A business compliance checklist is a single list of every filing, registration, renewal, and record your business must keep current to stay in good standing with government bodies. For an Ontario business, the core items are corporate filings with the Ontario Business Registry, tax filings with the Canada Revenue Agency, employment registrations once you hire staff, and renewals such as the five year business name registration.
This guide covers each obligation with its deadline, gathers them into one reference table, and includes a free interactive tool that builds a personalized checklist for your business in about two minutes. The deadlines and figures below reflect the general rules as of July 2026. Confirm any figure before relying on it, because filing rules and fees change.
What Is a Business Compliance Checklist?
A business compliance checklist tracks every obligation your business owes to a government body, with the deadline attached to each one. A complete Ontario checklist covers four areas. Corporate filings keep your record current with the province. Tax filings keep you current with the CRA and the Ontario Ministry of Finance. Employment obligations start the day you hire your first worker. Renewals cover the registrations and licences that quietly expire if nobody watches them.
The stakes are real. A corporation that stops filing can be marked not in good standing on the public record, can face fines of up to $25,000 under the Corporations Information Act, and can eventually be cancelled by the province. Lenders, buyers, landlords, and even some larger customers pull the public corporate profile before they sign anything, so a stale record can cost you deals on top of penalties.
In our practice, compliance gaps rarely announce themselves. They surface at the worst possible moment, usually during a financing, a sale, or a dispute, when someone on the other side pulls your corporate profile and finds years of missing filings. Fixing the record under deal pressure costs far more than keeping it current would have.
What Must Every Ontario Business File, and When?
The table below gathers the recurring obligations for Ontario businesses in one place. Not every row applies to every business, which is exactly what the interactive tool further down this page sorts out for you. Deadlines that fall on a weekend or holiday generally move to the next business day.
| Obligation | Who it applies to | Deadline | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial return | New Ontario corporations | Within 60 days of incorporation | Ontario Business Registry |
| Annual return | Ontario corporations | Within six months of fiscal year end | Ontario Business Registry |
| Notice of change | Ontario corporations | Within 15 days of a change to directors, officers, or registered office | Ontario Business Registry |
| Federal annual return | Federal corporations | Within 60 days of the incorporation anniversary | Corporations Canada |
| Business name renewal | Anyone operating under a registered trade name | Every five years | Ontario Business Registry |
| T2 corporate tax return | All corporations, even with no tax owing | Within six months of the tax year end | CRA |
| Corporate tax balance | Corporations owing tax | Two months after year end, or three months for many CCPCs | CRA |
| HST registration | Businesses passing $30,000 in taxable sales over four consecutive quarters | From the sale that puts you over the threshold | CRA |
| Payroll remittances | Employers | Usually the 15th of the month after payday | CRA |
| T4 slips | Employers | Last day of February | CRA |
| WSIB registration | Most employers | Within 10 days of hiring your first worker | WSIB |
| Employer Health Tax return | Employers over the $1 million exemption | March 15 of the following year | Ontario Ministry of Finance |
| AODA compliance report | Businesses with 20 or more employees | December 31, 2026 for the current cycle | Provincial reporting portal |
A CCPC is a Canadian controlled private corporation, which describes most owner managed Ontario companies. The dated items above change over time, so treat this table as a starting point and verify the current rule before you rely on a specific date or dollar figure.
What Corporate Filings Keep a Corporation in Good Standing?
The initial return
Every new Ontario corporation must file an initial return with the Ontario Business Registry within 60 days of incorporation. It confirms basic information such as your registered office, directors, and officers. If a lawyer handled your incorporation, this filing was almost certainly done for you. If you incorporated yourself online, check that it happened, because it is one of the most commonly skipped filings we see.
The annual return
Ontario corporations must file an annual return every year, due within six months of the fiscal year end. A corporation with a December 31 year end must file by June 30. The annual return confirms or updates your corporate information on the public record. It is not a tax filing, and filing your taxes does not satisfy it.
This filing trips up more Ontario businesses than any other, and there is a specific reason. Until May 2021, the CRA collected this information as a schedule filed with the corporate tax return, so your accountant handled it without you ever thinking about it. The province then moved the filing to the Ontario Business Registry, which launched in October 2021, and most accounting firms stopped filing it because they are not set up to file through the registry. Many corporations have not filed since, and their owners have no idea.
To file, you need a company key, which works like a password for your corporation’s registry profile. Corporations formed after October 2021 received one at incorporation. Older corporations must request one from ServiceOntario, which takes time, so do not leave it until the week the filing is due.
Notices of change
When a director resigns, a new officer is appointed, or your registered office moves, you must file a notice of change within 15 days. Waiting for the next annual return is not enough. An outdated public record can also mean court documents and government notices go to an old address, which is how some owners first learn about a lawsuit months late.
