But I just paid all my money owing

April 3, 2010 10:34 PM

Can I negotiate down a late payment penalty on my Canadian taxes?

I just filed my Canadian taxes for the last 2 years. I'm self employed so I owed CRA some money. They just sent back the 2 letters, saying yes, you've filed and now we are also assessing a late filing penalty of of 50% more on 2007 and 26% more on 2008. This is in addition to the tax I have paid.

I've filed late before - been much more in arrears in fact, and they've never assessed this level of penalty.

Is there anyway I can negotiate out of this? Anyone had any experience with this? Do I just chalk it up to a (expensive) life lesson?

posted by miles1972 to Work & Money (3 answers total)

I'm guessing you're on the hook for every cent, but you should check out this page on the CRA website to see if your particular situation is described there.
posted by futureisunwritten at 6:11 AM on April 4, 2010

Were you paying any taxes along the way? It sounds like those might be Instalment Penalties, rather than Late Filing penalties.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:31 AM on April 4, 2010

This is quite a good reason to use a tax lawyer to submit late taxes as they can negotiate down the penalties before CRA know who you are. Once CRA know who you are, they are very unlikely to walk back any penalties.
posted by unSane at 4:50 PM on April 4, 2010