However many years it has been, the way out is the same: rebuild the books, file every outstanding year, deal with CRA. Cleanup from $500 a year, returns from $999, nil years $349 — all scoped and priced before any work starts.
No judgement, and no lecture. Most corporations that come to us are more than one year behind.
CRA charges 5% of the unpaid tax the moment a return is late, then 1% more every month, for up to twelve months. Interest compounds daily on top.
| If your corporation owes | And is 12+ months late | Second time in 3 years |
|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | $850 penalty (17%) | $2,500 penalty (50%) |
| $20,000 | $3,400 penalty (17%) | $10,000 penalty (50%) |
| $50,000 | $8,500 penalty (17%) | $25,000 penalty (50%) |
Penalty only; interest is additional and compounds daily. The higher rate applies where CRA has demanded the return and a late-filing penalty was charged in any of the three previous tax years.
If you cannot pay, file anyway.
Filing late and paying late are two separate charges. The 5% plus 1% per month is the filing penalty, and it stops accruing the moment the return is in — whether or not the balance is paid. CRA also negotiates payment arrangements, but generally only once the returns are filed and the real number is known. Waiting because you cannot pay is the most expensive mistake we see.
Coming forward first is worth real money.
CRA’s Voluntary Disclosures Program can relieve penalties and part of the interest — but generally only for taxpayers who come forward before CRA contacts them about it. If no letter has arrived yet, that window is open, and it is the best reason to start this week rather than next quarter.
A late T2 cannot be prepared from nothing, so the books come first. Every step is priced and agreed before it starts.
Step 1
From $500 per year
A T2 cannot be prepared without them. We rebuild each outstanding year from your bank and credit-card statements until every account reconciles to the penny. Priced per year, and scoped before we start — a year of quiet trading costs less than a year of chaos, and we tell you which you have.
Step 2
$999 per return · $349 if nil
Each year gets its own T2, schedules and GIFI statements, prepared from the cleaned books. You see every return and a plain-language summary of what is owed before anything is filed. We handle the CRA correspondence that follows.
Step 3
From $199/month
Monthly bookkeeping keeps every account reconciled as the year goes, so the next T2 is a formality rather than an excavation — and it files at the client rate of $799 with no cleanup at all.
Steps one and two are what it takes to be compliant. Step three is optional — but it is why most catch-up clients stay, and it is the only one that stops this repeating.
Corporations rarely fall behind by exactly one year. It slips, then the next year’s deadline arrives while the last one is still undone, and after a while the whole thing feels too large to start. Two to four outstanding years is the situation we see most.
Each year is quoted on its own
You see the cost of every outstanding year separately, in one written quote, before committing to any of it. No single open-ended number for "the backlog".
We file oldest first
Penalties are largest on the oldest year, and each filed year narrows the reason for CRA to keep writing to you.
Nil years are quick and cheap
Dormant years still legally require a return, but they need little or no cleanup and file for $349 — so the backlog is often smaller than it looks.
Cleanup is priced per outstanding year. Filing is priced per return. You get both numbers in writing before anything begins.
From $500per year + HST
Rebuilt and reconciled from your statements. Quoted per year once we see what it holds.
$999per return + HST
For an eligible corporation with books ready — whether that is this year or a year from 2021.
$349flat + HST
No activity still means a required return. Dormant years file quickly and cheaply.
From $799per return + HST
Accounts already verified monthly, so there is no books review and no cleanup.
Not incorporated? Sole proprietor returns — a T1 including the T2125 business statement — are $399, or $349 if we keep your books. Prior years work the same way. Ask about a sole proprietor return.
Flat pricing works because we keep it to straightforward returns done well — and we tell you which side you are on before you commit.
Genuinely complex tax planning or assurance work gets referred to a CPA partner — we say so up front rather than stretching past what flat-rate filing should cover.
Which year-ends are outstanding, roughly how much activity each year had, and whether CRA has written to you. No judgement — most people who fill this in are more than one year behind.
You get one written quote covering the cleanup and the filings, broken down per year, before any work begins. If a year is simpler than expected it costs less; you will never get a surprise bill halfway through.
