File your corporation's annual return on time

What is an annual return for a corporation, and how to file it in Canada?

An annual returnannual returnMandatory yearly filing with the registry, separate from the tax return. Missing it can lead to dissolution.See definition → is a short filing that confirms the information the public registry holds about your corporation: its registered office address, its directors and, depending on the jurisdiction, its officers, its activity or its significant shareholders. It is not a tax return. The corporate income tax return goes to the Canada Revenue Agency (and, in Quebec, to Revenu Québec); the annual return goes to the corporate registry.

Even when nothing has changed, the return still has to be filed. It is how the registry knows the corporation is active, and it keeps the corporation in good standing, a status that banks, landlords and buyers often check before doing business with you.

What the return contains

The content is short, but it has to match the minute book. A typical annual return asks for:

• the corporation's name, number and anniversary or year-end date;
• the registered office address and, in some jurisdictions, a mailing or records office address;
• the current directors, with their addresses, and sometimes the officers;
• in Quebec, the main activities, the number of employees in Quebec, the largest shareholders and the ultimate beneficiaries;
• federally, the significant control information: Annually with the annual return; within 15 days of a change; on incorporation (30 days after amalgamation/continuance)source.

If the return shows a director or address that the corporation never reported, the registry records it as of the filing date, which can leave a gap in the public history. That is why changes are best reported when they happen, through a notice of change, and the annual return then simply confirms them.

Who must file an annual return

• Every active corporation files with its home jurisdiction, from the year after incorporation, whether or not it had revenue.
• Corporations registered elsewhere as extra-provincial corporations often have their own annual filing in each province where they are registered; in Quebec, for example, the annual fee for an extra-provincial corporation is $106 per yearsource.
• Inactive or dormant corporations still file until they are formally dissolved. Stopping is not the same as closing.

The filing is made by the corporation, usually by a director or officer, or by a service authorized to act for it.

Due dates by jurisdiction (sourced)

Most jurisdictions tie the deadline to the anniversary of incorporation. Ontario and Quebec tie it to the corporation's tax filings instead.

• Federal (CBCA): Within 60 days after the anniversary datesource.
• Quebec: From the day after fiscal year-end until six months later (filed with the CO-17 return)source. When it is filed separately: May 15 to November 15source.
• Ontario: Within the filing deadline of the corporation's tax return for its last completed taxation yearsource.
• British Columbia: Within 2 months after each anniversary of incorporationsource.
• Alberta: By the last day of the month following the anniversary monthsource.
• Saskatchewan: Last day of the month following the anniversary monthsource.
• Manitoba: By the end of the month following the incorporation (anniversary) monthsource.
• New Brunswick: Within 30 days after the anniversary datesource.
• Nova Scotia: Due in the anniversary month of incorporationsource.
• Prince Edward Island: Annuallysource.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: Before the end of the anniversary monthsource.
• Yukon: By the last day of the month after the incorporation anniversarysource.
• Northwest Territories: By the end of the month following the incorporation/amalgamation anniversarysource.
• Nunavut: By the end of the month following the incorporation/amalgamation anniversarysource.

Ontario and Quebec: two different systems

In Ontario, the annual return is filed through the Ontario Business Registry, using the corporation's company key. It is free, and the deadline follows the corporate tax return: Within the filing deadline of the corporation's tax return for its last completed taxation yearsource. Many accountants file both at the same time.

In Quebec, the equivalent is the annual updating declaration (déclaration de mise à jour annuelle), filed with the Registraire des entreprises. A Quebec corporation usually files it with its provincial income tax return: From the day after fiscal year-end until six months later (filed with the CO-17 return)source. A corporation from another jurisdiction registered in Quebec also files one each year and pays the annual registration fee.

Government fees (sourced)

• Federal: $12 onlinesource; by other means, $40 other than onlinesource.
• Quebec: $106 per year (filed on time)source.
• Ontario: $0source.
• British Columbia: $43.39source.
• Alberta: $53.05 government feesource.
• Saskatchewan: $60source.
• Manitoba: $65source.
• New Brunswick: $60 e-filed; $80 papersource.
• Nova Scotia: $118.35 annual renewalsource.
• Prince Edward Island: $30 (regulation schedule, consolidated to 2022-06-04)source.
• Newfoundland and Labrador: $90 onlinesource.
• Yukon: $100source.
• Northwest Territories: $150 per yearsource.
• Nunavut: $70source.

These are the registry's fees only. When Incorpo files for you, the government fee is passed on at cost and shown on its own line; our service fee is listed on the Pricing page.

What happens if you file late

Consequences range from a late fee to the loss of the corporation itself. A dissolved corporation can no longer sign contracts, and its remaining assets may pass to the government until it is revived.

• Federal: Corporation may be dissolvedsource. Rule: Default of one year in sending a required fee, notice or documentsource. In practice: Policy: dissolution only after 2 years of non-filing; final notice gives 120 more dayssource.
• Quebec: Late filing: 50% of annual fee; unpaid fee: 5% + 1% per full month (max 12 months)source. Striking off: Ex officio striking off after two consecutive missed annual updating declarationssource.
• Ontario: Offence: fine up to $25,000 for a corporationsource. Dissolution: Dissolution order possible after a 90-day notice for failure to file under the CIAsource.
• British Columbia: Failure to file annual reports for 2 consecutive yearssource.
• Saskatchewan: late fee, $110 (instead of $60)source.

How our reminders work

Missed annual returns rarely come from a lack of will. The deadline arrives once a year, often during the busiest season, the registry's notice goes to an old email address, or the founder assumes the accountant handles it while the accountant assumes the opposite. Our reminders are built to remove that ambiguity: one owner, one deadline, one place to confirm.

Each corporation in your account has its own calendar, so a founder with a holding company and an operating company, possibly in two jurisdictions, sees both deadlines side by side.

1. 1We track your deadlineYour corporation's jurisdiction, anniversary date and, for Ontario and Quebec, its tax year-end determine the filing window. We record it when you incorporate or move your corporation to Incorpo.
2. 2You get reminders ahead of timeWe email you before the window opens and again as the deadline approaches, and the return shows as a task in your dashboard.
3. 3You confirm the informationThe return is prepared from your corporate record. You confirm that the directors and addresses are current or tell us what changed.
4. 4We file and keep the proofWe file with the registry and pay the government fee for you. The filing confirmation is added to your digital minute book.

If something changed during the year, such as a new director or a new address, the notice of change is usually due well before the next annual return. Federal deadline for a change of directors: Within 15 dayssource. We flag these changes when you record them.