September 30 marks the end of the third quarter. For Canadian small business owners, that means October comes with real deadlines — not suggestions.

Here are the two dates to put on your calendar:

October 15 — payroll remittances due. If you have employees, the income tax, CPP, and EI you withheld from September paycheques must reach CRA by October 15. (This is the schedule for most small and mid-sized businesses.)

October 31 — GST/HST return due for July–September. If you file HST quarterly — the most common schedule for small businesses — your return covering July through September is due October 31, along with any amount owing.

What happens if you miss them? CRA charges interest on overdue amounts — currently 7% per year, compounding daily — plus late-filing penalties. A return you meant to file “next week” gets expensive fast.

3 things to do this week:

1. Reconcile September now. Match your bank and credit card statements against your sales and expenses for July–September, so your HST return is ready before the 31st — not the night of the 30th.

2. Set aside the HST you collected. The HST sitting in your business account is not your money — it’s CRA’s, held in trust. Move it to a separate savings account each month so the October payment doesn’t hurt.

3. Check your payroll remittance. If you ran payroll in September, confirm the deductions were sent by October 15. Late remittances are one of the most common — and most avoidable — penalties CRA issues.

The question every growing business asks

This week, a new business owner’s post in a 94,000-member business group drew 22 comments asking: “At what point does my business need an accountant or bookkeeper?”

Here’s a plain-English answer. You don’t need a certain revenue number. You need help when deadlines keep sneaking up on you, when you’re spending evenings catching up on records, or when you’re making business decisions without knowing your real numbers.

That’s the sign. A bookkeeper keeps your records clean month by month, so October 31 is a routine filing instead of a scramble — and your tax preparer gets accurate numbers instead of a shoebox of receipts.

TFB Tax & Bookkeeping helps small businesses across the GTA stay on top of exactly this: monthly bookkeeping from $89/month (first month free), personal tax returns from $89, corporate returns from $899. Call or WhatsApp FEIFEI at 437-879-6899, or visit taxfinbiz.com.