Annual Returns

Date:  November 3, 2025

 

To: NCRA/ANREC Members

Re: Annual Returns 2025 Memo

 

Hello Members

 

TLDR:  The forms and the process have THREE changes over last year (1110 line 10) and (1135 Line 9-13). Please remember to check for your forms in GC Key (as they often are misplaced or not shared with you properly) and submit them to us when you have completed them.

The attached package is designed to assist you in the annual returns application process for this year.  Remember the deadline is November 30 2025.  DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT.  The office reminds you every year that the system WILL crash and you WILL not be able to submit on time if you wait. There will be no staff available to help after hours (any weekday after 5 pm EST) on either the CRTC side or the NCRA/ANREC side.  Please PLEASE put an internal deadline of November 24 on your calendar to submit.  I cannot stress this enough: there are always a dozen stations whose forms are not populated properl,y and it will take a week or more to get access to your 2025 forms.

Attached here are a few PDFs that provide additional support documentation. We have taken the CRTC forms and added notes to help you complete the tasks.  They should make the process much easier.  You should have anywhere between 6 and 12 forms to fill out, not all stations will get all forms, BUT you should get 908, 909, 1110, 1135, 1340, 1411, REPB (REPBx is not applicable), REPU 

When you are done, please complete our form and upload your documents (no need to email us – this saves us a lot of time coordinating the returns)

 

As for the return itself:

1) There are multiple forms.  Each form goes to a different person at the CRTC.  Therefore, they are sometimes slightly different. This may seem redundant or repetitive.  However, they all need to be completed and submitted correctly.  

2) If you have issues, call the support line. This includes issues such as missing forms or the inability to log in. Make sure you call the line with time to spare before the deadline. Please note that you cannot contact the line after regular business hours. DCS Filing re: System information is 1-866-845-6036.  This is for any issues with the system itself.  If you cannot get your answer there, try the Small Undertakings Line at 1-866-781-1911.

  1. Leave your station information, your name, and email, and they will get back to you in a few days

3) You can always try us here in the office.  1-866-859-8086.

4) Save a copy of your return.  Print/PDF each form as you submit it. Once they are submitted, you cannot change them. Keep these copies filed properly and on hand. 

6) Submit a copy of the form to us at the NCRA/ANREC via this form

7) There will be a ‘Celebration Email Chain’, we encourage stations to post to this thread once you have submitted your annual return! 

 

If you are not broadcasting on the air between Sept 1 2024 and Aug 31 2025, you must submit your Rep B form, and e-mail cd-dc@crtc.gc.ca to notify.

You MAY or MAY NOT get a Rep U form to complete.

 

Check List to complete

Item Check Item Check
Logged into GCKey COVID-19 Government Assistance (1420B) Deleted in 2025
Financial Form (908) Rep B Form (Finances)
Financial Form (909) Rep U Form (Ownership) [Some stations may not get this]
Finance Form – Summary (1110) PEDR (Attach your Finances)
Station Profile (1121) Deleted in 2025 Submit by November 24th (30th)
Radio Expenses Summary (1135) Submit information to NCRA via THIS LINK
Alcohol Advertising (1340) Place your forms in a secure location locally in the station.
Emergency Broadcasting Form (1411) Celebrate

 

Need more clarification? 

1) You are NOT required to have financial statements that are audited or prepared by an accountant or bookkeeper. 

2) That being said, the financial data you file MUST correspond to the CRTC’s Broadcast year, which is September 1 – August 31 (this year, that means September 1, 2024 – August 31, 2025)  

If you happen to have audited statements prepared for a different fiscal year, DO NOT submit or rely on them for Annual Returns. You are free to have any internal fiscal year you like, but you must re-jig your data to match the CRTC year for your annual return filing. Failure to do so is a form of non-compliance. If you have any questions about how to implement this with your accounting system, please let me know. 

3) In addition to all the individual questions about your finances, you are asked to upload financial statements. Again, these MUST conform to the CRTC Broadcast year of September 1 – August 31. But they don’t need to be particularly pretty or official. And if you only have paper copies, you can submit financial statements by fax or mail; however, digital scans that you can upload would be more ideal. NOTE: Only financial statements (adjusted to meet the CRTC broadcast year) can be submitted by fax or mail. Annual returns can only be submitted electronically and cannot be submitted by fax or mail.

4) Form 1110 (radio financial summary) asks for contra or other non-monetary transactions for local and national ad sales. These figures will be automatically added to your total revenues. If (as is likely) you don’t record contra/non-monetary revenue on the financial statements you are submitting to the CRTC, use the space at the bottom of the page to say that, so they don’t wonder about the discrepancy.  

5) In the remuneration questions (28-32) about expenses that include “Programming and production”, “Technical”, “Sales and promotion” and “Administration and general”, you can assign a portion of staff salaries to each if it reflects station realities. For instance, if you only have two staff, so you each end up doing all of those things as part of your job, you can split your salary costs between the different categories. But if you do this, make a note to yourself and/or future staff and Board members for future years so that they are consistent in the way they report the data year after year. 

Question 33 is new in 2024 (and is extended onto form 1135 Q9-11) and is based on Journalism. For this survey, the definition of ‘’journalists’’ is the number of full-time equivalent employees employed by an undertaking to produce news content. (If you filled out the CJC/Google form (see Q25), this requires a similar answer, but for the broadcast year 2024-2025.  Do your best to get this as close to what you think it would be, but do not spend a lot of time on it, as it’s data collection and not tied to anything the CRTC would be auditing or monitoring. 

6) Questions 39-40 about volunteers, I would suggest you try to get as accurate a number of volunteers as possible, including on-air/behind-the-scenes AND members of your Board of Directors and any committees. 

You can guesstimate the number of hours worked by volunteers (again, during the CRTC broadcast year of September 1 – August 31) but I would suggest you count: on-air time, an average estimate of prep time (at least 1:1 for music shows and reasonably 2:1 for spoken word, I think) as well as other station activities, special events and again, don’t forget to count Board meetings (if you have 10 directors meeting once a month for 2 hours that’s an additional 240 hours a year.)  

However, as with questions 28-33 above, take note of how you calculated the numbers so you can use a similar formula in the future.  

7) The only supporting documents you need to provide are executed amended bylaws and financial statements.  Everything else can be filled in manually on the form without supporting documents. 

8) If you log-in and there is only a rep B/U form and none of the financial information, do not just submit that and think you are done. Your account is not the correct account to which the CRTC believes is “controlling” for the station. You must contact DCS Filing re: System information is 1-866-845-6036 and/or small undertakings, and get things sorted out. (1-866-845-6036) This will take a few days.

9) As above, it is our goal that every single licenced NCRA/ANREC member who is required to file, files on time! So please LET US KNOW WHEN YOU FILE!!! I will check your name off the master list and do a happy dance. (Feel free to post it on the members’ listServ so we can all happy dance) 

2025 Support Forms – In This Folder (PDF and Excel)