Every Ontario brokerage now has to file financial information with RECO once a year. The date being repeated everywhere is October 1, 2026 - and it is the wrong one to put in your calendar. October 1 is when the portal opens. The first filing is due October 30. That is a thirty-day window, and if your brokerage runs on a calendar year, your filing is already determined and waiting.
Below is what RECO actually requires, taken from its own submission and information requirements. Written for brokers of record, who are the ones personally attesting to it. Not accounting advice - your bookkeeper or accountant produces the numbers; this is about knowing what they will be asked for and when.
Two deadlines, and people are conflating them
There is a one-time initial filing and then an ongoing annual rhythm, and they do not work the same way.
| Filing | Covers fiscal year ending | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Initial (one time) | Between Aug 1, 2025 and Jul 31, 2026 | October 30, 2026 |
| Every year after | On or after Aug 1, 2026 | 90 days after your fiscal year end |
Work it through for the common case. A brokerage with a December 31 year end: the year ended December 31, 2025 falls inside the initial window, so that is the filing due October 30, 2026. The next one covers the year ending December 31, 2026 and is due ninety days later, at the end of March 2027. After that it is simply every year, ninety days out.
If your fiscal year ends in, say, September, the arithmetic differs and it is worth doing on paper rather than assuming. The one thing that does not vary: submissions open October 1, 2026, through RECO's MyWeb portal.
What you actually have to submit
This is not audited statements. It is a structured set of figures entered into a portal, which is easier than it sounds and also harder to delegate away, because someone has to map your accountant's statements onto RECO's specific line items.
From the balance sheet: cash, total current assets, total assets, shareholder's loans, related third-party loans, total current liabilities, total liabilities, and total equity.
From the income statement: total revenue, gross profit, total expenses, and net income.
On trust: total trust liabilities, total trust assets, and the balance of trust assets, plus details of accounts maintained through the fiscal year. There is also a specific question about unclaimed trust monies held for more than two years as at your fiscal year end.
Per financial institution account: the name and branch location of the institution, with account details.
The trust question is the one that takes real work
Most of the list above is a transcription exercise. The unclaimed trust monies question is not, and it is where a filing gets stuck.
Answering it means someone has actually reconciled the trust account and can say which balances have been sitting unclaimed for more than two years. If that reconciliation has been rolling forward untouched, the work is not "look up a number" - it is going back through deposits nobody ever closed out. Brokerages that discover this in late October will discover it under a deadline.
Trust handling is the reason the whole regime exists. Deposits in Ontario are held in a segregated real estate trust account, separate from the brokerage's operating funds, and RECO's consumer deposit insurance covers claimants where a brokerage's failure causes loss. An annual filing is how the regulator sees a problem before it becomes a claim.
The broker of record signs it personally
The filing includes attestations by the broker of record confirming that what has been submitted is factual and accurate. That is a different act from your accountant preparing a statement. You are the one asserting it to your regulator, so you want to have read the numbers rather than forwarded them.
If your brokerage did no trading
A brokerage with no trading activity in the fiscal year being reported files a Non-trading Report instead of the full financial filing. It replaces the standard filing rather than exempting you: dormant is not the same as excused, and the report still has to be submitted.
What happens if you miss it
RECO's wording is not soft. Brokerages that fail to submit by the due date are subject to prosecution, and the actions available include fines, suspension of registration, refusal to renew registration, and revocation.
Read that last one in practical terms. Refusal to renew means the brokerage stops being able to trade, and every agent registered under it stops with it. A missed administrative filing is a strange way to lose a business, which is precisely why it is worth handling in September rather than on October 29.
What to do this week
Confirm your fiscal year end. Not what you assume it is. The initial filing window and the ongoing ninety-day clock both hang off it, and it is written on your corporate filings, not in anyone's memory.
Tell your accountant now, with the list. The specific line items are above. Handing them over in August produces a filing; asking in the last week of October produces a scramble, and your accountant has other clients with the same deadline.
Start the trust reconciliation. Particularly the unclaimed-over-two-years question. This is the item with an unknown amount of work behind it.
Check your MyWeb access. The filing goes through the same registrant portal, and the week of the deadline is a poor time to find out who has the credentials.
Take the webinar. RECO scheduled sessions for August and September 2026, ahead of the deadline for exactly this reason.
Frequently asked questions
Is October 1 my deadline? No. It is the date submissions open. The initial filing is due October 30, 2026.
Does this apply to me as an agent rather than a brokerage? The obligation sits on the brokerage, and the attestation on the broker of record. If you are an agent, this is not yours to file - but a brokerage that loses its registration takes your ability to trade with it, so it is reasonable to ask your broker of record whether it is in hand.
Do I need audited financial statements? What RECO asks for is a defined set of balance sheet, income statement and trust figures entered through the portal, not an audit. Your accountant's existing year-end work should contain everything the form wants.
My brokerage had no deals last year. Am I exempt? No, but you file a Non-trading Report instead of the full filing.
What if I miss October 30? RECO states that failure to file by the due date makes a brokerage subject to prosecution, with outcomes up to and including revocation of registration. If you are going to be late, that is a conversation to have with RECO and with counsel before the date, not after.
Where is the authoritative version of all this? RECO's own annual financial filing pages. This article is a practice summary and RECO is the source that governs.