Partnership Tax Returns (T5013)
A partnership doesn’t pay income tax of its own, but many partnerships still have to file. The T5013 partnership information return tells the CRA what the partnership earned and how that income was split, and it feeds every partner’s own return.
EverStone CPA prepares partnership information returns remotely for partnerships across BC and in Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba online.
Quick answer: A partnership does not pay income tax itself — income flows through to each partner’s own return. Many partnerships must still file a T5013 partnership information return, generally due March 31 after the calendar year in which the fiscal period ended. EverStone prepares T5013 filings and partner slips online.
Partner tax return filing runs on two tracks: the T5013 for the partnership, and each partner’s own return carrying their share.
A partnership is not a separate taxpayer like a corporation. The CRA treats it as a conduit: income and losses are computed at the partnership level and flowed to the partners, who report their share on a T1 (individuals), T2 (corporations) or T3 (trusts). Because the partnership files no income tax return, the CRA sees the numbers and checks consistency through the T5013 partnership information return and the T5013 slips issued to each partner.
Not every partnership files: small ones with only individual partners under the CRA’s thresholds generally do not. But any partnership with a corporation or trust as a partner files regardless of size, which is why so many holding-company joint ventures, professional partnerships and family structures file.
What a partnership information return engagement includes
- A filing assessment — whether the partnership is actually required to file at all
- The T5013 financial return and supporting schedules, prepared from your year-end figures
- Allocation of net income or loss to each partner under the partnership agreement
- T5013 slips prepared and distributed to every partner by the filing deadline
- Coordination with each partner’s T1 or T2 return so the reported shares agree
- Capital cost allowance, adjusted cost base tracking and partner capital account continuity
Who has to file a T5013
The Income Tax Regulations require partnerships carrying on business in Canada and Canadian partnerships to file an information return, but CRA policy narrows that to partnerships meeting any one of these tests.
The size thresholds
A partnership files if, at the end of the fiscal period, the combined absolute value of its revenues and expenses exceeds $2 million, or it has more than $5 million in assets.
A corporation or trust is a partner
A partnership with a corporation or trust as a partner at any time in the fiscal period files, whatever its size. Owners miss this most: two contractors holding their interests through holding companies file from day one.
Tiered partnerships
A partnership that has another partnership as a partner, or is itself a partner in another partnership, files regardless of size. Multi-layer real estate and development structures land here routinely.
Flow-through shares
A partnership that invested in flow-through shares of a principal-business corporation that incurred Canadian resource expenses and renounced them to the partnership must file.
The CRA asks for one
If the Minister of National Revenue requests a return in writing, the partnership files — whether or not any other test is met.
How the asset test is measured
The $5 million asset test uses the worldwide cost of all assets, tangible and intangible, before depreciation, which pushes some asset-heavy partnerships over the line.
One Fraser Valley carve-out: farm partnerships with only individual partners do not file a T5013 for the 2025 fiscal year. With a corporation or trust as a partner, they do, so if your farm operation has incorporated part of the structure, the exemption ends.
When the T5013 is due
The due date depends on who the partners are, one of the few Canadian deadlines that changes with the ownership group. The same date governs delivery of the T5013 slips to each partner; you cannot file on time and send slips later.
All partners are individuals
If every partner is an individual throughout the fiscal period (a trust counts as one), the return is due March 31 after the calendar year in which the fiscal period ended, ahead of the personal deadline so partners get slips in time.
All partners are corporations
If throughout the fiscal period every partner is a corporation, the return is due five months after the end of the partnership’s fiscal period. A December 31 year end means a May 31 filing date; a March 31 year end means August 31.
A mix of the two
Otherwise the return is due on the earlier of March 31 after the calendar year the fiscal period ended in, or five months after the fiscal period end. A partnership of one individual and one holding company gets that tighter date. Due dates on a weekend or CRA-recognized public holiday move to the next business day.
If the partnership winds up
If a partnership stops operating mid-period, outstanding returns are due on the earlier of 90 days after all business or activity ended, or the normal due date. A mid-year wind-up can pull the deadline forward months and create two fiscal periods in one calendar year, with two returns on the accelerated date.
How income reaches the partners
Net income or loss is calculated once, at the partnership level, using its own fiscal period and capital cost allowance claims, then allocated among the partners under the partnership agreement and reported on T5013 slips. The allocation is not automatically equal and does not depend on withdrawals: draws are not income; the allocated share is.
Character flows through with the allocation: business income, capital gains, dividends, charitable donations and resource deductions keep their identity, hence the many boxes on the T5013 slip. A partnership capital gain stays a capital gain for the partner, who also claims partnership donations. Character matters as much as amount, because each type is treated differently.
