation incorporated on the 9th can keep the 9th if it wants to.
Nearly none do, for a reason worth knowing: the six-month filing rule lands on a month-end when the year-end is a month-end, and on an awkward mid-month date when it is not. A month-end year-end makes every date that follows from it easier to hold in your head.
A Later Year-End Is Not a Longer Reprieve
The last row in the table has the longest first year and the latest T2 date, which makes it look like the one that buys the most time. Over one year it does. Over the corporation’s life it buys nothing, because the year-end then recurs annually on that date.
What a later first year-end does buy is one fewer return. A first year ending after two months is a return for two months of nothing, and it is $300.00 plus HST per tax year like any other. Each tax year is its own return whatever its length.
| Where the first year-end falls | First tax year | Returns in the first two years | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|---|
| The earliest month-end available | A few weeks | Two | A return for a few weeks of nothing |
| A month-end around twelve months out | Close to a full year | One | The usual choice |
| The latest month-end inside 53 weeks | Up to 371 days | One | The latest first deadline, and that date every year after |
Frequently Asked Questions
How long can my first tax year be?
Up to 53 weeks, which is 371 days counting the day of incorporation. Every date the generator lists is inside that limit.
Does a year-end have to be the end of a month?
No. Any date within the 53-week limit is available. Month-ends are what nearly every corporation chooses, because the six-month filing rule then lands on a month-end too.
Can I change the year-end later?
Only with the written approval of the Canada Revenue Agency. The date is fixed by the first return filed, and a later return carrying a different date is rejected rather than treated as a change.
Is a short first year cheaper?
No. A short first year is a separate return at $300.00 plus HST per tax year, so choosing a very early first year-end means paying for a return covering a few weeks of nothing.
Which option should I pick?
That depends on facts a web page does not have. What the generator can tell you is which dates are available and what each one does to the filing deadline.
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