Catch-up
The company made no money and never filed corporate tax. Is a nil T2 enough?
2026-10-13 · 6 min read · Tax Everyday, Vaughan
A nil T2 is enough only when the year was actually nil: no revenue, no expenses that belong in the statements, no change you are required to report, and no balance-sheet event. CRA accepts a very short return for many inactive companies. That return still has to be prepared and filed for each year. Not filing because the answer is zero leaves the year open. CRA can demand it, and a buyer or a lender will demand the assessments later.
Most “we made nothing” companies we see were not nil. There was a bank fee, a government filing fee, interest on a savings account, a shareholder who paid a supplier from a personal card, or HST charged on one invoice. Those are small. They are still activity. Filing them as a blank nil return is how a simple catch-up becomes a false return.
A short test before you call it nil
If you answer yes to any of these, the year needs a real set of numbers, even if the tax is zero.
- Did the company have a bank account that moved, even by a service charge?
- Did anyone invoice in the company’s name?
- Did the company collect HST, or stay registered for it?
- Did a shareholder take money, pay a bill, or lend money in?
- Did the company have a vehicle, a lease, or a loan?
- Was anyone paid, even once?
Nil years are quoted as a catch-up, not waved through
Tax Everyday will file true nil years, and we will refuse to call an active year nil. A ready year with statements and HST support is the corporate package at $2,000 plus HST. A run of inactive years is quoted from the articles and the bank letters, because the price should follow the work. Five identical nil years are not five full statement engagements. They are also not free.
Drop the articles and a one-line description of each year. “No account, no sales, 2021 to 2025” is a useful sentence. “We think it was quiet” is not.
Short answers
Will CRA fine us for filing nil returns late?+
The late-filing penalty is a percentage of unpaid tax. A true zero-tax year does not produce that penalty. You can still be assessed if the year was not really zero, and the registry can still act on missed Ontario annual returns. File the nil years anyway.
Should we close the company instead?+
If you will not use it, closing is reasonable, and the missing T2s are part of closing. Dissolving does not delete the years. We can quote the filings and tell you what a tidy closure still needs.
Want this applied to your file?
These notes are general. A return is prepared only after we see your slips.