The transparency register
Since January 1, 2023, private Ontario corporations must maintain a register of individuals with significant control. In plain terms, that means anyone who owns or controls 25 percent or more of the corporation by votes or by value, directly or indirectly. The register stays with your corporate records rather than being filed anywhere, but it must exist, stay current, and be available if the corporation is asked for it. Directors and officers who ignore it face personal exposure to fines.
The minute book and annual resolutions
Your corporate minute book holds the articles of incorporation, bylaws, registers, share ledgers, and resolutions that prove who owns and runs the corporation. Each year the shareholders and directors should pass annual resolutions approving the financial statements, confirming directors and officers, and documenting any dividends. None of this gets filed with the government, which is exactly why it slides. It only becomes urgent when a bank, buyer, or the CRA asks to see it, and rebuilding years of records at that point is slow and expensive.
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What Tax Filings and Deadlines Apply to Your Business?
Corporate income tax
Every corporation must file a T2 return within six months of its tax year end, even in a year with no activity and no tax owing. The catch most first time owners miss is that payment comes before filing. Any balance of tax is generally due two months after year end, or three months for many Canadian controlled private corporations that claim the small business deduction. File on time but pay late and interest still runs.
HST registration and returns
You must register for HST once your taxable sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. That is a rolling total, not a calendar year total. Pass the threshold within a single quarter and the rules bite harder, because you must charge HST on the very sale that pushed you over, even if you had not registered yet. Miss it and the CRA can require you to remit tax you never collected, out of your own pocket.
Registering voluntarily before you reach the threshold is often worth considering, because it lets you claim input tax credits on your startup costs. Once registered, you must file returns on your assigned schedule even for slow periods.
Payroll accounts and source deductions
Before your first payday you need a CRA payroll account attached to your business number. Most new employers remit income tax, CPP, and EI deductions by the 15th of the month after payday, and T4 slips are due by the last day of February for the previous year. Late remittances attract some of the fastest growing penalties the CRA charges, so automate this early.
Employer Health Tax
Ontario charges employers a payroll tax called the Employer Health Tax, but most private employers pay nothing because the first $1 million of annual Ontario payroll is exempt. The exemption disappears entirely for employers with payroll over $5 million. If your payroll passes the exemption, you register with the Ontario Ministry of Finance and file an annual return by March 15 of the following year.
If you are not incorporated
A sole proprietor or partner reports business income on the personal tax return. The filing deadline for returns with business income is June 15, but any balance owing is due April 30, and interest runs from May 1 on unpaid amounts. If you are weighing whether incorporation now makes sense for tax or liability reasons, our guide to choosing a business structure walks through the comparison.
What Employment Rules Apply When You Hire Staff?
Registrations in your first weeks as an employer
Two clocks start the day you hire your first worker. Most businesses must register with the WSIB within 10 calendar days of that first hire, whether the worker is full time, part time, casual, or a family member. Construction has stricter rules that can require registration even with no employees at all. You also need your CRA payroll account running before the first remittance is due. Registering with the WSIB late usually means paying retroactive premiums, and can mean penalties on top.
Documents every employee must receive
You must give each new employee a copy of the Employment Standards in Ontario poster within 30 days of their start date. You no longer need to display it in the workplace, but the duty to provide a copy remains, and email delivery counts. Separate posting duties survive under health and safety law, including the Health and Safety at Work poster, and workplaces with more than five regular workers need written health and safety, violence, and harassment policies.
Beyond the legal minimums, put a written employment agreement in front of every hire before their first day. Contracts signed after work begins can be unenforceable on the terms that matter most, including termination.
Written policies once you reach 25 employees
Employers with 25 or more employees in Ontario on January 1 of a year must have two written policies in place by March 1 of that year. One covers disconnecting from work and the other covers electronic monitoring of employees. Each must go to every employee within 30 days of being created or changed, and to new hires within 30 days of starting. Since July 1, 2025, employers at this size must also give new hires specified information about the job in writing before their first day of work.
Job posting rules since January 1, 2026
Employers with 25 or more employees face new rules for publicly advertised job postings, in force since January 1, 2026. The posting must state the expected compensation or a range no wider than $50,000, with an exception for roles paying above $200,000. It must disclose any use of artificial intelligence to screen or select applicants, and state whether the posting is for an existing vacancy. Canadian experience requirements are banned from postings and application forms. You must tell every interviewed candidate the outcome within 45 days, and keep copies of postings and application forms for three years.
Which Registrations Expire If You Do Nothing?
