RECO's New Annual Financial Filing: A Prep Checklist for Ontario Brokerages
If you own or run a brokerage in Ontario, October 30 is a date to circle this year. It's the first deadline for RECO's new annual financial filing.
Quick note before we start: I'm not an accountant, I'm not a lawyer and I'm not licensed at the moment. The numbers and the sign off belong to your accountant and your broker of record. What I can help with is the part that eats the most time, which is finding and organizing everything the filing asks for. After 20+ years behind the scenes in real estate (administrator, licensed assistant, sales rep and operations manager), I can tell you the hard part usually isn't the form itself. It's tracking down everything it asks for.
What RECO is asking for
RECO's annual financial filing took effect on October 1, 2026 and it applies to every brokerage in Ontario. Filings are submitted online through MyWeb. According to RECO's submission and information requirements, the filing includes:
Balance sheet and income statement amounts, such as cash, assets, liabilities, equity, revenue and net income
Trust liabilities and trust assets, plus any interest the brokerage kept on trust money
Unclaimed trust monies, including amounts held over two years and amounts where the owner is unclear or can't be traced
Details for each bank account: institution, branch, account number, type and whether it was maintained, opened or closed during the fiscal year
The number of trade ends for the fiscal year
Compliance attestations from the broker of record on trust account practices, record keeping, monthly reconciliations and required notices to RECO
Brokerages with no trading activity in the year file a Non-trading Report instead.
The deadlines
The first filing is due October 30, 2026. Every brokerage in Ontario files this round, covering its fiscal year that ended between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026. After that, each filing is due 90 days after your fiscal year end. RECO says brokerages that miss the deadline will be subject to prosecution, with possible fines, suspension, refusal to renew or revocation of registration. That's worth a calendar reminder or two.
RECO's June 2026 announcement also says monthly trust reconciliation reporting is planned for 2027, with more guidance to come.
Who does what
This is the part I'd want every brokerage to sort out this week, because it's where things stall.
Your accountant or bookkeeper: the financial statement figures and the trust numbers.
Your broker of record: the attestations and the final confirmation that everything submitted is accurate.
Your admin: the gathering. The account list, the trade count, the reconciliations in one place, the MyWeb access and the reminders that keep everyone moving.
When nobody owns that third job, it lands on the broker of record by default. Usually the night before.
The prep checklist (the admin side)
Here's how I'd organize the gathering for a brokerage. None of this replaces your accountant or RECO's own guidance. It just makes their part faster.
Confirm your fiscal year end and next year's deadline
Check your fiscal year end first. This year, every brokerage's deadline is October 30, for the fiscal year that ended between August 1, 2025 and July 31, 2026. From then on, count 90 days from each year end and put that date in every calendar that matters.
Build a single list of bank accounts
Every account, trust and general, with the institution, branch, account type and whether it was maintained, opened or closed this fiscal year. The closed ones are the ones people forget. Keep account numbers in a secure place, not in a shared email thread.
Pull your trade count
Your trade ends for the fiscal year should come from your deal records or back office system. If your deal tracking lives in three places (a spreadsheet, the brokerage system and someone's inbox), this is where you'll feel it. Reconcile the count once and save how you got the number.
Put the monthly trust reconciliations in one folder
Twelve months, named the same way, in one place. Your broker of record is attesting to monthly reconciliations, so it helps if they can see them without hunting.
Flag older trust money for review
Make a list of any trust funds held over two years, or where it's unclear who the money belongs to, so your accountant and broker of record can review it. Your admin flags it. The professionals decide what it means.
Check MyWeb access early
Confirm who can log in and submit and that the login actually works. Finding out on October 29 that the password reset goes to a former office manager is a very avoidable kind of stress.
Book the sign off time
Put a short meeting on the calendar with your broker of record and accountant before the deadline, with the folder ready. A meeting with a deadline gets done. A "when you get a chance" email does not.
Make next year easier
This filing comes back every year and monthly trust reconciliation reporting is planned for 2027. A few habits now save a lot of digging later:
A shared folder for the year with the account list, the reconciliations and the trade count inside it
A reminder 30 days before your filing date and another at 60 days after your fiscal year end
A one page "how we did it" note, so next year doesn't start from scratch, even if the person who did it this year has moved on - think SOP
That last one is the system part. It's the difference between help with a task and someone who owns the process. If you've been weighing which kind of support you need, I wrote about that in Real Estate VA or OBM: Which Support Do You Need?
A little perspective
Nobody got into real estate because they love reconciliations. You got into it for the clients, the deals and the people. The back office still matters and filings like this one are a good reminder of how much quiet work keeps a brokerage running.
If you'd like a calm, organized October 29 instead of a frantic one, that's exactly the kind of behind the scenes work I do for Ontario agents, teams and brokerages. Book a discovery call and we'll map out what would make your back office easier, starting with whatever's due next.
This post is general information, not legal or accounting advice. RECO's website is the source of truth for the filing requirements, so please check it and your own advisors before you file.
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