Expenses Only Year Checker
A year with costs and no revenue is still a nil year. Three answers confirm it and name the schedules it triggers.
Written and reviewed by Sharad Gondaliya, CPA (Ontario), CPA Ontario Membership 61040184.
Last reviewed: November 3, 2026
Answer the three questions above.
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.
Money Going Out Is Not Activity
A corporation that paid a bank charge, an annual registry fee or an accounting bill, and took nothing in, had no activity in the sense the nil test uses. The return reports expenses against no revenue, which is a loss for the year rather than income, and it is still a nil return at $300.00 plus HST per tax year.
The asymmetry is the part worth stating plainly: what ends a nil year is something coming in, not something going out.
What Each Entry Does to the Year
| What the year held | Still nil? | What it does to the return |
|---|---|---|
| A bank charge or a filing fee | Yes | Makes GIFI Schedules 100, 125 and 141 required |
| An accounting or legal cost | Yes | Reported as an expense, with the loss carried forward |
| Interest credited on a balance | No | Investment income, so the year is not nil |
| Revenue of any kind | No | Ends the nil year whatever the costs were |
| A dividend paid or received | No | Not nil, and handled by gondaliyacpa.ca |
The nil GIFI balance sheet checker shows what Schedule 100 has to carry on a quiet year, and the dormant corporation test settles the nil question across every entry at once.
The Loss Is Only Real Once the Year Is Filed
A year of costs with no revenue produces a loss, and that loss is only established by the filed return for that year. Leaving the year unfiled leaves the loss unestablished, which is the quiet cost of skipping a year that felt too small to bother with.
Schedule 8 and the loss continuity schedule travel with the return and are inside the fee. The loss continuity on a nil return checker covers what happens to a loss while its year sits unfiled.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a year with expenses but no income still nil?
Yes, for this service. Costs going out do not make a year active. What ends a nil year is something coming in: revenue, interest credited on a balance, rent or a dividend either way.
Do the expenses make extra schedules necessary?
They make GIFI Schedules 100, 125 and 141 required, because something sat on the books during the year. Those schedules are inside $300.00 plus HST per tax year rather than charged separately.
What happens to the loss from a year like that?
It is established by the filed return for that year and carried on the loss continuity schedule. A year left unfiled leaves its loss unestablished, which is one reason to file a small year rather than skip it.
Nil T2 Filing, $300.00 plus HST per tax year
Type your corporation name, pick your unfiled years, pay, and sign Form T183CORP on a secure screen. Your CRA confirmation is emailed within 3 business days.
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