Catch-up
An Ontario corporation missed annual returns and T2s. Are those the same filing?
2026-10-16 · 6 min read · Tax Everyday, Vaughan
They are not the same filing, and doing one does not do the other. The T2 is the federal corporate income tax return, filed with CRA, due six months after the fiscal year-end. Ontario corporate income tax for a corporation that files a T2 is generally included in that federal filing through the schedule for provincial tax. The Ontario annual return is a registry filing under the Ontario Business Corporations Act. It updates the public record: address, directors, and the fact the company is still attending to its filings.
Miss the T2 and you have a tax problem: penalties if tax is unpaid, interest, and eventually an arbitrary assessment or a demand. Miss the annual return long enough and the Ministry can move to dissolve the company for default. One missed T2 does not automatically dissolve you. A long silence at the registry can. Directors who only ever opened the CRA mail have been surprised by a dissolution notice that did not look like a tax assessment.
Put the two lists side by side
Make two columns before you hire anyone. Most “we are years behind” conversations are actually one column behind and the other column current.
- Registry column: last annual return filed, registered office, director names, and whether a dissolution warning has arrived.
- CRA column: business number, fiscal year-end, last T2 assessed, open HST and payroll accounts.
- A federal corporation has a federal annual return as well, plus extra-provincial registration in Ontario if it operates here. Do not assume the Ontario rules are the only ones.
- Dissolution does not file the T2s. If you want the company revived or kept, the tax years still need a plan.
- Name changes, director changes, and address changes belong on the registry whether or not you owe tax.
We file the tax side and tell you which registry items are open
Tax Everyday prepares the T2 catch-up. A ready year is $2,000 plus HST. We are not the Ontario Business Registry, and a T2 engagement is not a law-office corporate cleanup. If the annual returns are also behind, we will say so and you can clear the registry in the same season as the tax filing.
Drop the articles, any registry notice, and any CRA notice. The letterhead tells us which column the problem is in.
Short answers
Ontario dissolved the company. Do the T2s go away?+
No. Dissolution does not cancel tax years that were already due, and it does not cancel unremitted HST or payroll. Revival, if you need it, is a registry process. The tax filings are still CRA’s.
We paid a lawyer to incorporate and thought filings were included.+
Incorporation creates the company. Annual maintenance is a separate habit. Check the last five years rather than the closing agenda from the year you incorporated.
Want this applied to your file?
These notes are general. A return is prepared only after we see your slips.