Do I need an accountant for my corporation?
No law requires your corporation to hire an accountant, but every corporation must file a T2 each year. See when DIY works and when mistakes get costly.
Short answer: no. No law in Canada requires a corporation to hire an accountant. What the law does require is that every resident corporation file a T2 corporate income tax return every year — even with no revenue and no tax payable — and that a corporation with an establishment in Québec file a CO-17 as well. Hiring an accountant is therefore a judgment call, and it comes down to two things: how complex your corporation really is, and what a mistake would cost. Here is an honest way to work through it.
What the law actually requires — and what it doesn't
The Canada Revenue Agency requires all resident corporations to file a T2 return for every tax year, even if there is no tax payable. The exceptions are narrow — tax-exempt Crown corporations, Hutterite colonies and registered charities. An inactive or dormant corporation is not one of them: until it is formally dissolved, it files every year.
If your corporation has an establishment in Québec, Revenu Québec adds a separate obligation: the CO-17 return. Québec administers its own corporate income tax, so one set of books produces two returns.
The deadlines are stricter than most owners assume. The return is due six months after your fiscal year-end, but any balance of tax owing is generally due two months after year-end — three months for many small CCPCs that claim the small business deduction. Your payment deadline arrives months before your filing deadline.
And here is what the law does not say: nothing requires that a CPA prepare the return. You can legally do it yourself with certified software. The question isn't legal; it's practical.
When doing it yourself is genuinely viable
- The corporation is dormant. A nil return for a corporation with no transactions, no assets and no payroll is as simple as corporate tax gets. Certified software handles it, and some owners file these themselves for years without trouble.
- The situation is truly minimal. One shareholder, no employees, a handful of transactions, revenue safely under the $30,000 GST/QST registration threshold, no equipment to depreciate, no money moving between you and the corporation.
- You are comfortable with the mechanics. You keep clean books, you can read a balance sheet, and you have the patience to work through the schedules — a T2 is a package of dozens of schedules, not a single form.
Be honest about the word "minimal," though. The moment the corporation pays you, owes you money or lends you money, it has stopped being minimal.
Where doing it yourself breaks down
Your bank asks for financial statements
Lenders typically want statements prepared by an independent CPA under Canadian accounting standards (ASPE) — usually a compilation engagement at minimum. You cannot issue those yourself, however good your bookkeeping is, and scrambling for them in the middle of a loan application is stressful and expensive.
Small business deduction eligibility
The gap between Québec's combined small-business rate (12.2%) and the general rate (26.5%) is worth $14,300 on every $100,000 of profit. Eligibility is not automatic: Québec applies a remunerated-hours test (5,500 paid hours for the full rate reduction), and associated corporations share the $500,000 federal limit. Get those rules wrong and you either overpay or invite a reassessment.
Paying yourself: salary or dividends
How you pay yourself changes your corporate tax, your personal tax, your pension contributions and your RRSP room. Software will not weigh those trade-offs for you. Our salary vs. dividends calculator shows the mechanics, but most owners need a plan, not just a computation.
GST/QST
Once taxable sales cross $30,000 over four consecutive quarters — or in a single quarter — you must register and start charging. Late registration, missed input tax credits and wrong filing frequencies are among the most expensive self-filer mistakes we clean up.
Letters from the CRA or Revenu Québec
Processing reviews, document requests, instalment notices, demands to file: a poor or slow response turns routine correspondence into audits and penalties. An accountant answers these letters for a living.
The cost of mistakes vs. the cost of an accountant
Put numbers on both sides. Filing a T2 late costs 5% of the unpaid tax plus 1% per complete month, up to 12 months — and up to 10% plus 2% per month on a repeated failure after a demand to file. A corporation owing $15,000 that files six months late pays about $1,650 in federal penalties alone, before interest and before Revenu Québec's own penalties.
Now the other side: at Stamped, corporate tax returns (T2 and CO-17) start at $1,475, prepared and reviewed by CPAs, with transparent pricing published up front. The fee is deductible; penalties are not.
A simple decision tree
- Dormant corporation, no activity? Doing it yourself is defensible. Just never skip a year.
- Active but truly minimal — no payroll, no GST/QST, no shareholder transactions? Possible if you are rigorous. Budget real time for it.
- Profitable, paying yourself, registered for GST/QST, or talking to a bank? Hire an accountant. The optimization usually covers the fee before you even count the risk.
- Received a letter from the CRA or Revenu Québec you don't fully understand? Get help now, not after the deadline in the letter.
If you land on the "hire one" side — or simply want a second opinion on a return you have been filing yourself — our corporate tax service covers the T2, the CO-17 and the planning around them, entirely online, with a response within 24 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to file my own T2 corporate tax return?
Yes. No law requires a corporation to use an accountant. You can prepare and file the T2 — and the CO-17 in Québec — yourself with certified software. You remain fully responsible for accuracy, deadlines and payment.
Does an inactive corporation still have to file a tax return?
Yes. Every resident corporation must file a T2 every year even with no activity and no tax payable, and a corporation with an establishment in Québec must also file a CO-17 — until the corporation is formally dissolved.
How much does an accountant cost for a corporate tax return?
At Stamped, corporate tax returns (T2 and CO-17) start at $1,475, prepared by CPAs, with transparent pricing published before work begins.
What happens if I file my corporate tax return late?
The CRA charges 5% of the unpaid tax plus 1% per complete month, up to 12 months. Repeated failures after a demand to file can reach 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months, and interest and Québec penalties apply on top.
When should I switch from DIY to an accountant?
When your corporation becomes profitable, pays you a salary or dividends, registers for GST/QST, needs financial statements for a lender, or receives CRA or Revenu Québec correspondence. At that point the cost of a mistake usually exceeds the fee.