What a New Alberta Corporation Must File
The First Return, and What Else Alberta Wants
Alberta is the only province with no provincial sales tax, so the tax on this fee is the GST alone. It is also one of only two provinces that collects corporate income tax on its own 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 Alberta the tax added to it is the GST.
Overflow work moves to gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus applicable sales tax per year.
No Sales Tax, and Still a Second Return
Alberta collects corporate income tax on the AT1, a separate return rather than a schedule of the federal T2. A new Alberta corporation therefore has two corporate returns for its first year even if nothing happened in it.
Having no provincial sales tax is the part people know. Having a second corporate return is the part that catches them out.
The AT1 Has Its Own Deadline
The AT1 is not filed with the T2 and does not inherit its dates. It is a separate return with its own filing requirement, and a year with no activity does not remove it.
That matters in the first year specifically, because a new director who files the federal return and stops will often not hear anything until the province asks.
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 Alberta Corporation Owes
| Item | Position in Alberta |
|---|---|
| Federal corporate return | One T2 for the first tax year |
| Provincial corporate return | A separate AT1 return with Alberta |
| 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 GST |
| 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 Alberta 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 Manitoba corporation
- A new Saskatchewan corporation
- A new Nova Scotia 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