Filing income taxes past years could be a complicated affair. It is important on your part to get the pending things done right by seeking expert help from tax accountants in Canada. It is always safer to get professional guidance if you have a tax situation which is complicated, when you own property, you earn income from several sources or when you have considerable medical expense. This becomes more complicated when you have missed out on filing your tax returns for the past few years.

You can file income taxes for past years at any time within a ten-year period. You can file these taxes at any time and also receive refunds up to ten years back if you are in Canada.

April 30 is the deadline every year for Canadians to file their personal income tax returns for the previous year. If you happen to miss out on your previous filing dates, you cannot take a decision to skip the payment altogether. This would also depend largely on whether you actually owe the tax to CRA or not.

The adage of ?death and taxes being certain? comes out true as the Canadian government wants a tax return filed even if a person ceases to exist during a tax year. In such a case, the person responsible for acting on the dead person?s behalf for his estate has to file the concerned person?s income taxes for past years by April 30^th of the following year. This is applicable unless the concerned person dies in November or December; in such a case, the tax returns are due within a period of six months from the date of death.

You have to note that if you are late in filing your income taxes past years but if you do not owe any taxes, then there will be no question of any penalties to be paid to the CRA. There will, however, be a financial hit that you will have to take. The Canadian government will hold on to any refunds that are due to you until you file your income taxes past years and there will also be a delay in getting your benefit pay-outs that you may be eligible for like the GST or Child Tax Benefits.

It is wiser to file your income taxes past years as there may be accumulated credits due to you based on your tax returns. If the government does not become aware of your income source, the credits due to you will never be sent to you. If it is determined that you owe taxes to the CRA and you decide not to pay your taxes by not filing your returns, then penalty charges will pile up against you beginning from 1^st May of every year. The interest will be charged on a compounded rate on a daily basis on the amount which is unpaid.