Incorporating your business is a milestone. What most business owners are not prepared for is everything that happens next.
The CRA accounts that need to be opened. The T2 deadline that starts counting down from day one. The GST/HST and payroll decisions that need to be made before the first invoice goes out. Get these right early and your compliance life is manageable. Miss them and you are paying penalties for problems that were entirely avoidable.
If you are still deciding whether to incorporate, our guide to the pros and cons is worth reading first. If you are already incorporated, here is what comes next.
What changes the moment you incorporate
Your corporation is now a separate legal entity. The CRA treats it as its own taxpayer, with its own filing obligations, its own accounts, and its own deadlines. None of that is connected to your personal tax situation.
Your corporation must file a tax return every year, even with zero revenue. It may need to collect and remit GST/HST. If you draw a salary, it must run payroll. None of this happens automatically. Understanding how corporate tax works in Canada is the foundation everything else builds on.
Step 1: Open your CRA program accounts
When you incorporate, CRA assigns you a Business Number (BN). The BN is just the root. The accounts that sit underneath it, covering corporate income tax, GST/HST, and payroll, each need to be registered separately through My Business Account. You only open the ones that apply to your business, but knowing which ones you need from the start saves headaches later.
Step 2: Lock in your T2 deadline
Every Canadian corporation files a T2 Corporate Income Tax Return each year, profitable or not. The deadline is six months after your fiscal year-end, and your fiscal year-end is set at incorporation. A December 31 year-end means a June 30 T2 deadline. A March 31 year-end means September 30. Miss it and CRA charges late-filing penalties. For large corporations, penalties may apply even if you owe nothing.
For Canadian Controlled Private Corporations, the tax payment is due 3 months after year-end, while public corporations, or foreign-owned private corporations, have 2 months after year-end to pay their corporate taxes to avoid interest from being assessed (even though the tax return deadline is 6 months after your year-end).
Put that date in your calendar now. Use our corporate tax rate calculator to start estimating what you might owe, and see our tax reporting deadline guide for a full breakdown of CRA dates and penalties.
“The first thing I do with a newly incorporated client is nail down their fiscal year-end and put the T2 deadline in both our calendars. It sounds basic. But that one date shapes your entire compliance year, and missing it costs real money.”
Nicholas Coburn, CPA, CA, CEO, Strata-G Tax
Step 3: Make the GST/HST call
Once your taxable revenues hit $30,000 across four consecutive calendar quarters, GST/HST registration is mandatory. Most goods and services are taxable. At that point you have no choice.
What many new corporations miss is the case for registering voluntarily before hitting that threshold. Early registration lets you claim Input Tax Credits on the GST/HST you pay on business expenses, equipment, software, and professional services. For a startup with meaningful upfront costs, that often means a refund in year one rather than a tax bill.
The trade-off is that you must charge GST/HST on your sales immediately. Whether that works depends on your clients and your margins. It is a decision worth making deliberately, before your first invoice goes out. Our article on how much a small business can make before paying taxes covers this in more detail.
Step 4: Set up payroll if you are taking a salary
Paying yourself a salary from your corporation requires a CRA payroll account and regular source deduction remittances covering income tax, CPP, and EI. New employers are typically on a regular remittance schedule, with amounts due by the 15th of the month following each pay run. T4 slips for all salaried employees, including you, are due to CRA by the last day of February each year.
Not sure whether salary, dividends, or a mix makes more sense for your situation? Our article on dividends vs salary for incorporated business owners works through the key considerations. If you are paying family members through the corporation, the CRA’s rules on employer-employee relationships are worth understanding before you do. See our payroll services page for the full scope of what we manage.
Step 5: Get the books right from month one
A clean accounting setup from the start costs far less than reconstructing a year of transactions at T2 time. Separate business bank account, cloud accounting platform, and a reliable way to capture receipts. That is the foundation.
The tech stack we use at Strata-G, including QuickBooks, Xero, and Dext, is built to automate this so it runs in the background rather than eating your time. Our startup accounting service is designed specifically for this stage. Fixed fees, agreed upfront, no surprises.
Your post-incorporation checklist
- Business Number (BN) confirmed with CRA
- Corporate income tax account (RT) opened
- Fiscal year-end set and T2 deadline in the calendar
- GST/HST decision made: register now or at $30,000 threshold
- GST/HST account (RT) opened if registering
- Payroll account (RP) opened if taking a salary
- Compensation structure decided: salary, dividends, or both
- Business bank account open and separate from personal
- Cloud accounting platform live
- Receipt capture process in place
Every business is different
This list covers the essentials. The specifics, including how to structure your compensation, when to register for GST/HST, and what your actual tax exposure looks like, depend on your revenue, your plans, and your personal financial situation.
Getting these right from the start is much easier with a CPA who has seen the full picture. At Strata-G, we work with incorporated businesses from day one. Book a free 15-minute call and we will tell you exactly where you stand.
