Every CRA late penalty, in one table
CRA publishes these penalties across four separate parts of canada.ca — income tax in one place, GST/HST in another, payroll in a third, information returns in a fourth. There is no single page on canada.ca that puts them side by side. This is that page, with a link back to each source so you can check every row.
The headline numbers: income tax late filing is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% per full month, to twelve months. GST/HST late filing is 1% of the amount owing plus a monthly increment. Payroll late remitting runs 3% to 10% depending on how many days late, and 20% for a repeat. T4 slips filed late start at a $100 minimum.
On top of every one of those, interest runs at the prescribed rate — currently 7%, reset quarterly. Penalties and interest are separate charges, and you can incur interest without any penalty at all.
Every penalty in one table
| Tax type | What triggers it | The penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Income tax | Return filed after the deadline with a balance owing | 5% of the balance owing, plus 1% of that balance for each full month late, to a maximum of 12 months |
| Repeat late filing — both conditions must hold: you were charged a late-filing penalty in one of the three preceding years, and you received a formal demand to file | 10% of the balance owing, plus 2% of that balance for each full month late, to a maximum of 20 months | |
| GST/HST | Return filed late with an amount owing | A + (B × C), where A is 1% of the amount owing, B is 25% of A, and C is the number of complete months the return is overdue, to a maximum of 12 |
| Failure to file after CRA issues a demand to file | $250 | |
| Failure to file electronically when you are required to | $100 the first time, then $250 for each return after that | |
| Payroll remittances | 1 to 3 days late | 3% |
| 4 or 5 days late | 5% | |
| 6 or 7 days late | 7% | |
| More than 7 days late, or not remitted at all | 10% | |
| Second or subsequent assessment in the same calendar year, where the failure was knowing or grossly negligent | 20% | |
| T4 slips — legislated schedule (maximum 100 days, minimum $100) | 1 to 50 slips late | $10 per day, maximum $1,000 |
| 51 to 500 slips | $15 per day, maximum $1,500 | |
| 501 to 2,500 slips | $25 per day, maximum $2,500 | |
| 2,501 to 10,000 slips | $50 per day, maximum $5,000 | |
| 10,001 or more slips | $75 per day, maximum $7,500 | |
| T4 slips — reduced administrative policy | 1 to 5 slips | $100 flat, not calculated per day |
| 6 to 10 slips | $5 per day, maximum $500 | |
| 11 to 50 slips | $10 per day, maximum $1,000 |
Sources: CRA, Late-filing penalty (page updated 2026-01-20); GST/HST filing penalties (2025-06-16); Payroll penalties for late remitting or failing to remit (2026-06-11); RC4120, Employers' Guide — Filing the T4 Slip and Summary (2026-01-06).
The rows with conditions attached
Three of those rows are routinely misreported elsewhere, in each case by dropping a qualifier. Here is what each one actually requires.
The repeat income tax penalty needs two things to be true
Doubling to 10% plus 2% a month is not automatic for a second late return. CRA applies it only where you were charged a late-filing penalty in one of the three preceding tax years and CRA served you a formal demand to file for the year in question. Both. A business that files late two years running, with no demand ever issued, stays on the standard 5% plus 1% schedule.
That is worth knowing in both directions. It means one repeat is not automatically catastrophic, and it means a demand to file arriving in the mail is the moment the arithmetic changes. Do not let a demand sit.
The GST/HST formula, worked through
A + (B × C) is not intuitive, so put numbers in it. Say a return is filed with $10,000 owing and it is four complete months overdue.
- A is 1% of the amount owing, so A is $100.
- B is 25% of A, so B is $25.
- C is the number of complete months overdue, so C is 4.
- The penalty is $100 + ($25 × 4), which is $200.
C is capped at 12, so on the same $10,000 the penalty tops out at $100 + ($25 × 12), which is $400. Note that the whole formula keys off the amount owing — a nil or refund return filed late attracts no penalty under this formula, though a demand to file still carries its own $250. Your actual filing dates by reporting period are on when your GST/HST return is actually due.
T4 slips: two schedules, and CRA applies the lower one
The table above shows two T4 schedules because there are two. The legislated one is day-based, runs to a maximum of 100 days, and carries a minimum of $100. Alongside it CRA operates a reduced administrative policy for small filers — a flat $100 for one to five slips, $5 a day to a maximum of $500 for six to ten, and $10 a day to a maximum of $1,000 for eleven to fifty.
Where both could apply, CRA applies whichever penalty is lower. For a business with four employees, that means the practical exposure for filing T4s late is the flat $100, not a day-counted figure — still worth avoiding, but not the number some pages quote.
Separately from the penalty for being late, CRA's wording on electronic filing is that if you file more than 5 information returns for a calendar year, you must file them electronically to avoid a penalty. That threshold applies per type of return, and it has been in force for returns filed on or after January 1, 2024.
Interest sits on top of every row
A penalty is charged once for a failure. Interest accrues for as long as the money is outstanding, and it applies to overdue taxes, CPP contributions, EI premiums and overdue GST/HST alike.
For Q3 2026 (July 1 to September 30) and Q4 2026 (October 1 to December 31), the prescribed rate on overdue amounts is 7%. That rate is reset every quarter, which is why the page to keep is CRA's prescribed interest rates index rather than any one quarter's announcement. If you are reading this a year from now, assume the number has moved and check.
