Year-End Tax Checklist for Ontario Wellness Clinic Owners (2026)

Understanding Your Year-End Timeline

Ontario wellness clinic owners face three parallel year-end tracks, each with its own deadlines. Mixing them up — or missing one — is the most common year-end mistake.

Track 1: Payroll filings (T4 and T4A). If you have employees or paid unincorporated contractors, T4s and T4As must be filed by the last day of February regardless of your fiscal year-end. For the 2025 calendar year, that deadline is February 28, 2026.

Track 2: Corporate tax (T2). If your clinic is incorporated, your T2 return is due six months after your fiscal year-end. Your tax balance is due two to three months after year-end — before the T2 itself.

Track 3: Personal tax (T1). As a business owner or self-employed practitioner, your T1 personal return is due June 15, but any balance owing must be paid by April 30 to avoid interest.

Running these tracks simultaneously — especially February through April — is where most clinic owners feel the year-end squeeze.

Before Your Year-End Date

Good year-end outcomes are built in the months before your fiscal year closes. The following should be done or confirmed before your year-end date:

Books current to within the last month. If your books are significantly behind, the year-end cleanup will be expensive and rushed. Aim to have all transactions reconciled through at least the previous month before your year-end.

Review accounts receivable. Confirm that outstanding insurance claims (WSIB, MVA, extended health) are tracked as receivables. Untracked receivables understate your year-end revenue. Review the aging of outstanding claims — any claims older than 90 days need follow-up.

Review outstanding invoices. If you have unpaid patient balances, decide whether they are collectible. Uncollectible receivables can be written off as bad debt, which reduces your taxable income.

Confirm associate payment totals. Total all payments made to each unincorporated contractor in the calendar year. Anyone paid $500 or more needs a T4A. Run this number before December 31 so there are no surprises in February.

Make eligible purchases before year-end. If you are planning to buy equipment, upgrade software, or make other business purchases, completing those before your fiscal year-end means the expense deduction falls in the current tax year rather than the next.

RRSP planning. For sole proprietors, determine whether making a final RRSP contribution before the March 3 deadline makes sense given your expected net income. For incorporated practitioners, consider whether salary vs. dividend mix should be adjusted before year-end to maximize RRSP room.

January–February: Gather and Organize

The weeks immediately after your fiscal year-end are for gathering the documentation your accountant needs.

Bank and credit card statements. All business bank accounts and credit cards — December (or last month of fiscal year) statements confirmed and reconciled.

Jane App or Cliniko year-end reports. Pull the annual summary reports: total revenue by payment type, insurance payment summaries, outstanding claims. These are the primary source documents for confirming your annual revenue figures.

HST records. If you are registered for HST, confirm that all HST returns for the year have been filed and that HST collected vs. remitted is reconciled. Your HST account balance should be zero if all returns are filed and paid.

Business expense receipts. Any expenses paid personally for business purposes should be submitted for reimbursement or recorded as owner’s contributions before year-end. Organize receipts by category matching your chart of accounts.

Loan and financing statements. Year-end balances for any business loans, equipment financing, or lines of credit. These affect your balance sheet and interest deduction.

Shareholder loan balance (incorporated clinics). Your shareholder loan account tracks all money taken from or put into the corporation outside of salary and dividends. This balance must be resolved — either repaid, or included as income — within specific CRA timelines.

T4s and T4As: What You Need to File

T4 — Employment Income

If you have employees, you must issue T4 slips and file a T4 Summary with CRA by February 28, 2026 for the 2025 calendar year.

T4s are required for:

• All employees paid wages or salary
• Yourself, if you paid yourself a salary from your corporation

The T4 reports employment income, CPP contributions, EI premiums, and income tax deducted. Your payroll software (Payworks, ADP, QuickBooks Payroll) should generate T4s automatically from your payroll records.

T4A — Contractor and Commission Income

T4As are required for unincorporated contractors paid $500 or more in the calendar year. This is the critical filing that clinic owners most commonly miss.

