By law, you are obliged to file your corporate taxes every year even if you do not have any income to report or your corporation has been inactive. Corporate tax returns have very strict standards to be compliant with the tax laws and the CRA guidelines.
You cannot afford your hard-earned monies to be wasted by careless management of your tax affairs. Our tax planning advice will give you the options for the most effective tax strategies to minimize your corporate taxes and thrive your business. For instance, when would be the best time to buy a capital asset to be most tax effective? Should you get paid by dividend or salary, or a combination of both? We will explain to you the corporate tax rules and the options. With our assistance, you will be able make the decisions to reduce your tax liabilities.
Our comprehensive checklist will make it easy for you to collect the required information necessary to prepare an accurate and complete tax return in compliance with the tax laws and CRA guidelines. We ensure that you claim all the expenses or deductions that you should in order not to pay the taxes that you shouldn't.
Corporate tax returns must be filed within six months from the end of the tax year. The consequences of non-compliance can be costly. To receive a tax refund, you must file your corporate return within three years after the end of the tax year.
If you file your corporate return after the deadline, CRA will assess a late-filing penalty that is 5% of the unpaid tax plus 1% of unpaid tax for each of the complete months the return remained unfiled up to a maximum of 12 months. If CRA has issued a demand to file and assessed a failure to file penalty in any of the three preceding tax years, the penalty increases to 10% of the unpaid tax plus 2% of this unpaid tax for each month for the duration the return was late up to maximum 20 months.
CRA will charge a penalty if a corporation, either knowingly or by gross negligence, makes a false statement or omission on a return. The penalty is 50% of the amount of understated tax.
Corporations must pay income tax in monthly or quarterly installments if the taxes payable for either in the current or previous year is more than $3,000. The balance owing is due two months after the year-end. For eligible Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC), the tax is due three months after the year-end.
CRA can charge penalties and/or interest for late or incomplete instalment payments.
CRA can also charge penalties for not providing information on a prescribed or proper form, such as T5018 Summary of Contract Payments.
Tax tip: file your corporate tax return on time to avoid the late filing penalties, even though you cannot afford to pay the balance.
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