Year-end checklist for BC small businesses: 2026 to 2027 deadlines

Year-end is when small problems in the books turn into expensive ones. A missed bill changes your profit, an unreconciled card hides personal spending, and a late slip brings a penalty. This checklist is written for BC businesses with a calendar year-end of December 31, 2026, the most common one for small companies. If your year-end is different, the same steps apply; move the dates.

Part 1: close the books

1. Reconcile every bank, credit card, loan and payment processor account to its December 31 statement.
2. Record all sales invoiced in 2026 and match the payments received. List customers who still owe you, and write off what will not be collected, with your accountant's advice.
3. Record every 2026 bill, including those that arrive in January for December work. List what you still owe suppliers.
4. Count inventory, if you hold any, at December 31.
5. List assets bought or sold in 2026 (equipment, vehicles, computers) with dates and amounts, for capital cost allowance.
6. Separate personal spending from business spending, and record shareholder loans or owner draws properly.
7. Check sales tax: GST/HST and PST collected and paid agree with the returns filed for the year.
8. Lock the year once it is reviewed, so nothing changes after your accountant starts.

Part 2: payroll year-end

• T4 and T4A slips and summaries are due by the last day of February. For 2026 slips that is February 28, 2027, a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday, March 1, 2027 (CRA).
• WorkSafeBC: report your 2026 payroll. Quarterly payers reconcile the year by February 28. Annual payers get a due date in early March. From 2026, the reports are online only (WorkSafeBC).
• BC Employer Health Tax: if your 2026 BC payroll was over $1,000,000, the return and final payment are due March 31, 2027. First-time payers had to register by December 31, 2026. At $1,000,000 or less there is no tax (BC Ministry of Finance).
• Check the 2027 CPP, EI and tax tables before the first January payroll.

Part 3: sales tax

Part 4: corporate income tax

The T2 return is due six months after year-end: June 30, 2027 for a December 31, 2026 year-end (CRA). The tax itself is due earlier. For most corporations the balance is due two months after year-end, February 28, 2027 (moving to March 1 because of the weekend). A Canadian-controlled private corporation gets three months, March 31, 2027, if it claimed the small business deduction for the current or previous year and its taxable income (with associated corporations) for the previous year was within the business limit (CRA).

Part 5: sole proprietors

If you are self-employed and not incorporated, your 2026 income tax return is due June 15, 2027, but any balance owing is due April 30, 2027. The same bookkeeping steps apply: reconcile, record everything, and separate personal from business spending.

Before December 31: decisions to discuss with your accountant

Some year-end choices have to be made before the year closes, and they belong in a conversation with your accountant, not a checklist. Bring the numbers to that conversation: an up-to-date profit and loss for the year so far is what makes it useful.

• How the owner is paid for the year: salary, dividends or a mix. Salary creates payroll obligations and T4s; dividends create T5s.
• Equipment or vehicles you plan to buy, and whether timing matters for your tax.
• Bonuses to staff, and when they are paid.
• Shareholder loans that need to be repaid or cleared.
• Bad debts: invoices that will not be collected.

Common year-end mistakes we fix

• December bills recorded in January, which overstates profit for the year.
• Credit cards not reconciled, so personal and business spending are mixed.
• Payment processor fees missing, because deposits were recorded net.
• GST/HST returns that do not agree with the books, because of late changes to filed periods.
• Loan payments recorded entirely as expense, instead of interest and principal.
• Assets bought in the year expensed instead of recorded as assets.

What to hand your accountant

• Trial balance, balance sheet and profit and loss at December 31, 2026
• Bank, card and loan reconciliations with the December statements
• Lists of receivables and payables, inventory count and asset additions
• GST/HST and PST returns filed for the year, with the reconciliation to the books
• Payroll summary, T4 totals and WorkSafeBC report
• Shareholder loan or owner draw schedule, and anything unusual from the year

On our Growth plan this is the year-end package, prepared from books we have kept closed every month. Bookkeeping is not the same as accounting: your accountant still prepares the financial statements and tax return. Our guide to bookkeepers and accountants explains who does what.

Questions

Sources

1. CRA: 2026 tax deadlines for businesses and self-employed individuals
2. CRA: When to file your corporation income tax return
3. CRA: Balance-due day
4. BC Ministry of Finance: Employer Health Tax overview
5. WorkSafeBC: Dates and deadlines
6. BC Ministry of Finance: Reporting and paying PST