Missed the filing deadline? What to do now

File as soon as you can. If you owe tax, a late-filing penalty and daily interest are adding up. If you don’t owe anything, there’s no penalty, but your benefit and credit payments can be held up until your return is in.

What filing late costs

If you’re getting a refund or owe nothing, the late-filing penalty doesn’t apply: it’s charged only when you file late and owe tax. The cost is in your benefits. Filing late can delay or interrupt payments such as the Canada child benefit and Old Age Security, along with the related provincial and territorial payments.

If you owe tax, two charges apply:

• Interest. The CRA charges compound daily interest on any unpaid balance, starting the day after the due date. The rate can change every three months, based on the CRA’s prescribed interest rates.
• The late-filing penalty. It’s 5% of the balance owing, plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, up to 12 months.

The penalty is steeper for repeat late filers. If the CRA sent you a demand to file and charged a late-filing penalty for any of the three previous years, it becomes 10% of the balance owing plus 2% for each full month late, up to 20 months.

What to do now

1. File right away, even if you can’t pay. The penalty grows with each full month the return is late, so filing now stops it from growing. You don’t need to have the money ready to file.
2. Pay what you can. Interest runs on whatever is unpaid, so even a partial payment cuts it.
3. Set up a payment arrangement for the rest. In your CRA account (My Account), you can schedule a series of automatic pre-authorized debit payments. You can also phone the CRA’s automated TeleArrangement line, which handles personal income tax debts, or speak to an agent. Once it’s set up, make every payment on the agreed dates and file all future returns on time. Even while you’re paying, the CRA can apply benefit and credit payments you’re due to the debt.
4. Ask for relief if it wasn’t your fault. If circumstances beyond your control kept you from filing or paying on time, you can ask the CRA to cancel or waive the penalties or interest. Requests are limited to the 10 calendar years ending with the year you make the request.

Catching up on past years

If you’ve missed more than one year, you can still file online. Certified tax software uses the CRA’s NETFILE service, and in the filing season that runs until January 29, 2027, NETFILE accepts returns for 2018 through 2025.

Not sure whether you had to file at all? See do I need to file a tax return? and why file even with no income.

Weekend and holiday due dates

When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday the CRA recognizes, your return is on time if it’s received or postmarked by the next business day. A payment is on time if it’s received on the first business day after the due date. If your due date was moved that way and you met the new one, you weren’t late.

If you or your spouse ran a business

If you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business during the year, your filing deadline is June 15 (unless the business expenses were mainly for a tax shelter investment). But any balance owing was still due April 30, so interest started after April 30 even if you filed by June 15. See deadlines for sole proprietors, and if you’ll owe again next year, paying tax by instalments.

Quebec residents

Your Quebec return is handled separately by Revenu Québec, which has its own interest and penalties:

• Interest on amounts you owe is compounded daily.
• If you can’t pay all at once, you can propose a payment agreement based on what you’re able to pay.
• In specific situations, Revenu Québec can cancel or waive interest, penalties or charges if you ask.
• If you didn’t file, or filed an incomplete or inaccurate return, a voluntary disclosure may get you relief from penalties and interest.

In short

• File now, whether or not you can pay.
• Pay what you can, and arrange to pay the rest over time.
• If something beyond your control made you late, ask for the penalty and interest to be cancelled or waived.
• File every missing year so your benefits and credits are worked out correctly.