Ontario EHT annual return: the 2026 return is due March 15, 2027

When is each EHT return and payment due?

The annual return and any balance owing are due on or before March 15 of the year after the payroll year, so the 2026 return is due Monday, March 15, 2027 ontario.ca. When a due date lands on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, a return or payment is on time if the Ministry of Finance receives it by the next business day ontario.ca. March 15, 2026 was a Sunday, so the 2025 return was on time through Monday, March 16, 2026.

The final return, amalgamation and four year correction rules all come from Ontario's filing guidance ontario.ca. The allocation form for an associated group goes in by the return's due date forms.mgcs.gov.on.ca.

Who has to file an annual return?

As of October 2026, an employer must file a 2026 annual return if any one of these applies: its Ontario payroll is over its exemption amount (prorated for a part year employer), it received a personalized return, it can't claim the exemption and has any Ontario payroll, it remitted instalments for the year, or it belongs to an associated group whose combined Ontario payroll is over the exemption amount ontario.ca.

The exemption is $1 million, and it disappears entirely for an employer, or an associated group combined, with more than $5 million of Ontario payroll ontario.ca. The group rule is the one that catches small companies: a member with $80,000 of payroll still files if the group is over $1 million. How the group splits the exemption is on the EHT exemption page.

Two more traps. Each EHT account with taxable Ontario remuneration needs its own annual return, and one missing member on the group's allocation form denies the exemption to every employer in the group ontario.ca. An employer that has to file but has no account must register first, which it can do online or by phone at 1 866 668 8297 ontario.ca.

When does a client start paying monthly instalments?

Monthly instalments apply for 2021 and later years when total Ontario remuneration is over $1.2 million. Below that, there are no instalments and the whole year's tax is paid with the return by March 15. The rate is set by total payroll before the exemption, and the top rate is 1.95% on payroll over $400,000 ontario.ca. The full rate bands are on the exemption page.

An eligible employer holds back instalments until year to date payroll passes its allocated exemption ontario.ca. Ontario's method is to track cumulative payroll each month; once it passes $1.2 million, remit tax on everything above $1 million by the 15th of the next month, then tax on each later month's payroll ontario.ca.

Worked example: a client with one EHT account pays $150,000 of Ontario remuneration every month in 2026, $1,800,000 for the year, so its rate is 1.95%.

The 2026 return shows tax of $15,600 (1.95% of $800,000), less $15,600 of instalments, so nothing is owing. It still has to be filed by March 15, 2027, because the client remitted instalments. A client with $1,100,000 of payroll owes $1,950 (1.95% of $100,000) but pays no instalments: the whole amount goes with the return.

What does a late return or a wrong number cost?

Ontario charges penalties on the amount owing, not a flat fee, and interest runs on top ontario.ca.

Worked example: a client owes $10,000 on its 2026 return and files it July 20, 2027, four complete months after March 15. The penalty is 9% (5% plus 4 x 1%), or $900. A repeat offender pays 18% (10% plus 4 x 2%), or $1,800.

Interest is charged at a rate the Ministry of Finance sets and can change every three months, in January, April, July and October ontario.ca. For October 1 to December 31, 2026, Ontario's rate on taxes owed to the ministry is 7%, compounded daily, and it pays 1% on overpayments data.ontario.ca. An instalment that arrives late draws interest from its due date ontario.ca.

How do you file and pay the return?

File and pay in ONT-TAXS online. The EHT Annual Return Portal files a return without a payment and needs no login, and a paper return goes to the Ministry of Finance, 33 King Street West, PO Box 620, Oshawa ON L1H 8E9 ontario.ca. A client that never got its return can view it in ONT-TAXS or call 1 866 668 8297 for a copy ontario.ca.

Payment options include debit in ONT-TAXS, online banking with the Ministry of Finance as payee, wire transfer, a cheque payable to the Minister of Finance, or in person at a Ministry of Finance office. From December 1, 2026, banks stop accepting paper remittance vouchers for in person bill payments, so clients who pay at the branch need a new method before the 2026 return is due ontario.ca.

Ontario's line by line guide to the return is form 013-2272, "How to complete your EHT return" ontario.ca.

What changes when a client closes, sells or amalgamates?

An employer that ends its Ontario permanent establishment, amalgamates or stops having Ontario employees must tell the Ministry of Finance. A closing employer files a final return within 40 days of the closure date, covering the part of the year it paid payroll. For amalgamations from 2026 on, the predecessor's final return is due within 6 months of the amalgamation or by March 15 of the following year, whichever is earlier, with any balance paid ontario.ca.

On that final return, the predecessor prorates both the $5 million threshold and the $1 million exemption by its eligible days in the year ontario.ca. A company that operated until March 31, 2026 (90 days) caps its exemption at $246,575 ($1,000,000 x 90/365) ontario.ca.

A share sale is different. A change in shareholders doesn't change the legal entity or its EHT account, so no final return is needed ontario.ca. The buyer's group may change, though, which affects how the exemption is shared that year: see associated corporations.