Canadian Corporate Tax Filing and Payment Deadlines – 2025

The article below provides a summary of important deadlines related to certain Canadian corporate tax filings, including:

  1. Capital gains changes delayed to 2026 ***updated January 31, 2025***  
  2. Corporate tax payment deadline 
  3. Corporate tax filing deadline 
  4. Corporate tax instalments  
  5. Making payment to CRA 
  6. Next steps 

Capital Gains Changes Delayed

On January 31, 2025, the Minister of Finance announced that the proposed capital gains inclusion rate increase to 2/3 will be delayed from June 25, 2024 to January 1, 2026.  As such, the capital gains inclusion rate will remain at 50% for 2024 and 2025.

Included in this announcement were updates on capital gains exemptions:

  • Previously proposed increase to the lifetime capital gains exemption for qualifying capital dispositions from $1,016,836 to $1,250,000 would continue to be effective June 25, 2024.
  • Previously proposed new Canadian Entrepreneurs’ Incentive, reducing the inclusion rate to 1/3 for qualifying capital dispositions, would continue to be phased in by $400,000 increments up to $2,000,000, beginning in 2025.  Given the prior proposals provided for a 50% reduction to the 2/3 inclusion rate, it is unclear how this will interact with the inclusion rate remaining at 50% for 2025.
  • Previously proposed 50% inclusion rate for the first $250,000 of capital gains realized by individuals annually will be effective January 1, 2026, to align with the delayed timing for capital gains inclusion rate increase to 2/3.
  • The exemption for capital gains realized on principal residences will remain unchanged.

Below is a summary of important dates and links to the CRA website for more information.

Corporate Tax Payment Deadline:

Generally, the deadline for corporate tax payments is 2 months after the corporation’s year end (i.e., a corporation with a December 31 year end will have corporate taxes owing by the end of February). There are certain circumstances where a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) that claimed the small business deduction for the current or previous tax year may have their tax payments deadline extended to 3 months after the corporation’s year end.

Please reach out to your Smythe advisor to confirm the deadline for your corporate tax payments or if you need assistance estimating your tax payment.

Corporate Tax Filing Deadline:

The deadline for filing your corporate tax return is 6 months after the corporation’s year end (i.e. a corporation with a December 31 year end will have its tax return due on June 30 of the following year).

Corporate Tax Instalments:

Corporate Tax Instalment payments are due on the last day of every complete month, or every complete quarter if you are an eligible small CCPC. Please review your tax instalment schedule to ensure these payments are made in time. If your current year’s income is greater than last year, you may need to make additional catch-up instalment payments for the 2025 taxation year as well.

Making Payments to CRA:

Please review the following link for payment options for corporations. Payments are generally not processed immediately by the CRA, so we recommend making payments in advance of the balance-due date to avoid inadvertent interest charges.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/payments-cra/business-payments.html

Next Steps:

Please ensure all necessary documentation is prepared and submitted to our office as soon as it is available. The CRA continues to add complexity and require more information from taxpayers, resulting in additional time needed to prepare tax estimates and returns. If you require a tax estimate, please provide the information at least 4 weeks before any applicable deadline (i.e. January 31 for December 31 year ends). If you have any questions or require clarification on specific details, please contact your Smythe advisor.

We appreciate your attention to these important deadlines and look forward to assisting you.