When is your federal annual return due?
If your company is incorporated federally under the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), its annual return is due within 60 days of the corporation's anniversary date — every year, whether or not the business did anything that year.
The short version
- Deadline: within 60 days of your anniversary date.
- Anniversary date: the day you were incorporated, amalgamated, or continued federally.
- It's the same date every year — once you know your anniversary, you know your deadline for good.
- Government fee: $12 online, filed with Corporations Canada.
How to find your anniversary date
Your anniversary is printed on your Certificate of Incorporation (or Amalgamation / Continuance) from Corporations Canada. If you don't have it handy, the fastest way is to look your corporation up in the public federal registry — that's exactly what the checker below does. Type your company name or corporation number and it will tell you the next deadline and whether you're already overdue.
Check your federal deadline
Type your corporation name or number. We'll read the public federal registry and show your next due date.
Type at least 2 characters.
Results are based on Canada's public federal corporations registry and may lag the official record. Always confirm in your Corporations Canada Online Filing Centre. Compliance Calendar is an independent filing service — not Corporations Canada or any government agency.
The annual return is not your tax return
This trips up a lot of owners. Filing your T2 corporate tax return with the Canada Revenue Agency does not file your annual return with Corporations Canada — they're two separate filings with two separate deadlines, sent to two different parts of government. You can be fully paid up on taxes and still be overdue on your annual return. Since 2024, your significant-control (ISC) information is also filed together with the annual return.
What if I've already missed it?
A missed annual return isn't a fine you pay and move on from — left long enough, a federal corporation can be administratively dissolved. We explain the timeline and the practical harm on what happens if you don't file. If you're behind, the fix is usually quick: we can file the current return and any missed years for you.
Compliance Calendar is an independent filing service. We are not Corporations Canada or any government agency, and we don't provide legal, tax, or accounting advice. Deadlines shown by the checker are based on the public registry and may lag the official record — always confirm in your Corporations Canada account.