Ontario released its 2025 Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review — the annual Fall Economic Statement — on November 6, 2025. For a Toronto business owner scanning the headlines, it is easy to assume this is where the broad small business tax cuts eventually confirmed in 2026 originated. It is not. The Fall Statement made two specific, narrower moves: it temporarily richened the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit and topped up a trade-diversification fund for exposed small and medium-sized businesses. Anyone expecting a general corporate rate cut from this document will not find one — that came later, in the 2026 Ontario Budget. Here is what actually changed on November 6, and who in Toronto it applies to.
What the Fall Statement did — and did not — do
Ontario's annual budget cycle has two documents: the spring Budget, and the fall update (the Fall Economic Statement, or "FES"). The 2025 FES explicitly deferred general tax policy: it stated that "an update on the Tax Action Plan will be provided in the 2026 Ontario Budget," which is where the small business corporate income tax rate cut from 3.2% to 2.2% and the business limit increase to $600,000 were ultimately confirmed.
What the November 6 statement did contain were two concrete, narrower measures, both aimed at businesses directly exposed to U.S. tariffs and trade disruption rather than at the broader small business population.
The Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, enhanced
The Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit (OMMITC) — a refundable corporate income tax credit for eligible building and machinery/equipment expenditures used in manufacturing or processing in Ontario — was temporarily richened:
| OMMITC change | Detail |
|---|---|
| Refundable rate for CCPCs | Raised from 10% to 15% for eligible investments made May 15, 2025 through December 31, 2029 |
| New non-refundable credit | 15% version now available to corporations that are not CCPCs (public, foreign-controlled, or non-resident corporations with a permanent establishment in Ontario) |
| Sunset | Refundable OMMITC is scheduled to be repealed effective January 1, 2030; expenditures must be incurred by December 31, 2029 to qualify |
| Review cycle | Government will review OMMITC every three years for effectiveness before the sunset |
For a Toronto-area manufacturer or processor already claiming OMMITC on building or equipment spending, this is worth revisiting directly: a project costed at the old 10% rate may now qualify for 15%, provided the expenditure falls in the May 15, 2025–December 31, 2029 window. The credit was also given more flexibility on timing for machinery and equipment expenditures, closing a gap where an asset purchased in one year but not "available for use" until the next could previously fall outside the eligible year — worth checking against any recent capital purchase that straddled a year-end.
The Ontario Together Trade Fund, topped up
For Toronto-area small and medium-sized businesses trying to diversify away from U.S.-dependent trade relationships, the FES added $100 million to the Ontario Together Trade Fund (OTTF), bringing total program funding to $150 million over three years, starting in 2025–26.
The fund is explicitly aimed at helping SMEs "pivot production, forge new sales partnerships and expand interprovincial trade" — a direct response to the tariff exposure many exporting and cross-border-supplying Toronto businesses have faced through 2025. If your business sells into the U.S. or sources inputs from suppliers who do, this is a funding line worth checking rather than assuming it does not apply to a services or light-manufacturing operation.
Why the distinction between the Fall Statement and the Budget matters
The practical risk for a Toronto owner-manager is conflating "Ontario announced tax relief in November" with "my corporate tax rate changed in November." It did not. The Fall Statement's business-facing measures are sector-specific: OMMITC applies only to manufacturing and processing investment, and the OTTF top-up applies only to businesses applying for that specific trade-diversification funding. Neither reduces the general or small business corporate income tax rate a typical Toronto retailer, professional services firm, or contractor pays. Those broader rate changes — the small business rate falling to 2.2% and the business limit rising to $600,000 — were confirmed separately in the 2026 Budget and phase in on their own schedule (the limit from January 1, 2026, the rate cut from July 1, 2026). See our Ontario corporate tax guide for how those changes interact with your T2 filing.
What Toronto-area business owners should do
- If you manufacture or process in Ontario: check whether recent or planned building or machinery/equipment spending falls in the May 15, 2025–December 31, 2029 window, and confirm your accountant is applying the 15% rate rather than the old 10% rate for eligible CCPC expenditures.
- If you export, or your suppliers do: look at whether the Ontario Together Trade Fund's expanded $150 million envelope has an application stream relevant to diversifying your customer or supplier base away from U.S. tariff exposure.
- If you run a services, retail, or non-manufacturing business: the November statement does not change your corporate tax rate — do not adjust instalments or year-end planning based on it. The relevant rate changes are already confirmed for 2026 and are worth modelling with our corporate tax calculator.
- If you're deciding whether to incorporate or restructure before year-end: the small business limit increase and rate cut are both fixed and dated, not proposals — see our guide to incorporating a business in Ontario for how the timing lines up with a new or existing corporation.
Key takeaways
- Ontario's 2025 Fall Economic Statement was published November 6, 2025 and explicitly deferred general corporate tax policy to the 2026 Budget — it did not cut small business or general corporate tax rates.
- The Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit rose from 10% to 15% (refundable) for CCPCs, with a new 15% non-refundable version for non-CCPCs, for eligible investments from May 15, 2025 to December 31, 2029.
- The Ontario Together Trade Fund was topped up by $100 million to a total of $150 million over three years, aimed at SMEs diversifying away from U.S. tariff exposure.
- The small business rate cut to 2.2% and the $600,000 business limit — the changes most Toronto owner-managers actually care about — came from the 2026 Budget, not this Fall Statement, and phase in on their own dated schedule.
- Manufacturing and trade-exposed businesses have real, dated measures to act on now; every other Toronto business should wait for the 2026 rate changes rather than reacting to November headlines.
If you need help separating which 2025–2026 Ontario tax announcements actually affect your business from those that don't, RN Canada works with Toronto-area owner-managed businesses remotely from our Edmonton and Vancouver offices on exactly this kind of corporate tax planning.