What happens if you have not filed Canadian taxes for several years?

Nothing quietly expires. If a personal return has a balance owing, the late-filing penalty is 5% of that balance plus 1% for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months. Interest is added on top and compounds daily at the CRA prescribed rate. That rate changes every quarter, so a percentage copied from an old article is the wrong number. If you are due a refund, CRA generally will not pay it when the return is filed more than three years after the end of that tax year.

As of November 2026, a 2023 refund can still be claimed if the return is filed by 31 December 2026. The window for a 2022 refund closed on 31 December 2025. Returns for 2024 and 2025 are still inside the refund window. Tax owing on older years can still be assessed. Waiting does not freeze the interest.

What actually stops when you stop filing

The GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit, and the Ontario Trillium Benefit are paid from a filed return. Without one, those payments stop or never start. The Guaranteed Income Supplement is income-tested from the return. Old Age Security does not automatically stop just because a return is missing, so do not treat every benefit the same way.

CRA can also issue an arbitrary assessment from the slips it already has. That estimate often ignores deductions and credits you were entitled to. Interest runs on the assessed amount until it is paid or replaced. Filing the real return replaces the estimate. It does not erase interest that has already accrued.

• One late year with tax owing: 5% plus 1% a month, capped at 12 months, plus daily interest.
• A demand to file, after a penalty in any of the three prior years: the repeated-failure penalty is 10% plus 2% a month, capped at 20 months.
• A refund year filed too late: the refund is generally gone. The return can still be required.
• Taxpayer relief can cancel some penalties and interest for up to 10 calendar years. It is not automatic, and it does not reliably recreate a refund outside the three-year rule.

How a catch-up file starts

List every year from the last Notice of Assessment to 2025. Separate years you think are refunds from years you think you owe. Do not call CRA to “explain the gap” if a voluntary disclosure might still be open. Disclosure has to be voluntary, which means before CRA has contacted you about that issue.

Tax Everyday in Vaughan prepares multi-year personal catch-ups. A straightforward personal year starts at $90 plus HST. A year with self-employment is $650 plus HST when the records are ready. Mixed or incomplete years are quoted before any return is filed. Book a time, or drop the slips you still have.