If your corporation hasn't filed taxes in two, three, or seven years, here's the first thing to know: you're not the only one, and nothing about your situation is beyond fixing. Every tax season, our CPAs help owner-managers who stopped filing after a rough year, a bookkeeper who disappeared, an illness, or simply a business that grew faster than its paperwork. The corporations that end up in real trouble are almost never the ones that come forward — they're the ones that keep waiting.
What happens if you keep waiting
Unfiled years don't fade away. Late-filing penalties and daily compound interest keep growing, and the CRA can demand a return — then, without one, assess your corporation based on its own estimates. If your corporation is actually owed money, waiting can cost you the refund entirely: the CRA generally won't issue a refund for a return filed more than three years after the end of the tax year. We've broken down the exact numbers in our guide to late T2 filing penalties, but the short version is that every month of delay makes the eventual bill bigger, and filing is the only thing that stops the clock.
One more point worth knowing: a tax year that was never filed never becomes closed. The CRA can assess it at any time. Filing is what starts the normal reassessment clock running in your favour.
How catch-up filing works at Stamped
We treat a catch-up file like any other engagement: fixed scope, fixed price, no surprises. Each unfiled year is quoted as its own engagement — corporate tax returns (T2, plus CO-17 for Québec corporations) start at $1,475 per year, or from $2,900 per year when the year also needs compiled financial statements. Before any work begins, you see the full cost of getting current, year by year, on one quote.
The process itself:
- A first call, not a filing. We map out which years are outstanding, what the CRA and Revenu Québec already have on file, and whether any letters or demands to file are in play.
- Authorization with the tax authorities. With your consent, we become your representative with the CRA and Revenu Québec, which lets us pull slips, account balances and correspondence directly — often filling gaps in your own records.
- Records reconstruction. Missing bookkeeping is normal in these files. We rebuild each year from bank and credit card feeds and integrations with tools like QuickBooks Online and Xero, so you don't have to produce a shoebox of receipts.
- Filing oldest to newest. Returns are prepared and reviewed by CPAs, filed in order, and we handle the assessments and any follow-up correspondence.
Everything happens online through our platform, with answers from a CPA within 24 hours, wherever you are in Canada.
A word on the Voluntary Disclosures Program
In some situations, applying to the CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP) before filing can significantly reduce penalties and part of the interest. The program was updated on October 1, 2025 and is now more accessible, with the level of relief depending largely on whether you come forward before or after the CRA contacts you. Revenu Québec runs its own voluntary disclosure program with its own conditions. Not every catch-up file needs — or qualifies for — these programs, and a poorly prepared application can close doors, so this is a judgment call we make with you after reviewing your specific facts, not a box we tick by default.
What to gather before the first call
You don't need perfect records to get started. Whatever you can find from this list helps:
- Incorporation documents and your business number
- The last return filed and the most recent notices of assessment, if any
- Bank and credit card statements for the unfiled years — or simply online access to the accounts
- Access to any accounting software you've used, even partially
- Any letters from the CRA or Revenu Québec, especially demands to file
- Invoices or sales records, and paperwork for major purchases like vehicles or equipment
Missing pieces are expected. Finding them is part of our job.
The next step takes fifteen minutes
Tell us how many years you think are outstanding, and we'll come back with a clear plan and a year-by-year quote — our pricing is published and fixed before work begins. The hardest part of a catch-up file is the first message. Send it today, and a CPA will get back to you within 24 hours.