When the partner is an individual
An individual partner reports the allocated share on the T1 for the tax year in which the partnership’s fiscal period ended. As business income, it brings CPP contributions on self-employment earnings and possibly personal instalments. Partners who paid GST/HST on partnership expenses personally may qualify for a member rebate. This overlaps with personal tax filing; prepare the two together.
When the partner is a corporation
A corporate partner reports its share on its T2 corporate return, where corporate rules apply, including how much qualifies for the small business deduction. Specified partnership income rules stop one business limit from being multiplied across partners.
The corporation’s year end may differ, so the allocation falls in the corporate tax year in which the partnership’s fiscal period ended. Plan the partnership return and the T2 corporate return as one file.
Adjusted cost base and capital accounts
Each partner’s adjusted cost base moves every year: allocated income raises it; allocated losses and withdrawals reduce it. Untracked, the figure needed when an interest is sold or the partnership wound up does not exist and must be rebuilt from incomplete records. A negative adjusted cost base can also trigger a deemed capital gain. Keeping capital accounts current is part of the return.
What happens if the return is late
The partnership pays no tax, but a late return is not harmless. Filing the T5013 partnership information return late, or failing to file or distributing T5013 slips late, costs $25 per day, from a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $2,500. So if you are asking what is the penalty for filing T5013 returns late, it is $25 per day, from a minimum of $100 to a maximum of $2,500.
Repeated failures escalate. If the CRA has assessed a failure-to-file penalty for the fiscal period, formally demanded the return from a partner, and assessed a penalty in any of the three preceding fiscal periods, an extra penalty applies: $100 per member for each month or part month unfiled, up to 24 months. With several members it compounds fast, so bring a lapsed partnership current deliberately.
Working with EverStone, start to finish
We confirm the filing obligation
We test the partnership against each CRA criterion, confirm the fiscal period and due date, then quote a fixed fee in writing.
We prepare the return and the slips
We prepare the financial return and schedules from your year-end figures, allocate income or loss under the partnership agreement, and produce a T5013 slip for every partner.
We tie it to each partner’s return
We make sure the allocated shares carry cleanly into each partner’s T1 or T2, update adjusted cost base continuity, and file electronically.
Partnership work sits alongside bookkeeping, year-end financial statements and the corporate returns of any incorporated partner. If you are still deciding how to hold the business, the comparison in sole proprietor vs corporation is a useful starting point.
Why clients stay with EverStone
Rated 5.0 on Google across 24 client reviews.
“…We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”
“…have been completing my bookkeeping, taxes and financials for the last 2 years and they have been amazing. Thank you!”
“…He is very knowledgeable and has saved me tons in taxes by restructuring my group of companies — the best accountant I’ve worked with in the last 10 years, after switching from three different firms.”
Who this is for, and who it is not
This fits a partnership that knows it has a filing obligation and wants it done properly. It does not fit a two-person company that was never a partnership: if you incorporated, the T2 is your return and the T5013 is not.
Where we work
The fee is the same wherever you are: Accountant in Abbotsford · Chilliwack accounting firm · Accounting firm in Langley · Mission accounting firm · Fraser Valley · Vancouver.
What happens when you get in touch
Partnership returns reward starting early, so here is what the first fortnight looks like.
- A free thirty-minute conversation. What you do, what is filed and what is overdue. You leave with a fixed fee in writing and no obligation to take it.
- Access, in the first week. We are authorized with the CRA, so notices and balances get looked up rather than requested from you. If you are switching firms, your file is requested the same week.
- Current, then ahead. Books set up or brought current, anything overdue scheduled oldest year first, and the next twelve months of deadlines set before they arrive.
Send an enquiry, or ask one question first — both go to a CPA, not a queue.
Partnership return questions
Does a partnership pay income tax?+
Does every partnership have to file a T5013?+
My partner is a holding company. Do we have to file?+
When is the T5013 due?+
What is the penalty for filing late?+
How does the partnership income get onto my own return?+
Do farm partnerships have to file?+
Can you handle the partnership return and each partner’s return?+
Official resource: CRA — T4068, Guide for the Partnership Information Return (T5013 Forms)
Information on this page was last reviewed in . See our how our content is reviewed.
If you are sorting out how a partnership interacts with the rest of your structure, these go further: the year-end checklist for incorporated owners, choosing a corporate fiscal year end, T2 deadlines and what late filing costs, how CRA reviews a small business file.
Whether any of this applies to you turns on your year-end, your structure and what else is in the picture — ask about your own situation and a CPA replies, usually the same business day. Free either way.
Starting fees
Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins.
- Corporate year-end and T2 returnfixed fee, quoted in writingThis page
- Monthly bookkeeping, sales tax filing includedfrom $325 a month
- Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEsincluded in monthly bookkeeping
- Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together$500–$700 a month
- Personal tax return (T1)from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500
- Catch-up bookkeepingfrom $2,200 per year of records
- Controller or CFO supportcontroller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month
- One-off advice call with a CPA$225 plus GST