Be That Business Newsletter Jan 30 2025: Upcoming Due Dates for Canadian Businesses in Feb 2025!

Welcome to January 30th 2025! In this Newsletter:
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• What’s due at the end of January?
• My Three Favorite Resources for January!
• What due dates are coming up in February?
• New Video Announcement - Canadian Payroll Basics - TD1s & T4s
  
  

What’s Due at the End of January?

Here are some end of January due dates that may apply to your business;

• If you file your GST/HST on a quarterly basis, and your year ends on Dec 31st, then your ​October to December 2024 GST/HST quarter​ is due to be filed and paid at the end of January. Even if you don’t have all the funds, file on time to not waste money on late filing penalties. (#Don’tGiveCRAmoreMoneyThanYouHaveTo!!!)
• If you file your GST/HST annually, but last year your GST/HST payable was greater than $3,000, then you are required to pay quarterly instalments, and the last of these ​GST/HST instalments​ is due to be paid January 31st.
• If you file your GST/HST monthly, then your ​December 2024 GST/HST​ is due on January 31st.
• If you have employees, then you likely are registered for provincial Workplace Insurance (WSIB/WCB). The filing and remitting of WSIB/WCB is different from province to province. Some provinces are due monthly on the 15th. In Ontario it is on a quarterly schedule, and the premium for the earnings paid to employees October to December are due to be filed and remitted on or before January 31st. (Self-employed in the construction industry? You may need to pay it on your labour even if you have no employees!)
• Is your business subject to any other quarterly remittances that are industry specific, such as Municipal Accommodations Tax? These may be due for the Oct to Dec Quarter.
• If you business is incorporated, and owed greater than $3k in corporate Income Tax for the previous fiscal year, then it is required to pay instalments for next year on the last day of every month. January 31st is the due date for the ​January Corporate Tax Instalment​.
• Though there are no other standard items due at the end of this month, be aware that if your Corporate Fiscal Year End is July, your Corporate Tax Return is due 6 months after your Fiscal Year end (January 31st). If your Corporate Year End is November, the Income Tax Payable is payable 2 or 3 months after the Fiscal Year End; either due end of January or end of February, depending on your corporation. Check in with your accountant to find out more about your corporate tax due dates specific to your corporation.

Any excuse for a glass of wine!

My Three Favorite Resources & Hacks for January

​Here are three Fabulous Resources and Business Hacks that I've come across this past January!

1. Resource: Ontario Ministry of Labour Free Webinar Feb 5th 2025: The Ontario Ministry of Labour offers wonderful live free webinars that has open Q&A sessions! These webinars are a wonderful resource for both Employers AND Employees! This coming month, their webinar topic is "​Public Holidays Overview​" (scroll down to the bottom to see the list of upcoming information sessions and to register). This is for the Ontario Employment Standards Act, but, if you're not in Ontario, now is a great time to check out your provincial or territorial labour board website to see what resources they offer to assist employers and employees understand their responsibilities and rights.
   
   
2. Resource: The Best Free Personal and Investing Courses in Canada from MoneySense: Financial literacy is an essential life skill. Whether you want to budget, saving, invest or plan for retirement, understanding how to manage money can help you achieve financial stability. Fortunately, there are many free courses that can help Canadians develop greater financial literacy. MoneySense put out a list of the ​best free finance and investing courses available in Canada​.
   
   
3. Hack: Update your 'Reply All' settings: In ​last month's newsletter​ I highlighted how delaying your email send by one or two minutes can save mountains of headache and regret. This month, listening to one of my favorite podcasters ​Gretchen Rubin​, I heard her tip to also update your "Reply All" settings. There are times that "Reply All" is NOT what you intended to hit, so making sure the default Reply is not "Reply All" can help reduce another type of headache and regret! Here's an example of how to ​change those defaults in Office 365​.

What Resources have you found that have helped you start, run, or grow your business? Feature it (and a callout to your business!) in our next Resources Newsletter!

What due dates are coming up in February?

