These schedules must be used by corporations that are incorporated, continued or amalgamated in Ontario under the Ontario Business Corporations Act (BCA) or Ontario Corporations Act, except for registered charities as defined in the federal Income Tax Act, and whose taxation year ends after December 31, 2008.
Schedule 546 is applicable when the answer to the question Is the corporation incorporated in Ontario under the Business Corporations Act or the Corporations Act? is “Yes” and when the answer to the question Were Schedules 546 and 547 filed or will they be filed electronically with the Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS)? is “No.” These questions are located above Section 1 in Schedule 546. As for Schedule 547, it is applicable when Schedule 546 is applicable and that, in the latter, the code “2” is entered on line 300.
By default, the answer to the question Is the corporation incorporated in Ontario under the Business Corporations Act or the Corporations Act? is “Yes” when it is indicated that the corporation is incorporated under the Ontario laws, it has a permanent establishment in that province and that it is not a registered charity in Form Corporate Identification and Other Information (Jump Code: ID). If you’ve never answered this question for the filing corporation, the jurisdiction will default to “Federal” and Schedules 546 and 547 will not be applicable.
The Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS) cannot accept an annual return for Ontario corporations for amalgamated corporations from the time that the records of such corporations indicate that the corporation is amalgamated. Because the program does not have access to this information, Schedules 546 and 547 are applicable even in the case where the return indicates that this is the last taxation year before amalgamation.
When the MGS receives an amalgamation notification for a given corporation, you do not have to file Schedules 546-547 for this corporation. In this situation, you can answer “Yes” to the question Were Schedules 546 and 547 filed or will they be filed electronically with the Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS)?, located at the top of Schedule 546, in order for these schedules not to be applicable. In the event where these schedules have already been filed and where you received a letter from the MGS indicating that the annual return cannot be accepted, follow the instructions in this letter.
The corporation resulting from the amalgamation is required to file an annual return for Ontario corporations with its Corporation Income Tax return.
Corporations that must complete Schedules 546 and 547 are able to file them electronically using one of the service providers that have a contract with the Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS), instead of filing them with the T2 return. If the corporation wants to take advantage of this possibility, it must answer “Yes” to the question Were Schedules 546 and 547 filed or will they be filed electronically with the Ontario Ministry of Government Services (MGS) and it must not complete Schedules 546 and 547 in the program.
Please note that a corporation that is incorporated, continued, or amalgamated in a jurisdiction outside Canada with a licence under the Extra-Provincial Corporations Act to carry on a business in Ontario must file Schedule 548, Corporations Information Act Annual Return for Foreign Business Corporations (Jump Code: 548) and not Schedule 546 and 547.
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