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Year-End Bookkeeping Checklist for Incorporated Businesses
Plan your expenses and deductions strategically each year
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Maintain accurate and organized financial records for easy reporting
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Use accounting and tax software to make management easier
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Year-end is where good bookkeeping pays off. Clean, reconciled records make your T2 corporate return faster to prepare, lower your accounting costs, and keep the CRA from asking questions you can't answer. This checklist walks through what to close off before your fiscal year-end so your books are filing-ready.
Why year-end bookkeeping matters for a corporation
A corporation is a separate legal entity, so its books have to stand on their own. The numbers you finalize at year-end flow directly into your financial statements (Schedule 100 and 125) and the income calculation on your T2. Gaps or guesses at this stage turn into reassessment risk later.
Your year-end bookkeeping checklist
1. Reconcile every account
Match every bank and credit-card account to its statements, line by line, through the last day of your fiscal year. Investigate anything that does not clear.
2. Clean up receivables and payables
Review your accounts receivable aging and write off or flag amounts you will not collect. Confirm that outstanding bills are recorded in the correct period.
3. Classify every shareholder transaction
Any money moving between you and the corporation needs a label — salary, dividend, or shareholder loan. Undocumented 'transfers' are a common audit flag. Reconcile your shareholder loan account and document the closing balance.
4. Update capital assets and CCA
Record asset purchases and disposals and confirm your capital cost allowance (depreciation) schedule is current. Large equipment is capitalized, not expensed in full.
5. Finalize payroll and prepare slips
Reconcile payroll to your remittances and prepare T4 slips for employees and T5 slips for dividends. Both are due by the last day of February.
6. Reconcile GST/HST
Match the GST/HST you collected and the input tax credits you claimed to your filed returns, and confirm the closing balance owing or refundable.
7. Produce your financial statements
Generate a balance sheet and income statement for the year. These feed Schedule 100 and 125 on the T2 — your accountant needs export-ready files, not a folder of receipts.
Keep business and personal accounts fully separate. One dedicated business account and card makes every step above faster and keeps CRA queries manageable.
Key year-end deadlines
| Item | Deadline |
|---|---|
| T4 and T5 slips | Last day of February |
| T2 corporate return | 6 months after fiscal year-end |
| Balance owing (CCPC) | 2 to 3 months after year-end |
| Record retention | Keep records for 6 years |
A corporation with a December 31 year-end typically files the T2 by June 30, but the balance is due earlier — interest compounds daily on late amounts.
How Count myAccount helps
We clean up year-end books, prepare your T2 schedules, and file with the CRA on a flat-rate, disclosed-upfront basis — with year-round support, not just at deadline.
