What a New New Brunswick Corporation Must File
The First Return, and What Else New Brunswick Wants
A new New Brunswick corporation files one T2 for its first tax year, settling federal and provincial corporate income tax together. A first year with nothing in it is still a year that needs a return.
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 New Brunswick the tax added to it is the HST.
Overflow work moves to gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus applicable sales tax per year.
A Dormant First Year Is Still a Filed Year
The most common reason a new corporation misses its first return is believing that no activity means nothing to file. It does not. The return reports nil figures and is filed on time like any other.
That first return is also the only one that carries Schedule 24, so it is the one that cannot simply be copied from the year before.
What Happens If the First Return Is Not Filed
An unfiled first year does not go quiet. It stays open, and the Canada Revenue Agency can issue a demand to file and, failing that, assess the corporation on figures of its own choosing.
An arbitrary assessment on a corporation that earned nothing is replaced by filing the real return, which is why a nil first year is worth filing promptly rather than eventually.
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 New Brunswick Corporation Owes
| Item | Position in New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| 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 New Brunswick 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 Newfoundland and Labrador corporation
- A new Ontario corporation
- A new Quebec 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