Year-End Checklist: What Does Your Accountant Need?
Updated: Sep 23
Short answer: a complete, reconciled set of books plus the documents that support them. Your year-end checklist has two dates on it, not one. A corporation files its T2 return within six months of its tax year end, but the tax itself is due two months after year end - three months for most Canadian-controlled private corporations claiming the small business deduction.
Year-end is the point where your bookkeeping stops being a monthly routine and becomes the basis of a filed tax return. Everything your accountant reports to the CRA comes from the file you hand over. If that file is incomplete, the cost does not disappear - it moves from your bookkeeper's rate to your accountant's.
What are the year-end deadlines in Canada?
The filing deadline and the payment deadline are not the same date, and that catches people every year. As of 2026, these are the ones that matter to a small business.
Obligation | Deadline |
T2 corporate return | Within 6 months of your tax year end |
Corporate tax balance owing (general) | 2 months after year end |
Corporate tax balance owing (CCPC claiming the small business deduction) | 3 months after year end |
T4 and T4A slips and summaries | Last day of February for the previous calendar year |
GST/HST - monthly and quarterly filers | 1 month after the end of the reporting period |
GST/HST - annual filers | 3 months after fiscal year end |
Self-employed personal return | June 15 (payment due April 30) |
Personal tax instalments | March 15, June 15, September 15, December 15 |
The three-month balance-due day is not automatic just because the corporation is small. It must have been a CCPC throughout the year, it must have claimed the small business deduction in the current or previous year, and its prior-year taxable income must not exceed its business limit.
One exception worth knowing: a sole proprietor who files GST/HST annually with a December 31 fiscal year end pays by April 30 but files by June 15.
What documents does my accountant need?
Assume the accountant has no access to anything you have not sent. The usual list:
Bank and credit card statements. Year-end statements for every account, including accounts opened or closed during the year
Loan and lease statements. Closing balance and the year's interest, for every loan and lease
The bookkeeping file. Access to your QuickBooks Online file, or a backup, for the full year
The year-end trial balance
GST/HST returns. Copies of every return filed during the year, and proof of payment
Payroll. The T4 Summary and PD7A statements for the year - see how payroll works for a small business in Canada
Asset purchases and sales. Invoices, not just the bank line
New legal agreements. Leases, shareholder agreements, loan agreements
Inventory count at year end, if you carry inventory
An explanation of anything unusual, in writing, while you still remember it
That last item saves more money than any other. A single $38,000 transfer with no explanation can cost an hour of back-and-forth in March.
What belongs on the year-end checklist for clean books?
"Clean books" is a specific standard, not a feeling. Eight things have to be true:
Every bank and credit card account is reconciled through the last day of the year, and the reconciled balance equals the statement balance
Nothing is sitting in an "Ask My Accountant," "Uncategorized" or suspense account
Accounts receivable on the balance sheet equals what customers genuinely still owe - old invoices that will never be collected have been dealt with, not left sitting
Accounts payable equals what you genuinely still owe
The HST/GST payable balance agrees to the returns actually filed
Payroll liabilities agree to the T4 Summary and the remittances made
The shareholder loan account is supported by an explanation for each significant movement
Prior-year adjusting journal entries were posted, so opening balances match last year's closing balances
If those eight things are true, year-end is fast. If they are not, someone is paying professional rates to do bookkeeping. The reports you should be reading each month are the same ones that tell you whether this list is on track.
How do I close the year, step by step?
Do the work in this order and nothing gets done twice.
Reconcile. Every bank, credit card and loan account through the last day of the year, to the statement balance.
Clear the parking accounts. "Ask My Accountant," "Uncategorized" and suspense go to zero - every item gets a real account and an explanation.
Tie out the balance sheet. Accounts receivable, accounts payable, HST/GST payable, payroll liabilities and the shareholder loan each agree to their support.
Gather the documents. The list above, plus a written note on anything unusual.
Send the file and the trial balance to your accountant, with access to the QuickBooks Online file.
Post the adjusting entries when the AJE schedule comes back, then close the books in QuickBooks Online so the year cannot be changed by accident.
What are adjusting journal entries, and why do they keep causing problems?
At year-end your accountant makes entries your bookkeeping did not: depreciation on capital assets, accrued expenses that belong to the year but were paid after it, corrections to how something was classified, income tax payable, and reclassification of shareholder transactions.
Those entries produce the financial statements and the tax return. Here is the part that gets missed: they also have to be entered into your QuickBooks Online file.
If they are not, your books permanently disagree with your filed statements, and the gap compounds. Every subsequent year starts from the wrong opening balances, every subsequent year-end costs more to fix, and the difference between your bookkeeping and your tax filings grows quietly until someone has to reconstruct several years at once.
Ask your accountant for the AJE schedule every year, and make sure someone posts it. It is a twenty-minute job that prevents a multi-year cleanup.
How long do I have to keep the records?
Six years from the end of the tax year to which they relate. That applies to both income tax and GST/HST records. Electronic records count, provided they are readable - a folder of scanned PDFs is fine, a box of faded thermal receipts is not.
If you are closing a corporation or have filed an objection, longer retention may be required. A dissolved corporation keeps its records for two years after dissolution.
What slows year-end down the most?
In rough order:
Unreconciled accounts, especially a credit card nobody mentioned existed
Personal spending mixed into the business account with no explanation of which is which
Missing purchase invoices for capital assets - the bank shows $22,000 to a dealership, and nobody can say whether it was a purchase, a lease or a deposit
Cash transactions with no documentation
Prior-year adjusting entries that were never posted, so the opening balances are wrong before work even starts
Every one of these is preventable during the year, and each is expensive to fix after it.
Frequently asked questions
What if I cannot pay the tax by the deadline?
File on time anyway. The late-filing penalty is 5% of the unpaid balance plus 1% for each complete month the return is late, up to 12 months - separate from, and larger than, the interest on an unpaid balance. Filing on time and paying late costs considerably less than doing both late.
Does my corporation need a December 31 year end?
No. A corporation can choose any fiscal year end. Payroll and T4s always follow the calendar year regardless, and a non-calendar year end can spread professional work away from the busy season.
What is the difference between a bookkeeper's year-end work and an accountant's?
The bookkeeper closes the year: reconciles everything, ties out the balance sheet, and produces a trial balance the accountant can rely on. The accountant prepares the financial statements, makes the adjusting entries and files the tax return. Work done well at the first stage reduces the cost of the second.
Can I file the T2 myself?
Legally yes. In practice, corporate returns interact with the small business deduction, capital cost allowance, shareholder loan rules and instalment requirements in ways that are easy to get wrong and expensive to correct.
Sources
Canada Revenue Agency, 2026 tax deadlines for Canadian businesses and self-employed individuals
Canada Revenue Agency, When to file your corporation income tax return
Canada Revenue Agency, Balance-due day
Canada Revenue Agency, Avoiding penalties
Canada Revenue Agency, Reporting requirements and deadlines - File your GST/HST return
Canada Revenue Agency, When to file information returns
Canada Revenue Agency, Where to keep your records, for how long and how to request permission to destroy them early
About Remote Bookkeeping
Remote Bookkeeping is a Canadian-owned firm providing monthly bookkeeping, financial reporting, payroll, HST/GST filing, year-end preparation and QuickBooks Online setup to small businesses across Canada. Founded by Lia and George, the firm has been keeping books for Canadian business owners for over 30 years. Call (289) 867-0808 or 1-800-880-9141, or get in touch for a quote.
This article is general information for Canadian small business owners. It is not tax, legal or accounting advice for your particular situation. Rates and thresholds change - always confirm against the CRA source linked above or ask us.
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