Ontario corporations planning a building purchase, construction project, or major renovation outside the Greater Toronto Area have a hard deadline closing in. The Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit (ROITC) — a 10% refundable corporate tax credit that has offset qualifying capital investment in designated regions of the province since 2020 — is being repealed effective January 1, 2027. Only expenditures incurred, with the property available for use, on or before December 31, 2026 will continue to qualify. For a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) mid-way through planning a facility expansion in an eligible region, that gives roughly three and a half months to lock in the credit before it disappears.
What the ROITC is, while it still exists
The ROITC is a 10% refundable Corporate Income Tax credit available to CCPCs that invest more than $50,000, up to a limit of $500,000 in eligible expenditures per taxation year, to construct, renovate, or acquire eligible commercial and industrial buildings — property that falls into Capital Cost Allowance Class 1 or Class 6 — in a designated region of Ontario. Because it's refundable, a corporation can receive the credit even if it has no Ontario tax payable for the year. The maximum credit available to a single corporation (or an associated group) in a taxation year is $45,000. Residential buildings don't qualify, and the property must become available for use on or after March 25, 2020, which was the credit's original start date.
Source: Government of Ontario — Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit.
Which regions actually qualify
This is where many Toronto and GTA-based advisors miss the relevance: the credit was never available for investment inside the City of Toronto or most of the inner GTA. It's targeted at regions of the province where employment growth lagged the provincial average between 2009 and 2019. In Northern Ontario, that covers the Districts of Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury (together with the City of Greater Sudbury), Thunder Bay, and Timiskaming. In Southern and Eastern Ontario, eligible areas include the County of Bruce, the County of Elgin (with the City of St. Thomas), the County of Essex (with the City of Windsor), the County of Frontenac (with the City of Kingston), the County of Grey, the County of Haliburton, the County of Hastings (with Belleville and Quinte West), the County of Huron, the County of Lambton, the County of Lanark (with Smiths Falls), the County of Lennox and Addington, the County of Middlesex (with the City of London), the District of Muskoka, the County of Northumberland, the County of Oxford, the County of Perth (with Stratford and St. Marys), the County of Peterborough, the County of Prince Edward, the County of Renfrew (with Pembroke), the Municipality of Chatham-Kent, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.
For an Ontario advisory practice, the practical relevance is less about where a business is headquartered and more about where it's building or buying: a GTA-based manufacturer opening a second plant in London, Kingston, or Sudbury is exactly the kind of investment this credit was designed for — and exactly the kind of claim that needs to close out before the end of this year.
Source: Ontario Ministry of Finance — Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit bulletin.
The sunset is law, not a proposal
The repeal was tabled as part of the 2026 Ontario Budget and enacted through Bill 97, the Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026, which received Royal Assent on May 4, 2026 and is now Chapter 2 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2026. This is worth stating plainly because budget announcements don't always become law on the timeline first proposed — this one already has. The credit is repealed effective January 1, 2027; the government's stated rationale is that employment outcomes in the previously lagging regions have improved since 2020, and that it intends to support Ontario businesses more broadly going forward through measures like the small business Corporate Income Tax rate cut to 2.2% (effective July 1, 2026) and the accelerated Capital Cost Allowance and immediate-expensing rules also enacted this year, rather than through a regionally targeted credit.
Source: Legislative Assembly of Ontario — Bill 97, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026.
What corporations should do before December 31, 2026
- Check whether a planned project falls inside a designated region. Confirm the specific county, district, or municipality against the government's list before assuming eligibility either way — some counties include a named city (e.g., the County of Elgin together with the City of St. Thomas) while the surrounding regional municipality may not be covered the same way.
- Get the property "available for use" before year-end, not just under contract. The credit turns on the expenditure being incurred and the property being available for use in the qualifying period. A signed purchase agreement or a construction project still underway on December 31 does not, by itself, lock in the credit if the property isn't in service by then.
- Confirm the expenditure clears the $50,000 floor and stays within the $500,000 annual limit for the credit to apply as expected, and remember the $45,000 annual cap applies per corporation or associated group, not per property.
- File Schedule 570 with the T2 for the taxation year in which the eligible expenditure was incurred — this is a claim made on the corporate return, not a separate application process.
- If a project won't be ready in time, model the outcome without the credit. A facility expansion that pencilled out with a 10% credit against the cost may need a second look at financing or timing once that credit is gone.
Where this fits with 2026's other Ontario corporate tax changes
This sunset is one piece of a broader set of Bill 97 changes already reshaping the numbers for Ontario CCPCs this year. See our earlier coverage of the small business tax rate cut to 2.2% and the accelerated Capital Cost Allowance and immediate-expensing rules for the measures the government is positioning as the replacement for targeted, region-specific support. Our Ontario corporate tax guide has the current rate schedule for corporations filing under any of these rules this year.
Key takeaways
- The Regional Opportunities Investment Tax Credit is repealed effective January 1, 2027, enacted through Bill 97, which received Royal Assent on May 4, 2026.
- Eligible expenditures must be incurred, with the property available for use, on or before December 31, 2026 to still qualify.
- The credit is 10% of eligible expenditures between $50,000 and $500,000 per year, capped at $45,000 per corporation or associated group, and is refundable.
- It applies only to commercial and industrial buildings (CCA Class 1 or 6) in designated regions — mostly Northern, Southern, and Eastern Ontario counties and districts, not the City of Toronto or most of the inner GTA.
- Claims are made via Schedule 570 with the T2 corporate return.
If your business — wherever it's headquartered in Ontario — has a capital project underway or planned in an eligible region, RN Canada can help confirm eligibility and make sure the expenditure and paperwork land before the December 31, 2026 cutoff.