What a New Nova Scotia Corporation Must File
The First Return, and What Else Nova Scotia Wants
A new Nova Scotia corporation files one T2, which settles federal and provincial corporate income tax together. The registry filing is separate and is not a tax 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 Nova Scotia the tax added to it is the HST.
Overflow work moves to gondaliyacpa.ca at $350.00 plus applicable sales tax per year.
One Return, and the Registry Separately
Nova Scotia levies its corporate income tax through the federal return, so a first year with no activity means one nil T2 carrying Schedule 24, and nothing else to the Canada Revenue Agency for corporate income tax.
What is easy to miss is that the corporation also has to keep itself current with its registry, every year, from the first year onward.
A GST/HST Account Is a Separate Decision
Incorporating does not open a GST/HST account and does not require one. A corporation registers when it has to, and a dormant corporation with no sales generally has nothing to register for.
If an account is opened anyway it brings its own filing cycle with it, and returns fall due on that account whether or not there were any sales. That is a common way a dormant corporation ends up behind on filings it did not know it had.
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 Nova Scotia Corporation Owes
| Item | Position in Nova Scotia |
|---|---|
| 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 Nova Scotia 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 New Brunswick corporation
- A new Newfoundland and Labrador corporation
- A new Ontario 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