We don’t file tax returns for our clients, but we understand that in the good old days, you could write “Final Return” on the tax form and CRA would leave you alone. Then, the provincial Ministry, if it was an Ontario corporation, might strike your corporation off the register of corporations for failure to file its Annual Returns for several years. That was certainly a low cost approach for dealing with defunct Ontario corporations that had no assets or liabilities.
Now, it appears that CRA require you to formally dissolve your corporation if you want to be relieved of ongoing tax return filing obligations. This can be done a couple of ways: by you doing the simple paperwork yourself, or having your lawyer do it for you. If someone other than a Director or Officer is doing the dissolution, you must document the authority of the other person to file the papers on your behalf. Some CPAs are doing dissolutions – imagine that, CPAs practicing law!