Year-End Tax Checklist for Ontario Wellness Clinics (2026–2027)

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 and fees-for-services information returns (T4 and T4A). T4s and applicable T4As must be filed by the last day of February regardless of your fiscal year-end. For the 2025 calendar year, the deadline moved to Monday, March 2, 2026 because February 28 was a Saturday. For the 2026 calendar year, February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so the CRA’s next-business-day rule makes the deadline Monday, March 1, 2027 under current rules.

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). A self-employed individual generally files by June 15, but any balance owing is generally due April 30. For 2025 returns those dates were June 15, 2026 and April 30, 2026. Under current rules, the corresponding dates for 2026 returns are June 15, 2027 and April 30, 2027.

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 service-provider payment totals. Total fees paid to each contractor or incorporated service provider in the calendar year. Fees for services exceeding $500 are generally reported in box 048 of a T4A. Do not assume that an incorporated payee is automatically excluded; confirm the correct slip treatment and collect the identifying information needed to file before year-end.

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 contributions. The deadline to contribute for the 2025 tax year was March 2, 2026. Under the current first-60-days rule, the corresponding deadline for the 2026 tax year is March 1, 2027; confirm that date once CRA publishes its tax-year-specific notice. RRSP contribution room is generally based on prior-year earned income, subject to the annual dollar limit and adjustments. Salary can generate RRSP contribution room; dividends do not.

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. For the 2025 calendar year, the deadline was March 2, 2026. For the 2026 calendar year, the deadline is March 1, 2027 under the CRA’s next-business-day rule.

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

Fees for services that exceed $500 in the calendar year are generally reported in box 048 of a T4A. This is a filing area clinic owners commonly miss.

The fees-for-services reporting rule can apply to:

• Associate practitioners who work as independent contractors rather than employees
• Practitioners who invoice through their own corporations
• Other businesses paid for services, depending on the nature and amount of the payment

Payments for goods alone are not fees for services. Mixed invoices and partnership arrangements need to be assessed on their facts rather than being treated as automatically exempt from reporting.

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 exposure: Late information-return penalties are graduated by the number of slips and days late. Although the CRA has historically provided administrative relief for failures to complete box 048 in many sectors, that is not the same as repealing the reporting requirement and should not be treated as permanent.

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. One exception: an unincorporated sole proprietor with a December 31 year-end files by June 15, but any HST owing is still due April 30 — the same file-later-pay-earlier split as the personal return.

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: chiropractic, physiotherapy, and naturopathic accounting.

Related guides: Bookkeeping for Ontario Wellness Clinics | Should I incorporate my clinic?