Now’s the time to prep your February Calendar! #BeThatBusiness that is organized! Here are some February due dates that might affect your business:

• If you have employees, February 15th is the due date for your payroll source deductions relating to January's payroll. (in 2025, Feb 15th falls on a Saturday, so ​Feb 17th is the Due Date in 2025​)
• If you have employees, then you likely are registered for provincial Workplace Insurance (WSIB/WCB). WCB in some provinces is due monthly, and on the 15th.
• If you are in a province that has PST, make a note of what your PST due date is, it may be monthly.
• T4s are due to be filed for your employees on or before February 28th. If you used a payroll provider, make sure they will be filing your ​Employee’s T4s​ for you. If you use payroll software, there may be some extra steps for you to do. In Quickbooks, it’s a ​simple .xml file to upload​! Then you can print the Employee’s copy right from Quickbooks! If you did your payroll for your employees manually, and are curious how to file them online using CRA’s webforms, here’s ​a handy dandy video​ I made a few years ago on how to do that. When you use CRA’s webforms to manually file, you can print a copy from there to hand out to your employees. ​
• T4As are also due on or before Feb 28th. ​T4As​ are the income slips that you issue to independent workers who are not an employee, such as contractors who received a commission. ​
• T5s are also due on or before Feb 28th. ​T5s​ report various types of investment income. They also can declare dividend income (and shareholder draws) for shareholders of a corporation, and are done by your accountant. Your accountant will need to see your financials to see what needs to be issued, so now is the time to finalize your 2023 bookkeeping and share with your accountant so they can prepare and file your T5s on time. ​
• If you are a charity, then Feb 28th is also when your ​donation receipts​ are due to be issued. A reminder for the 2024/2025 donation years; ​CRA has announced the charitable donation deadline for the 2024 year has been extended to Feb 28th 2025.​ ​
• March 3rd 2025 is the ​Deadline for Contributing to an RRSP for the 2024 Tax Year​. (Not February due date, but very soon after February ends!) ​
• If you business is incorporated, and owed greater than $3k in corporate Income Tax for the previous fiscal year, then it is required to pay instalments for next year on the last day of every month. February 28th is the due date for the ​February Corporate Tax Instalment​. ​
• If your Corporation is federally incorporated, you must file with Corporations Canada every year. Though they call it an "annual return" this is not the Corporate Tax Return (T2) that you must file with CRA every year. The filing deadline is 60 days following a corporation's anniversary date. Find out more ​here​. ​
• Though there are no other standard items due at the end of this month, be aware that if your Sales Tax filing is monthly, January's GST/HST filing and remittance is due on February 29th. If your Sales Tax quarterly filing is on a different schedule because of a corporate fiscal year end date that is not standard, the GST/HST for a quarter November to January would be due Feb 28th. Also, if your Corporate Fiscal Year End is August, your Corporate Tax Return is due 6 months after your Fiscal Year end (February). If your Corporate Year End is December, the Income Tax Payable is payable 2 or 3 months after the Fiscal Year End; either due February or March, depending on your corporation. Check in with your accountant to find out more about your corporate tax due dates specific to your corporation.​

Announcements & Updates​

Canadian Payroll Basics - This month I published a ​video​ that gives an overview about the basics of Canadian Payroll and payroll source deductions, explains how CRA's Payroll Deductions Online Calculator and the TD1 forms work, and walks us through the Manual Employee Payroll Tracker spreadsheet. What I found interesting is how, when I was explaining CRA's Payroll Deductions Online Calculator, I felt the need to deep dive into how the TD1s work. And that created a great resource for explaining to employees why it is so important to fill out the TD1s if they have multiple employers, and how to do it! This video cracks the hood on payroll calculators (including how other apps do it) and demystifies how those payroll calculators calculate the taxes to be deducted!

Be Intentional Today!
Get out there, and Be That Business That Thrives!
Naomi Wilkins

Disclaimer: This Newsletter is intended to inform readers in general terms. It is not intended to provide any tax or business advice. Please consult your accountant if you have any questions about your unique situation. While we have tried to ensure the accuracy of the information in this article, we accept no liability for errors or omissions.