The Complete Guide to Schedule 50 and Shareholder Reporting
What Schedule 50 reports, the 10% threshold, what goes in each row, and why a nil return still files it in full. Nil T2 filing is $300.00 plus HST per tax year.
Written and reviewed by Sharad Gondaliya, CPA (Ontario), CPA Ontario Membership 61040184.
Last reviewed: October 27, 2026 · All nil T2 filing guides
On this page
- What Schedule 50 Reports
- The 10% Threshold
- What Goes in Each Row
- Schedule 50 on a Nil Return
- Corporate and Trust Shareholders
- Shareholder Changes During the Year
- The Errors That Get Returns Rejected
- Related and Associated Corporations
- Shareholder Loans Are Reported Elsewhere
- Dividends Take the Year Out of Nil
- Who Can See Schedule 50
- What the Fee Covers
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.
What Schedule 50 Reports
Schedule 50 is the shareholder information schedule. It lists the people and entities holding a significant stake in the corporation, and it is filed with the T2.
It reports ownership, not money. No income, no dividend and no valuation appears on it.
It is the schedule that tells the Agency who stands behind the corporation. That is why it survives on a return where every financial figure is $0.00.
The 10% Threshold
A shareholder is reported where they hold 10% or more of any class of shares. Below 10% of every class, they are not reported.
| Holding | Reported on Schedule 50 |
|---|---|
| Sole shareholder, 100% | Yes |
| Two shareholders at 50% each | Both |
| Four shareholders at 25% each | All four |
| A shareholder at 10% exactly | Yes, the threshold is inclusive |
| A shareholder at 9% | No |
| 9% of common but 40% of preferred | Yes, on the strength of the preferred class |
The last two rows are the ones to read together. The test runs class by class, so a holding that is small in one class and large in another is reported.
What Goes in Each Row
Each reported shareholder takes a row carrying their identifying details and the holding itself.
| Field | For an individual | For a corporation |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Full legal name | Full legal name |
| Identifier | Social insurance number | Business number |
| Share class held | The class | The class |
| Percentage held | Of that class | Of that class |
An identifier that does not match the Agency’s record is a frequent cause of a rejected transmission, and it is worth checking before the return is sent rather than after.
Schedule 50 on a Nil Return
It is filed in full. A corporation with no activity still has shareholders, and who they are has not changed because the corporation did nothing.
This is what people mean when they find a nil return is not an empty return. The income statement is zeroes, and Schedule 50 carries real names and real percentages.
The other schedules a nil return carries are in the guide to T2 schedules on a nil return.
Nil T2 Filing, $300.00 plus HST per tax year
One price for every year and every province. CPA reviewed and transmitted electronically.
Corporate and Trust Shareholders
A shareholder does not have to be a person. Where a corporation holds 10% or more, it is reported with its business number rather than a social insurance number.
A holding structure is therefore visible on the schedule: the operating corporation reports its parent, and the parent reports its own shareholders.
A holding corporation receiving a dividend from the corporation below it does not have a nil year. A holding corporation with investment income, a rental corporation and a corporation that paid or received a dividend are not nil. Those are handled by Gondaliya CPA Professional Corporation at gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus HST per year.
See the guide to inactive holding company filing.
Shareholder Changes During the Year
The schedule reflects the holdings as the return reports them for the tax year. A transfer during the year is reflected in what the schedule shows, and the minute book is what evidences it.
A transfer of shares is not by itself income to the corporation, so it does not take a quiet year out of nil. What a transfer changes is the schedule, not the income statement.
Where shares were sold by a shareholder, that is the shareholder’s personal matter rather than the corporation’s.
The Errors That Get Returns Rejected
Schedule 50 produces a disproportionate share of rejections, because it is the schedule carrying identifiers the Agency can check against its own records.
| Error | Result |
|---|---|
| A social insurance number that does not match the name | Rejected transmission |
| A business number for a corporate shareholder that is wrong | Rejected transmission |
| Percentages for a class totalling more than 100 | Validation failure |
| A 10% shareholder omitted | An incomplete return |
| Reporting by overall ownership instead of class by class | Shareholders wrongly included or left out |
The last row is the conceptual error rather than a typing one, and it is the one that survives a careful proofread.
