First T2 Return After Incorporation
What to File, and in What Order
Your first tax year cannot exceed 53 weeks, Schedule 24 is required on the first return, and the year-end must match the Canada Revenue Agency’s record.
Written and reviewed by Sharad Gondaliya, CPA (Ontario), CPA Ontario Membership 61040184.
Last reviewed: November 11, 2026
$300.00 plus applicable sales tax per tax year. A first return with no activity is a nil T2 and is filed here at the published fee.
Overflow work moves to gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus applicable sales tax per year.
What the First Return Has That Later Ones Do Not
Three things decide whether a first T2 is accepted, and all three are specific to the first return a corporation ever files. Every other year is simpler.
The three first-year rules. The first tax year cannot exceed 53 weeks and the year-end must match CRA’s record or the transmission is rejected. Schedule 24, the first-time filer schedule, is required on the first T2 a corporation ever files. The year-end you report is the one the Canada Revenue Agency holds on file, so a different date on the return is refused rather than corrected.
The Three Rules, Side by Side
| Rule | What it means | If it is wrong |
|---|---|---|
| The 53-week limit | The first tax year runs from incorporation to a year-end no more than 53 weeks later | The period is invalid and has to be split |
| Schedule 24 | The first-time filer schedule, carried on the first return only | The return is incomplete |
| The year-end match | The date on the return equals the date CRA holds | The transmission is rejected |
The Order It Happens In
- Fix the first year-end, which is a choice on the first return and fixed for every year after it.
- Confirm the year-end the Canada Revenue Agency holds, because the return is matched against it.
- Check the first tax year against the 53-week limit.
- Complete Schedule 24, which the first return always carries.
- Prepare the nil GIFI schedules for the year: Schedule 100, Schedule 125 and Schedule 141.
- Sign Form T183CORP for that tax year on a secure single-use screen.
- Transmit the return and keep the confirmation.
By Where You Incorporated
The federal return is the same everywhere. What differs is whether the province wants a corporate return of its own, which registry expects an annual filing, and which sales tax is added to the fee. Each page below works through one jurisdiction.
- A new Ontario corporation
- A new Quebec corporation
- A new British Columbia corporation
- A new Alberta corporation
- A new Manitoba corporation
- A new Saskatchewan corporation
- A new Nova Scotia corporation
- A new New Brunswick corporation
- A new Newfoundland and Labrador corporation
Where the Rest of the Answer Is
The first-year T2 filing guide covers the whole subject, the Schedule 24 checker confirms whether a return counts as a first return, and the 53-week checker tests the first year-end. A first year with no activity is a nil return, and that is decided year by year rather than once.
If the corporation does not exist yet, incorporation is a separate step on a separate site: opencorporationfor35.ca covers it, and this page picks up once the corporation is registered.
Filing here is $300.00 plus applicable sales tax per tax year. See the full nil T2 filing cost and what it covers.
Start Nil T2 Filing NOWCheck Schedule 24
Your return is prepared and transmitted in Canada. Our credentials are never shared and no part of your file is sent offshore. Nil T2 filing price