The short answer: at Cayde, a catch-up is priced per year outstanding: typically $2,000 for each year of an active corporation, and from $750 for a year with no activity (a nil return), before tax. Within that, the price depends on how much activity is in each year, how many accounts need reconciling, the condition of the records, and which filings are needed. You get the price in writing before any work begins.
What does a corporate catch-up include?
A catch-up is everything it takes to bring a corporation from behind to current with CRA. Depending on the file, that means:
- bookkeeping rebuilt for each missing year, with every bank and credit card account reconciled
- year-end financial statements
- T2 corporate tax returns, plus Alberta’s AT1 return where it applies
- GST/HST returns for every missed period
- payroll remittances and T4 or T4A slips
- CRA correspondence, where the firm is authorized to act for you
Not every catch-up needs all of these. Tell us what’s behind on your assessment, and we’ll explain which ones apply to you.
What makes one catch-up cost more than another?
- Periods outstanding. Two years of T2s and eight GST/HST quarters is a very different job from six years and twenty-four quarters.
- Transaction volume. A holding company with a handful of entries a month takes a fraction of the time of an operating company with hundreds.
- Number of accounts. Every bank account, credit card and loan has to be reconciled month by month.
- Condition of the records. Downloadable statements and a working bookkeeping file go much faster than a box of receipts and missing statements.
- Type of work. Bookkeeping alone costs less than bookkeeping plus returns, payroll slips and CRA correspondence.
Why isn’t there a flat fee?
Because catch-ups vary too much. A flat fee would either overcharge simple files or underprice complex ones. Instead, on a free 15-minute Catch-Up Assessment you tell us what’s outstanding and we explain how we’d approach it. You then receive a written proposal with the scope, price, terms and timeline. If the scope changes materially along the way (for example, more years turn out to be unfiled), it’s discussed with you before any further work is done.
What does it cost not to catch up?
For a corporation that owes tax, waiting usually costs more than the catch-up itself:
- Late-filing penalty on a T2: 5% of the unpaid tax, plus 1% for each full month late, up to twelve months. That’s a 17% maximum for a first offence.
- Repeat failure: if CRA has sent a demand to file and a late-filing penalty also applied in one of the three previous years, 10% plus 2% a month, up to twenty months, for a maximum of 50%.
- Arrears interest: CRA’s prescribed rate for each quarter (7% throughout 2026), compounded daily: on unpaid tax from the balance-due date, and on the penalties from the filing due date.
Take a corporation with a December 31 year-end that owes $25,000 of tax a year and hasn’t filed its last three returns. If it filed and paid on October 31, 2026, it would face about $10,750 in late-filing penalties and roughly $10,982 in interest, before any catch-up fees. Try the estimator with your own numbers.
How can you keep the cost down?
- Don’t wait for a better time. Penalties and interest keep growing, and so does the backlog.
- Gather statements early. Download whatever bank and credit card statements you can. Most banks can provide older ones on request.
- Share what you have. Even partly kept books save rebuilding time.
- Bring every CRA letter. They show exactly which periods CRA is focused on.
Sources: Income Tax Act, section 162; CRA, Prescribed interest rates. Pricing reflects Cayde’s own engagements. General information, not advice for your specific situation.