Source: CRA, Prescribed interest rates, fourth quarter 2026, CRA page updated 2026-08-28. Rates change quarterly.
What one late payroll remittance actually costs
Payroll is where this gets expensive fastest, because the penalty is a percentage of the whole remittance rather than of a tax balance, and because the escalation is measured in days rather than months.
Take a monthly remittance of $5,000 — source deductions plus the employer's share — due on the 15th.
- Paid on the 18th, three days late: 3%, or $150.
- Paid on the 20th, five days late: 5%, or $250.
- Paid after the 22nd, more than seven days late: 10%, or $500.
- A second assessment in the same calendar year, where the failure was knowing or grossly negligent: 20%, or $1,000.
Add interest at the prescribed 7% while the remittance is outstanding — a little under $30 if the $5,000 sits unpaid for a month. So a remittance that was three days late and then took a month to clear costs about $150 in penalty and a further small amount in interest, and the same slip repeated later in the year can cost $1,000.
The uncomfortable part is that this is triggered by a date, not by an inability to pay. Most late remittances are administrative — a due date that moved because of a remitter-type change, or a payment made on the due date rather than received by it. Finding your remitter type and your real dates is on when your payroll remittance is due, and what late costs.
If you already owe: relief exists, but it is not a form you file casually
There are two separate routes, they are not interchangeable, and neither is a bookkeeping decision.
Taxpayer relief provisions let CRA cancel or waive penalties and interest in circumstances beyond your control — serious illness, a natural disaster, a CRA processing delay. It is discretionary. You are asking CRA to exercise judgment about facts you have to document.
The Voluntary Disclosures Program is a different route with different rules, for correcting returns that were wrong or never filed. Since October 1, 2025 it has run in two categories: an unprompted disclosure attracts 100% penalty relief and 75% interest relief, while a prompted disclosure attracts up to 100% penalty relief and 25% interest relief. Both offer protection from criminal prosecution on the disclosed matter, and both have strict validity conditions. The detail is on what it costs to catch up when you are behind on your books.
Deciding whether to apply, and under which program, is a decision for an accountant or a tax lawyer. An application that is judged incomplete or not voluntary can leave you worse off than before you filed it, and the assessment of which category you fall into turns on facts about what CRA already knows. A bookkeeper can assemble the records an application needs — accurately, and quickly. A bookkeeper should not be the one telling you to file it.
The penalty that never gets assessed is the one that costs nothing
We track your remitter type, your GST/HST period and your year-end dates and file on the actual due dates, so the 3% that starts on day one and the 7% that runs until you pay simply never begin.
Every one of these dates in one calendar is on every deadline a Canadian small business has to hit.
Questions people actually ask
What is the CRA penalty for filing a tax return late?
Five percent of the balance owing, plus one percent of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of twelve months. A higher repeat rate of ten percent plus two percent per month, to twenty months, exists — but it applies only where you were charged a late-filing penalty in one of the three preceding years and CRA also issued you a formal demand to file. Both conditions have to be met. Interest at the prescribed rate accrues separately on anything unpaid.
How does CRA calculate the GST/HST late-filing penalty?
By the formula A plus B times C. A is one percent of the amount owing on the return, B is twenty-five percent of A, and C is the number of complete months the return is overdue, capped at twelve. On $10,000 owing and four complete months late, that is $100 plus $25 times four, which comes to $200. There is also a separate $250 penalty for failing to file after CRA issues a demand.
What does CRA charge for a late payroll remittance?
Three percent of the remittance if it is one to three days late, five percent at four or five days, seven percent at six or seven days, and ten percent if it is more than seven days late or never remitted. A second or subsequent assessment in the same calendar year can be charged at twenty percent, where the failure was knowing or grossly negligent. The percentage applies to the whole remittance, not just to a tax balance, which is why payroll is the fastest-escalating penalty a small business faces.
What is the penalty for filing T4 slips late?
There are two schedules and CRA applies whichever is lower. The legislated schedule is day-based — $10 a day to a maximum of $1,000 for one to fifty slips, rising with slip count, capped at 100 days, with a minimum penalty of $100. CRA also operates a reduced administrative policy for small filers: a flat $100 for one to five slips, $5 a day to $500 for six to ten, and $10 a day to $1,000 for eleven to fifty. For most small employers the practical exposure is the flat $100.
What is the CRA interest rate on overdue taxes right now?
Seven percent for the third and fourth quarters of 2026, applying to overdue taxes, Canada Pension Plan contributions, Employment Insurance premiums and overdue GST/HST. The rate is set every quarter, so it will not stay at seven percent, and any page quoting it should tell you when it was checked. CRA's prescribed interest rates index lists every quarter as it is announced.
Can CRA cancel penalties and interest?
Sometimes. Taxpayer relief provisions allow CRA to cancel or waive penalties and interest where the failure came from circumstances beyond your control, such as serious illness, a disaster or a CRA processing delay — it is discretionary and you have to document the circumstances. The Voluntary Disclosures Program is a separate route for correcting returns that were wrong or never filed, with its own eligibility rules and different levels of penalty and interest relief depending on whether the disclosure is unprompted or prompted. Which route fits, and whether to apply at all, is a decision for an accountant or a tax lawyer.