Business name registrations expire every five years
If you operate under a registered business name, whether as a sole proprietor, a partnership, or a corporation using a trade name, that registration expires five years after it was issued. The province sends no reminder. You can renew from six months before expiry until 60 days after. Miss that window and the registration is gone for good. You must register again from scratch, which means a new business identification number, a broken registration history, and awkward conversations with your bank, your insurer, and anyone who contracts with the registered name.
A corporation itself never expires this way. There is no renewal fee to stay incorporated. The confusion comes from mixing up the corporation, which lives until dissolved, with a trade name registration, which dies every five years unless renewed.
Municipal licences and regulated industries
Many businesses also hold licences that renew on their own schedules. Municipal business licences, food premises approvals, liquor licences, and trade permits all carry renewal dates set by the issuing body. Regulated professionals operating through professional corporations typically renew an annual certificate of authorization with their regulator as well. Put every one of these on the same compliance calendar as your government filings, because an expired licence can shut down operations faster than any missed tax deadline.
What Privacy and Accessibility Rules Apply?
Privacy
If your business collects personal information from customers in the course of commercial activity, federal privacy law applies to you regardless of size. The core duties are practical. Obtain meaningful consent before collecting personal information, use it only for the purpose you collected it, protect it with reasonable safeguards, and name someone in the business who is responsible for privacy.
Anti spam rules
Canada’s anti spam law governs commercial electronic messages, which includes ordinary marketing emails and texts. You need consent before sending, your messages must identify your business, and every message needs a working unsubscribe option that you honour promptly. Penalties for ignoring these rules can be severe, and the law reaches small businesses just as it reaches large ones.
Accessibility
The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act applies to every Ontario organization with at least one employee. Every employer must train staff on accessible customer service and accommodate customers and employees with disabilities. Businesses with 20 or more employees must also file an accessibility compliance report through the provincial portal every three years, and the current deadline is December 31, 2026. Organizations with 50 or more employees carry further duties, including a multi year accessibility plan and website accessibility standards.
Business Compliance Checklist Tool
The tool below turns everything above into a checklist built for your business. It asks about your structure, your sales, your team, and how you operate, then generates a personalized list grouped by category, with the deadline attached to each item. Time critical items are flagged so you know where to start. Check items off as you complete them, print the finished list, and revisit it each year. Your answers stay in your browser and are not sent anywhere.
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Ontario Business Compliance Checklist Builder
Answer a few questions about your business and get a personalized checklist of the filings, registrations, and deadlines that apply to you.
The checklist builder is loading. If this message does not change within a few seconds, refresh the page.
The tool applies the general rules described in this article. It cannot account for every industry rule or unusual structure, so treat the output as a starting point rather than a legal opinion on your situation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Ontario annual return the same as my corporate tax return?
No. The annual return is a corporate information filing made with the Ontario Business Registry under the Corporations Information Act. Your T2 corporate tax return goes to the CRA. They are separate filings with separate deadlines, and filing one does not satisfy the other. Many corporations file the T2 every year and miss the annual return entirely.
What happens if my corporation has never filed an annual return with the Ontario Business Registry?
Your corporation can be flagged as not in good standing on the public record, and the province can eventually cancel a corporation that persistently fails to file. The fix is usually straightforward. You obtain a company key, bring the outstanding returns current, and correct any outdated director or address information at the same time.
Do I need to renew my incorporation every year?
No. A corporation does not expire, and there is no renewal fee to stay incorporated. What you must do every year is file the annual return with the Ontario Business Registry and the T2 tax return with the CRA. Business name registrations are different. Those expire every five years and must be renewed to stay active.
When do I have to start charging HST in Ontario?
Once your taxable sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or within a single quarter, you lose small supplier status and must register with the CRA. If a single sale pushes you over the line, you must charge HST on that very sale. Many owners register voluntarily before the threshold to claim input tax credits on startup costs.
Do the 2026 job posting rules apply to my business?
They apply if you employ 25 or more people in Ontario and you advertise a job publicly. Since January 1, 2026, those postings must state expected compensation or a range no wider than $50,000, disclose any use of artificial intelligence in screening, and state whether an existing vacancy exists. You must also tell interviewed candidates the outcome within 45 days.
What records does my corporation legally need to keep?
Ontario corporations must maintain a minute book holding the articles of incorporation, bylaws, registers of directors and shareholders, share ledgers, and resolutions, plus a transparency register of individuals with significant control since January 1, 2023. Keep tax records and supporting documents for at least six years as well.
The information provided above is of a general nature and should not be considered legal advice. Every transaction or circumstance is unique, and obtaining specific legal advice is necessary to address your particular requirements. Therefore, if you have any legal questions, it is recommended that you consult with a lawyer.