Working from your bank and credit-card statements, each outstanding year is reconstructed and reconciled until opening balance plus every transaction equals closing balance, to the penny.
Every year gets its own T2 and a plain-language summary of the balance owing. Nothing is filed until you have seen it and said yes.
Returns are filed electronically, oldest first. You get each confirmation, your payment instructions, and help responding if CRA follows up.
Optional, and the reason most catch-up clients stay: monthly bookkeeping so this never happens twice.
No. Multiple outstanding years is the normal case, not the exception — most corporations that come to us are two to four years behind, and some considerably more. Each year is cleaned and filed separately, oldest first, and each is quoted separately so you can see exactly what the whole picture costs before committing to any of it.
The CRA late-filing penalty is 5% of the tax unpaid at the due date, plus 1% for each full month the return is late, capped at 12 months — so a maximum of 17% on a first offence. If CRA has formally demanded the return and you were charged a late-filing penalty in any of the three previous tax years, it doubles to 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months, a maximum of 50%. Interest compounds daily on top. Important: the penalty is calculated on unpaid TAX, so a corporation that owes nothing faces no percentage penalty — but it is still required to file, and it still needs to be brought current.
File anyway, and file now. Late FILING and late PAYMENT are two separate charges — the 5% plus 1% per month applies to filing late, and it stops accruing the moment the return is in, whether or not the balance is paid. Interest on the unpaid balance continues either way. CRA also negotiates payment arrangements, but generally only once the returns are filed and the real number is known. Waiting because you cannot pay is the single most expensive mistake we see.
It changes the urgency and it can change the penalty rate, so tell us at the outset and send us the letter. A demand to file under subsection 150(2) is what triggers the higher repeat-offender penalty rate, and demand letters carry their own deadlines. We will tell you what the letter actually requires and what the real due date is.
Sometimes. CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program can grant relief from penalties and part of the interest for taxpayers who come forward before CRA contacts them about the issue — which is precisely why filing before a demand letter arrives is worth so much. Separately, taxpayer relief provisions can apply in cases of serious illness, natural disaster or CRA error. We will tell you honestly whether either looks worth pursuing in your situation, and refer you on if it needs a specialist.
From $500 per outstanding year, and it is quoted per year after we see what each one holds. A year with a single bank account and a hundred transactions is at the bottom of that range. A year with several accounts, a credit card, cash sales and no records at all is more, and we tell you before starting rather than after. Bank and credit-card statements are usually all we need to begin.
Every business bank and credit-card account for the fiscal year matches its actual statements — opening balance plus every transaction equals closing balance — and every transaction is categorized. It is the standard our monthly bookkeeping maintains, and it is what lets us quote a flat filing price with no year-end surprises.
For an eligible corporation with books that are ready, yes — $999 plus HST per return. Existing bookkeeping clients file from $799 because their accounts are already verified monthly. Cleanup is separate and quoted per year. Multiple entities, specialized tax matters and Alberta or Quebec provincial returns are always quoted before work begins.
Yes. Every resident Canadian corporation must file a T2 for every tax year, even with no activity and no tax owing. The good news is that nil years are cheap and fast — $349 flat, with little or no cleanup needed — so a dormant corporation can be brought fully current for far less than people expect.
Very likely, yes. Construction businesses that pay subcontractors generally must file a T5018 information return, due six months after the period end — the same deadline as the T2, and just as commonly missed. If you are behind on T2s and you pay subcontractors, we check this as part of the scoping rather than letting you discover it later.
Six months after your fiscal year-end, whatever that year-end is. Any balance owing is due earlier — two months after year-end, or three months for many CCPCs claiming the small business deduction. We confirm both dates for your corporation in writing.
Yes. A sole proprietor files a T1 personal return with a T2125 business statement attached, which we prepare for $399, or $349 if we already keep your books. Prior-year personal returns work the same way as corporate catch-up: scoped, quoted, then filed oldest first.
Which year-ends are outstanding, and whether CRA has written to you. We come back with what it takes to get current — usually within one business day.