Shareholder Loans Are Reported Elsewhere
A balance owed to or by a shareholder is a balance sheet item. It appears on Schedule 100 through the GIFI, not on Schedule 50.
A shareholder loan does not by itself produce income or expense, so a dormant corporation carrying one on its balance sheet can still have a nil year.
| Item | Reported on |
|---|---|
| Who the shareholders are | Schedule 50 |
| A balance owed to a shareholder | Schedule 100, the balance sheet |
| Share capital issued | Schedule 100, the balance sheet |
| A dividend paid to a shareholder | The return, and it ends the nil year |
See the guide to GIFI Schedules 100, 125 and 141.
Dividends Take the Year Out of Nil
A dividend paid or received is activity. The corporation that pays one does not have a nil year, and neither does the corporation that receives one.
Schedule 50 still reports the shareholders in such a year, but the return is no longer a nil return and is not the service this page describes.
The handover is described at when your corporation starts operating.
Who Can See Schedule 50
Schedule 50 is filed with the Agency and is subject to the confidentiality rules that cover a corporation’s tax information. It is not a public register and it is not published.
The public record of ownership, where one exists, is the registry’s, not the Agency’s, and the two hold different information.
Returns here are prepared and transmitted in Canada by a registered EFILE electronic filer. Credentials are never shared and never used offshore.
What the Fee Covers
The fee is $300.00 plus HST per tax year, covering one nil T2 return for one corporation for one tax year:
| Included | Detail |
|---|---|
| The T2 return | Including the T2 Short where the corporation qualifies |
| GIFI Schedules 100, 125 and 141 | Where they are required |
| Schedule 24 | On a first return |
| Schedule 50 | For every shareholder at 10% or more |
| Schedule 8 and loss continuity | Recorded |
| Form T183CORP package | With single-use secure e-signing |
| CPA review | Before transmission |
| Electronic transmission | By a registered EFILE electronic filer |
| One corrected transmission | If the Agency rejects the first one |
| CRA confirmation | Emailed within 3 business days |
See the full nil T2 filing cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who Has to Be Reported on Schedule 50?
Any shareholder holding 10% or more of any class of shares. The threshold is inclusive, so a holding of exactly 10% is reported.
Is the 10% Test on Overall Ownership or Per Class?
Per class. A shareholder holding 9% of the common shares but 40% of the preferred shares is reported on the strength of the preferred class.
Does a Nil Return Still File Schedule 50?
Yes, in full. A corporation with no activity still has shareholders, and who they are has not changed because the corporation did nothing.
What if the Shareholder Is Another Corporation?
It is reported with its business number rather than a social insurance number. A holding structure is therefore visible across the two returns.
Does a Shareholder Loan Go on Schedule 50?
No. A balance owed to or by a shareholder is a balance sheet item reported on Schedule 100 through the GIFI. Schedule 50 reports who the shareholders are.
Is Schedule 50 Public?
No. It is filed with the Canada Revenue Agency and covered by the confidentiality rules for a corporation’s tax information. A registry’s public ownership record, where one exists, is separate and holds different information.
Questions Answered in Full
- Do I Need Financial Statements for a Nil T2 Return?
- Do I Need to File a T2 if My Corporation Had No Activity?
- Do I Need a Business Number to File a Nil T2?
- Can I File a Nil T2 Myself Without an Accountant?
- How Do I Know if My Corporation Counts as Dormant?
- Do I Need to File a Nil T2 if My Corporation Has No Bank Account?
The Other Nil T2 Filing Guides
- The Complete Guide to Non-Resident-Owned Corporation Nil Filing
- The Complete Guide to the Nil T2 Return
- The Complete Guide to Dormant and Inactive Corporations
- The Complete Guide to Catching Up on Unfiled Corporate Tax Returns
- The Complete Guide to the Final T2 and Dissolution
- The Complete Guide to T2 Short Eligibility
- The Complete Guide to Provincial and Federal Annual Returns
- The Complete Guide to Form T183CORP Signing and Transmission
- How to File a Nil T2 Return
- The Complete Guide to GIFI Schedules 100, 125 and 141
- The Complete Guide to Schedule 8 and Loss Continuity
- The Complete Guide to First-Year T2 Filing
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.