T4As are required for:

• Associate practitioners who work as independent contractors (not employees) and are not incorporated
• Any service provider paid $500+ who is not an employee and does not invoice through a corporation

T4As are not required for:

• Payments to corporations (e.g., an incorporated associate who invoices through their PC)
• Payments for goods (not services)
• Payments to registered partnerships

The T4A reports the total amount paid in Box 048 (fees for services) or other applicable boxes. It does not include CPP or EI (those apply to employees only).

Penalty for missing T4As: $25 per day, minimum $100, maximum $2,500 per type of information return. CRA has been actively pursuing wellness clinics for missing T4As on associate payments.

HST Year-End Reconciliation

If you are registered for HST, year-end includes confirming that your HST account is fully reconciled:

1. All returns filed. Every filing period in the calendar year (or fiscal year) should have a filed return. Confirm no periods are outstanding.

2. HST collected matches revenue. The HST you collected on taxable supplies should match your taxable revenue × 13%. Discrepancies indicate either missing invoices, incorrect tax codes applied in Jane App, or product revenue that was not coded as taxable.

3. ITC claims supported. Input tax credits claimed must be supported by invoices showing the HST paid. Maintain vendor invoices for all ITC claims.

4. Annual filers: year-end return. If you file annually, your HST return for the fiscal year is due three months after your fiscal year-end.

For clinics with mixed exempt/taxable revenue, your accountant should review the annual allocation calculation to confirm ITCs claimed were appropriate.

The Corporate vs. Personal Tax Coordination Problem

For incorporated wellness clinic owners, the most common year-end planning complication is the interaction between corporate and personal tax:

Salary vs. dividend decision. The mix of salary and dividends you take from your corporation affects your personal tax, RRSP contribution room, and CPP contributions. This decision is ideally made before year-end — once January arrives, the options narrow.

Corporate year-end precedes T1 planning. If your corporate fiscal year-end is December 31, your T2 is due June 30 but your T1 is due June 15. Your personal tax return depends on knowing your corporate salary and dividends — which are finalized during the T2 preparation. This creates a compressed window in the spring.

Eligible dividend vs. non-eligible dividend. Dividends paid from active business income taxed at the small business rate are “non-eligible dividends” — they carry a lower dividend tax credit than “eligible dividends” paid from income taxed at the general corporate rate. Your accountant should be tracking which type of dividends you are paying.

What to Send Your Accountant

To prepare your year-end efficiently, organize and send the following:

Financial records:

• Year-end bank and credit card statements (all accounts)
• Year-end Jane App or Cliniko revenue reports
• List of all equipment or asset purchases in the year (with invoices)
• Loan statements showing year-end balances
• HST filing history and year-end HST account balance

Payroll:

• List of all employees with total wages paid, CPP/EI deducted
• List of all unincorporated contractor payments (name, SIN, total paid)
• Confirmation of payroll remittances made to CRA

Personal (for T1):

• Prior year T1 (if new client)
• T4 from your corporation (if incorporated)
• RRSP contribution receipts
• Any investment income slips (T5, T3)
• Home office square footage (if claiming home office expenses)
• Business use of vehicle records (if applicable)

Incorporated clinics:

• Shareholder loan balance at year-end
• List of dividends declared and paid in the year
• Corporate bank statements and credit card statements

How Wellspring Can Help

Wellspring Accounting prepares year-end filings for Ontario wellness clinics — T4s, T4As, corporate T2 returns, and personal T1s. We also handle the year-end planning work that minimizes what you owe: salary vs. dividend optimization, RRSP contribution strategy, and shareholder loan resolution.

Our year-end process starts in November for December 31 fiscal year-ends — planning before the year closes, not scrambling after it.

Find your practice type and city: chiropractor accounting in Toronto, physiotherapy accounting in Ottawa, naturopathic accounting in Toronto.

Related guides: Bookkeeping for Ontario Wellness Clinics | Incorporating Your Wellness Clinic in Ontario