Catch-up
You left a job years ago and never filed those T4 years. Is it too late?
2026-09-28 · 6 min read · Tax Everyday, Vaughan
It is not too late to file. It may be too late to receive the refund. Employees who had tax withheld at source and never filed are the most common multi-year file in this office, and they are usually the simplest. CRA has the T4. The return is the T4, the basic credits, and whatever else you actually have. If the year is inside three years after the end of that tax year, a refund can still be paid. In November 2026 that means a 2023 T4 year should be filed by 31 December 2026. A 2021 or 2022 T4 refund is generally no longer payable. File those years anyway if a benefit, a spouse, or a later year needs the chain.
If the T4 year somehow has tax owing — fewer deductions than you expected, a second job with no tax withheld, or CERB and similar benefits that created a balance — the late-filing penalty is 5% plus 1% a month, up to 12 months, plus interest. Most pure T4 years with one employer do not look like that. Do not assume. A second T4 changes the math.
Why these years are still worth a morning
Even a closed refund year can be the key that restarts something else.
- The GST/HST credit and the Ontario Trillium Benefit need a filed return.
- The Canada Child Benefit needs a filed return from the parent who must file.
- Tuition credits from a year you skipped can still be recorded and carried forward when the rules allow.
- A spouse’s return may be held pending your net income.
- An arbitrary assessment on a T4, if CRA already issued one, gets replaced by the real return.
- RRSP room is calculated from earned income on a filed return. Years you skip can leave room unrecorded until you file.
This is the $90 work
A straightforward T4 year is $90 plus HST at Tax Everyday. Five of them, if they are truly T4 years, are five of those, confirmed before we file. Upload the T4s you have. If you have none, say which employers and which years. We can work from CRA’s copies. Book a time if you want the refund windows explained against your actual years, or start the personal tax form and put every year in one drop.
Do not pay a percentage of the refund to find out whether 2023 is still open. The date is 31 December 2026. The price of a simple year is published.
Short answers
I have not filed since 2016. Will CRA pay all of it?+
Expect refunds only for years still inside the three-year window. Older refunds are generally not paid. There can still be good reasons to file the old years: benefits, a spouse, RRSP room, or an assessment CRA already made. We will mark each year before you spend money on it.
My employer no longer exists. Can I still file that year?+
Yes. CRA usually already has the T4 the employer filed when the business existed. A missing company does not erase a filed slip. Bring your own copy if you kept one.
Want this applied to your file?
These notes are general. A return is prepared only after we see your slips.