Year-End Tax Deadlines for Business Owners: Which Ones Are Real

Why we sort it this way

One business owner after another asked us the same question: what should the cash in my corporation be doing? Every December, the internet answered with a twenty-item checklist and no dates. The useful question isn't "what's on the list". It's "which of these has a real deadline, and is it mine?"

So we sort every move into four boxes: ① dies December 31, ② follows your fiscal year-end, ③ can wait, and ④ not a real deadline. If your corporation's year-end is December 31, boxes ① and ② land on the same day. If it isn't, box ② may already be behind you or still months away.

Box ①: Dies December 31

Repaying a shareholder loan

If you borrowed from your corporation, the loan generally has to be repaid within one year after the end of the corporation's tax year in which you took it. For a calendar-year corporation, money borrowed during 2025 has to be back by December 31, 2026, or the full amount is added to your 2025 personal income, with interest. Repaying on December 30 and borrowing it again in January doesn't work: a series of loans and repayments is caught.

Paying yourself a salary

Salary counts for 2026 only if it is actually paid through payroll by December 31, with source deductions remitted. You can't declare 2026 salary in February. Salary creates RRSP room for next year and earns CPP credits; dividends create neither. The trade-off is real: CPP contributions are a cash cost on the salary route.

A December dividend, this year only (Ontario)

Most years, a January dividend instead of a December one defers personal tax by a year. 2026 is different for Ontario: under the 2026 Ontario budget, the provincial credit on non-eligible dividends drops on January 1, 2027, so the top personal rate on those dividends rises by roughly one point. If you were going to take a non-eligible dividend in the next few months anyway, paying it in December may cost less than paying it in January. Run the numbers for your own bracket first.

Selling investments at a loss

For tax purposes, what counts is the settlement date, not the trade date. Canadian trades settle one business day later, so the last trading day for a 2026 loss is about December 30, 2026 (confirm with your broker). Buying the same investment within 30 days before or after the sale, including in your TFSA, RRSP or your corporation, denies the loss; inside a registered account it's denied for good.

Personal donations

A personal donation counts for 2026 only if the charity receives it by December 31. Donating publicly traded shares that have gone up in value generally means no tax on the gain, but transfers take days to weeks, so start by mid-December. Gifts made by your corporation follow its fiscal year instead (box ②). See charitable giving through your corporation.

TFSA withdrawals

If you plan to take money out of your TFSA soon, timing matters. Withdraw in December and the room comes back on January 1, 2027. Withdraw in January and you wait until January 1, 2028.

Box ②: Follows your fiscal year-end

• Bonuses. A bonus declared before the corporation's year-end is deductible that year if it's actually paid no later than 179 days after year-end (about six months). You pay personal tax when you receive it. It has to be real: documented, and paid on time.
• Passive income. Investment income in the corporation's 2026 tax year sets its 2027 small business limit. Over $50,000, every extra dollar removes $5 of the limit. Ontario doesn't apply the rule to its provincial rate. Full detail: passive income and the small business deduction.
• Refundable tax. Refundable tax on investment income comes back when the corporation pays taxable dividends, but only for dividends paid within its tax year. If you have a holding company with a different year-end from your operating company, proposed rules from the November 2025 federal budget can suspend that refund, so this year's routine dividend deserves a fresh look.
• Equipment. Equipment has to be delivered and usable by year-end to be written off this year; ordering in December for February delivery does nothing for this year. For most equipment bought on or after September 15, 2026, the federal government has proposed a full write-off in the first year (proposed, not yet law). It changes when you deduct, not how much.
• Corporate donations. These are deductible in the corporation's fiscal year.

A checkpoint, not a deadline: family dividends. If you're paying dividends to a spouse or adult children, check whether they qualify for an exclusion from the tax on split income before you declare. One common test looks at hours worked in the business, averaged over the year, and hours can't be added after December 31.

Box ③: Can wait

• RRSP contributions for 2026 can be made until March 1, 2027.
• Individual Pension Plan contributions are deductible if paid within 120 days after the corporation's year-end. The December task is the salary that the plan is built on (box ①) and getting the actuary started. See individual pension plans.
• The proposed Canada Growth Incentive from the November 5, 2026 federal budget matters to companies issuing new shares to investors. It isn't a year-end move.

Box ④: Not real deadlines

• "Do your estate freeze before year-end." No such deadline. A freeze takes effect on the day it's done. Real dates exist only for specific situations, such as a family trust's 21-year anniversary.
• "Buy life insurance before December 31." This is our own industry's pitch, and it isn't a tax deadline. Premiums are generally not deductible, and the effect an exempt policy has on passive income follows your fiscal year, not the calendar. Whether a policy fits is a structure question, not a December one. See corporate-owned life insurance.
• "Sell to your employees before the $10 million exemption ends." The exemption for sales to an employee ownership trust was made permanent in June 2026.
• "Sell before the capital gains increase." The increase was cancelled in March 2025. The inclusion rate is still 50%.

The calendar on one screen

When	What
Now	Start anything with a queue: actuaries, valuations, share transfers
Mid-December	Latest safe start for donating shares
About December 30	Last trade for a 2026 loss
December 31	Payroll run, shareholder loans repaid, gifts received, TFSA withdrawals, Ontario December dividend
Your fiscal year-end	Bonus declared, refundable-tax dividend, equipment in use, corporate gifts
120 days after year-end	IPP contributions
March 1, 2027	RRSP contributions for 2026

Who this fits, and who it doesn't

Questions to ask your accountant

• Do I have a shareholder loan balance, and when does it have to be repaid?
• Is the salary I want for 2026 actually going through payroll before December 31?
• Should any dividend I'm planning go out in December this year, not January?
• What is our capital dividend account balance, and should we pay it out before any loss-selling?
• Do our holding and operating companies have different year-ends, and does that change this year's dividend?

Related guides

Dates and figures are current as of November 2026 and are general information, not tax, legal or investment advice. Budget measures described as proposed are not yet law. Rules and rates change, and how they apply depends on your facts and your corporation's year-end. Confirm anything here with your accountant before acting. Dundas Wealth is an insurance brokerage (Dundas Life Inc., FSRA #37628M). We are paid by the insurance carrier if and when a policy is placed.