--- title: "CRA Forms Explained: What Each Form Is, Who Files and When" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms description: "Plain explanations of the CRA forms small corporations actually meet — what each one does, who signs it, when it is due. See what filing late costs." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-02 summary: "Each page below covers one CRA form: what it does, who signs it, when it is due, what has to be attached, and what it costs if it is filed late. Every deadline is taken from a CRA source, which is linked on the page." faq_count: 4 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) CRA forms Reference # CRA forms, explained Updated 2 October 2026 The CRA forms an owner-managed business actually meets, each explained in plain English: what it is for, who files it, when it is due, and what happens if it is filed late or not at all. **Quick answer:** Each page below covers one CRA form: what it does, who signs it, when it is due, what has to be attached, and what it costs if it is filed late. Every deadline is taken from a CRA source, which is linked on the page. If the form you need is not here yet, ask and it will be written. [Ask about a form](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question). ## Elections An election changes how a transaction is taxed, and dates are strict. A late, amended or revoked section 85 election costs the lesser of $8,000 and $100 per complete month; a late capital dividend election costs the lesser of 1% a year of the dividend and $500 a year, pro-rated by month. [Your CRA notice of assessment line by line](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/cra-notice-of-assessment-explained) [Petty cash and reimbursing yourself what the CRA expects to see](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/petty-cash-and-owner-reimbursements-canada) [CRA collections what happens next](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/cra-collections-what-happens-next) [T2057 — The Section 85 Rollover Election](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t2057) [T2054 — The Capital Dividend Election](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t2054) [T2200 — Declaration of Conditions of Employment](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t2200) [T2125 — Reporting Self-Employed Business Income](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t2125) [AUT-01 — AUT-01: Authorizing Your Accountant (and RC59)](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/aut-01) [GST20 — Changing Your GST/HST Reporting Period](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/gst20) [GST44 — Buying a Business Without Paying GST](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/gst44) [T2091(IND) — Designating a Principal Residence](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t2091) [T1135 — Foreign Income Verification](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t1135) [T5013 — The Partnership Information Return](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t5013) [T5018 — Contract Payments in Construction](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t5018) [NR4 — Payments to Non-Residents](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/nr4) [T5008 — Securities Transactions](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t5008) [T4A — Fees for Services and Other Income](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t4a) [T5 — The Investment Income Slip](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/t5) [GST34 — The GST/HST Return](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/gst34) [PD7A — Payroll Remittances Explained](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/pd7a) [RC4288 — Requesting Taxpayer Relief](https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms/rc4288) [Put a single question to a CPA](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) ## Why the form number matters Tax writing is usually organized by concept: rollovers, capital dividends, worker classification. Forms arrive differently: as a number with a deadline, often from someone who assumes you know it. No single factor decides it. The CRA weighs all of them together. These pages are organized the other way round: by the number in your hand. If you are asking what is a CRA form for, each page below answers it for one form: what it does, who files it, and when it is due. ## What being late actually costs Most forms here are elections, which are not returns. A late return draws a penalty based on tax owing. Some elections cannot be filed late at all; the rest carry their own penalty and the CRA’s discretion. So these deserve their own pages. A late [T2](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-income-tax-return.html) is expensive; a missed section 85 election can make a planned tax-deferred transfer fully taxable, on a gain never received in cash. The paperwork is trivial. Forgetting it is not. ## Working out which one applies to you If a transaction is planned, the form follows: assets into a corporation means T2057, an asset sale of a business GST44, the non-taxable half of a capital gain T2054. If someone has named a form, each page starts with what it does and who signs it, so you can tell quickly whether it is yours. Unlisted forms are left out on purpose. This set covers what an owner-managed corporation meets; large-corporation and specialized-sector forms are not here. ## Common questions about CRA forms **How do I know which CRA form I need?** If a transaction is planned, the form follows: assets into a corporation means T2057, an asset sale of a business GST44. If someone named a form, its page says what it does and who signs. [Ask about your case →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/quick-question) **What happens if I file an election late?** It depends. Some elections cannot be filed late; others can, within a set window, with a penalty, at the CRA’s discretion. That is how they differ from returns, where lateness is priced, not fatal. **Do I file these with my T2?** Not usually, and assuming so is a common way elections go late. Several attach to whichever party has the earliest filing deadline, some are filed on their own, and one — T2200 — is never filed at all, only kept. **Why is this list short?** It covers the forms an owner-managed corporation actually meets. Forms belonging to large-corporation reporting or to specialized sectors are deliberately left out rather than listed thinly. ## How to read a CRA form number The prefix tells you which system the form belongs to, which is usually enough to work out who files it and when. What CRA form prefixes mean | Prefix | What it belongs to | | T1 | The personal return and its schedules | | T2 | The corporate return, and most corporate elections | | T3 | Trust returns and trust reporting | | T4 / T5 | Information slips — what was paid to someone, reported to both them and the CRA | | GST / RC | GST/HST forms, and general business account administration | | AUT | Authorisation — who may deal with the CRA on your behalf | A four-digit number after a T2 prefix is very often an *election* rather than a return, and elections behave differently from everything else on this list. ## Why elections are the ones that hurt A late return is just late, penalized on tax owing. An **election** only changes how a transaction is taxed if filed on time in the prescribed form. Miss it and the transaction is taxed as if you intended nothing: a rollover becomes a sale at fair market value, a capital dividend an ordinary taxable one. Hence the precise deadlines, several outside filing season. The capital dividend election is due by the day the dividend becomes payable under the directors’ resolution. The section 85 election is due with the earliest return of *anyone* party to the transfer, often an individual. Almost every form here is filed as part of a larger engagement rather than on its own; [the year-round accounting these forms belong to](https://www.everstonecpa.com/accounting-services) is what that looks like. If the CRA accepts a late section 85 election, it charges the lesser of $8,000 and $100 per complete month from the original due date until it gets a satisfactory request, and usually will not process it until paid. A late capital dividend election has its own, usually smaller, penalty: the lesser of 1% a year of the dividend and $500 a year, pro-rated by month. ## What we actually do with these None of these is filed casually. Each follows a decision, such as incorporating a business, paying a capital dividend, selling a company or hiring a first employee, as its last step. So the real question is rarely “how do I complete this box”, but whether the election is right, its conditions are met and the date has not passed. Check all three before filing. Holding a form and a deadline? Elections are date-driven, and the penalty runs by the month. Email us before the date rather than after — we quote the work in writing first. [Email us about a CRA form](https://www.everstonecpa.com/email-us) --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/forms Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online