Small Business

Canadian General Index of Financial Information – GIFI

A Necessity for Filing Corporate Tax in Canada

Canada Revenue Agency's general index of financial information
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Susan Ward wrote about small businesses for The Balance Small Business for 18 years. She has run an IT consulting firm and designed and presented courses on how to promote small businesses.
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Susan Ward
Updated July 25, 2019

The General Index of Financial Information (GIFI) is a system which assigns a unique code to a list of items commonly found on business's income statements, balance sheets, and statements of retained earnings. The listing was created by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in 1999.

Using the GIFI Used

The purpose of the GIFI is to allow the CRA to collect and process financial information more efficiently; for instance, the GIFI lets the CRA validate tax information electronically rather than manually. Information from financial statements is categorized under the appropriate GIFI code and entered on corporate income tax returns. If you file a T2 income tax return (the tax return for corporations), then you need to use the GIFI, choosing the GIFI codes that best matches the items that you report.

Code GIFI name
1000 Cash and deposits
1001 Cash - bank drafts, bank notes, cheques, coins, currency, money orders, postal notes, and post-dated cheques
1002 Deposits in Canadian banks and institutions – Canadian currency
1003 Deposits in Canadian banks and institutions – Foreign currency
1006 Credit union central deposits (credit unions only)
1060 Accounts receivable (claims, dividends, royalties, and subsidies receivable)
1061 Allowance for doubtful accounts
1066 Taxes receivable (GST/HST, income tax refunds, and tax credits receivable)
1067 Interest receivable
1068 Holdbacks receivable
1120 Inventories
1121 Inventory of goods for sale (finished goods)
1122 Inventory parts and supplies
1123 Inventory properties (companies involved in real estate, development, or construction)
1124 Inventory of aggregates
1125 Work in progress (goods in process)
1126 Raw materials
1180 Short-term investments (short-term marketable securities)
1181 Canadian term deposits
1182 Canadian shares
1183 Canadian bonds
1184 Canadian treasury bills
1186 Other short-term Canadian investments
1240 Loans and notes receivable
1241 Demand loans receivable (amounts such as call loans, day loans, and demand loans)
1242 Other loans receivable
1243 Notes receivable
1244 Mortgages receivable
1300 Due from shareholder(s)/director(s) (corporations only)
1301 Due from individual shareholder(s) (corporations only)
1302 Due from corporate shareholder(s) (corporations only) (due from parent company)
1303 Due from director(s) (corporations only)
1310 Due from member(s)/general partner(s) (partnerships only)
1311 Due from limited partners (partnerships only)
1312 Due from members that are partnerships (partnerships only)
1313 Due from general partners (partnerships only)
1314 Due from specified members who are not limited partners (partnerships only)
1360 Investment in joint venture(s)/partnership(s) current investment or equity in joint venture(s), partnership(s), and syndicate(s)
1380 Due from joint venture(s)/partnership(s) (current amounts due from joint venture(s)/partnership(s), or syndicate(s), such as advances, loans, and notes)
1400 Due from/investment in related parties
1402 Interest receivable from related parties
1403 Loans/advances due from related parties
1480 Other current assets
1481 Future (deferred) income taxes (corporations only) (income taxes applicable to future years)
1482 Accrued investment income
1483 Taxes recoverable/refundable
1484 Prepaid expenses
1599 Total current assets
Examples of GIFI Codes for Current assets
Code GIFI name
2600 Bank overdraft
2620 Amounts payable and accrued liabilities ( accrued liabilities, agreements payable, claims payable, rent payable, and utilities payable)
2621 Trade payables
2622 Trade payables to related parties
2623 Holdbacks payable
2624 Wages payable
2625 Management fees payable
2626 Bonuses payable
2627 Employee deductions payable ( payroll deductions for employee benefits such as employment insurance, Canada Pension Plan, Quebec Parental Insurance Plan, group insurance, and pension plans)
2628 Withholding taxes payable
2629 Interest payable ( accrued interest payable)
2680 Taxes payable ( capital taxes, foreign taxes, GST/HST, current income taxes, sales taxes, etc)
2700 Short-term debt ( corporate loans, demand loans, etc.)
2701 Loans from Canadian banks
2705 Cheques and other items in transit
2706 Lien notes
2707 Credit card loans
2770 Deferred income
2780 Due to shareholder(s)/director(s) (corporations only)
2781 Due to individual shareholder(s) (corporations only)
2782 Due to corporate shareholder(s) (corporations only) ( due to parent company)
2783 Due to director(s) (corporations only)
2790 Due to member(s)/general partner(s) (partnerships only)
2791 Due to limited partners (partnerships only)
2792 Due to members that are partnerships (partnerships only)
2793 Due to general partners (partnerships only)
2794 Due to specified members who are not limited partners (partnerships only)
2840 Due to joint venture(s)/partnership(s)
2860 Due to related parties
2861 Demand notes due to related parties
2862 Interest payable to related parties
2863 Advances due to related parties
2920 Current portion of long-term liability
2960 Other current liabilities
2961 Deposits received ( bids, contract deposits, rental deposits, tenders, and security deposits)
2962 Dividends payable
2963 Future (deferred) income taxes (corporations only) ( income taxes applicable to future years and reserve for income taxes shown current)
2964 Reserves for guarantees, warranties, or indemnities
2965 General provisions/reserves ( contingent liabilities, provision for losses on loans, and pension reserves shown current)
3139 Total current liabilities
Examples of GIFI Codes for Current liabilities

The complete GIFI index is contained in the CRA's Guide to the General Index of Financial Information (GIFI) for Corporations which you can get in different formats, such as printed versions if you like.

Using the GIFI lets you electronically file your T2 income tax return, and in turn, means faster processing of your return.

Tax processing and accounting software programs designed for use by Canadian corporations include the GIFI.

If your corporation has both gross revenue and assets of less than one million dollars each, is not a life insurer, deposit insurer, or general (casualty and property) insurer, and you do not use tax preparation software, you will be able to use the GIFI Short Form.