--- title: "Behind on Taxes? Catch-Up Filing | EverStone CPA" url: https://www.everstonecpa.com/behind-on-taxes-catch-up description: "Behind on taxes? Unfiled returns caught up by a CPA: what happens first, what it costs, and why filing late beats waiting. Ask for the flat fee per year." type: service-or-info updated: 2026-10-08 summary: "Three things are worth knowing before anything else. Late-filing penalties are calculated on tax owing , so a year in which the business owed little carries little penalty, and years with nothing owing often carry none. Filing is almost always better than waiting , because interest accrues and the situation does not improve on its own." faq_count: 5 publisher: EverStone CPA Inc., a Chartered Professional Accountant firm registered with CPA British Columbia and CPA Alberta service_area: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba language: en-CA contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online --- [Home](https://www.everstonecpa.com/) [Services](https://www.everstonecpa.com/services) Catch-up Catch-up filing # Behind on Taxes? *It Is More Fixable Than It Feels* Updated 8 October 2026 If you are two, five or eight years behind, you are in a much more ordinary position than it feels from the inside. This page sets out what actually happens, in order, and what it costs. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=catch-up#enquiry-form)Email info@everstonecpa.com **Quick answer:** Three things are worth knowing before anything else. **Late-filing penalties are calculated on tax owing**, so a year in which the business owed little carries little penalty, and years with nothing owing often carry none. **Filing is almost always better than waiting**, because interest accrues and the situation does not improve on its own. And **this is ordinary work**: it is a defined job, quoted as a flat fee per year, and nobody here is surprised by it. What this covers, at a glance. ## Being behind on taxes: the part nobody says out loud People fall behind for ordinary reasons. A business got busy. Someone was ill. The bookkeeper left and took the system with them. One year slipped and the next was harder to face because of it. None of that is unusual and none of it is a character question, and an accountant who treats it as one is not worth hiring. The practical position is usually better than the anxiety suggests. Most of the fear attaches to a number people have never actually calculated, and calculating it is the first thing that helps. ## Catching up, in order: what actually happens The sequence, and roughly what each step involves | Step | What happens | What you do | | 1. Establish the scope | Which years, which entities, which filings — corporate, GST, payroll, personal | A half-hour conversation. Rough answers are fine | | 2. Fixed quote | A flat fee per year, in writing, before anything starts | Decide, with the number in front of you | | 3. Reconstruct the records | Books rebuilt from bank and card statements where the paperwork is gone | Statements. That is usually all we need | | 4. File, oldest first | Returns prepared and filed in order, so each year’s closing position opens the next | Sign | | 5. Deal with the balance | What is owed, and the arrangements available for paying it | Choose an option with real numbers attached | The order matters. Filing the most recent year first is a common instinct and it creates work, because each year’s opening balances come from the one before it. ## Penalties, interest, and the honest shape of it Late-filing penalties are a percentage of tax owing, which is why a business with several low-profit years often finds the penalty smaller than expected. Interest is different: it runs on unpaid amounts and it does not stop for good reasons. That asymmetry is the whole argument for acting now rather than at a more convenient moment. The [CRA’s corporation return guidance](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-income-tax-return.html) sets out the filing obligation, and [its payments guidance](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-payments.html) covers when amounts are actually due, which is not the same date. Our [late-filing penalty calculator](https://www.everstonecpa.com/late-filing-penalty-calculator) will give you a range from your own numbers, privately, before you speak to anyone. For most people it is the first time the number stops being a vague dread. ## If the registry says your company is not in good standing Unfiled tax returns and a lapsed corporate registry filing usually travel together, and they are separate problems with separate fixes. The registry filing comes first, because everything else assumes the company still exists. Left long enough a company is struck from the register, and restoring it costs considerably more than curing it now. Behind on GST as well? [What late GST returns cost](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/late-gst-filing-penalties-canada) works the penalty through on two real balances. ## What it costs A flat fee per year of catch-up, quoted in advance and [published](https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing). Someone rebuilding does not need an hourly meter running, and a fee that grows as the work turns out to be messier is exactly the wrong instrument for this job. Related: [catch-up bookkeeping](https://www.everstonecpa.com/behind-on-bookkeeping), [behind on bookkeeping](https://www.everstonecpa.com/behind-on-bookkeeping), [the deadline hub](https://www.everstonecpa.com/cra-tax-deadlines) once you are current, [corporate tax](https://www.everstonecpa.com/corporate-tax-accountant-abbotsford), and [the free health check](https://www.everstonecpa.com/bookkeeping-health-check) if you want to know how far behind you actually are before calling. The [CRA’s record-keeping requirements](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/keeping-records.html) explain what has to be kept once you are back on track. About this article **EverStone CPA** Prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Professional Accountant at EverStone CPA, a CPA firm working with small and midsized businesses in BC, Alberta, Ontario and Manitoba. [About the firm →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/about) · [Send an enquiry →](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online) Common questions ## Questions people ask before they call **How many years back can I file?** No year is so old that it cannot be filed. If a previous accountant holds your records, [switching without losing them](https://www.everstonecpa.com/blog/how-to-switch-accountants) is a solved problem. Older years sometimes affect what relief is available, which is one of the things the first conversation establishes. **I do not have the receipts. Can you still do it?** Usually yes. Books are commonly reconstructed from bank and credit card statements, and that is normal work rather than an exception. Bring what you have. **Will filing trigger an audit?** Filing brings you into compliance, which is where you want to be. Remaining unfiled is the position that attracts attention, not the act of catching up. **What if I cannot pay what I owe?** Filing and paying are separate. File first — that stops late-filing penalties growing — and then deal with the balance, for which arrangements exist. Not filing because you cannot pay is the expensive version of this situation. **How long does it take?** For a straightforward corporation with statements available, a few weeks for several years. The bottleneck is almost always getting the records together, not preparing the returns. ### Starting fees Every fee is fixed in writing before any work begins. - **Catch-up bookkeeping** from $2,200 per year of records *This page* - **Monthly bookkeeping, GST/PST filing included** from $325 a month - **Payroll, remittances, T4s and ROEs** included in monthly bookkeeping - **Books, payroll and the year-end T2 together** $500–$700 a month - **Corporate year-end and T2 return** fixed fee, quoted in writing - **Personal tax return (T1)** from $125; self-employed or rental $275–$500 - **Controller or CFO support** controller from $1,650, CFO from $2,750 a month - **One-off advice call with a CPA** $225 plus GST [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online?service=catch-up#enquiry-form) ## It starts with one conversation Tell us roughly how far back it goes. You will get a flat fee per year, in writing, before anything begins, and no lecture. [Get My Fixed Quote](https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online)Email info@everstonecpa.com ★★★★★ “Personal. Professional. Responsive. Plus he saved me a bundle!” Corrin Skalbeck · Google Local Guide --- Source: https://www.everstonecpa.com/behind-on-taxes-catch-up Prices: https://www.everstonecpa.com/pricing · Contact: info@everstonecpa.com · https://www.everstonecpa.com/book-online