What a New Ontario Corporation Must File
The First Return, and What Else Ontario Wants
A new Ontario corporation files one T2 that settles federal and Ontario corporate income tax together. What it also owes, and what most new directors miss, is a separate annual return to the Ontario Business Registry.
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 year with no activity is a nil T2 and is filed here at the published fee. In Ontario the tax added to it is the HST.
Overflow work moves to gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus applicable sales tax per year.
The Annual Return Left the T2 in 2021
Until October 2021 the Ontario annual return travelled with the T2 as Schedule 546, so filing the tax return dealt with both. It does not any more. The annual return now goes to the Ontario Business Registry on its own, and nothing about filing the T2 tells the registry the corporation still exists.
That is the single most common gap on a young Ontario corporation: the tax returns are filed and the registry filings are years behind. They are caught up separately.
Federal or Ontario Incorporation Changes the Count
A corporation operating in Ontario may be incorporated federally or under Ontario law, and that choice decides how many annual filings it owes. A federal corporation answers to Corporations Canada as well, which charges $12.00 a year for its own annual return.
So a federally incorporated corporation with an Ontario head office has two registry filings a year on top of the T2, and an Ontario corporation has one. Neither is in this fee.
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.
What a New Ontario Corporation Owes
| Item | Position in Ontario |
|---|---|
| Federal corporate return | One T2 for the first tax year |
| Provincial corporate return | None. The federal T2 settles both sides |
| Schedule 24 on that first return | Required |
| First tax year limit | No more than 53 weeks |
| Registry annual filing | Owed yearly, and not a tax return |
| Sales tax added to the fee | The HST |
| Fee per tax year | $300.00 plus applicable sales tax |
No tax rate is quoted here. Sales tax rates change, and the figure that matters when deciding whether to file is the fee. The whole amount with tax is on the screen before you pay.
The Order It Happens In
- Confirm whether Ontario wants a corporate return of its own, because that decides how many returns the first year needs.
- 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.
Other Jurisdictions
- What every first T2 return needs
- A new Quebec corporation
- A new British Columbia corporation
- A new Alberta 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. Which jurisdictions want a corporate return of their own is answered by the provincial return requirement checker.
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