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Someone in family employed for past 15 years, but his income never outstripped ON's Basic Personal Amount. It's $13,229 in 2020 He just found today if even though he never had paid any tax, filing taxes can earn tax credits and RRSP contribution room.

If he files for all 15 years now, will CRA investigate or punish him? Won't CRA wonder why he didn't file earlier?

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    Are you required to file taxes every year in Canada?
    – Criticizing Israel not allowed
    Commented Feb 28, 2020 at 14:34
  • A relative of mine was in a similar situation. He contacted CRA, confessed his sins, and was not punished.
    – Dan Bracuk
    Commented Feb 28, 2020 at 16:56

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There is no penalty for filing a tax form late in Canada if you do not owe any taxes.

The penalties are all in terms of percentages of the taxes you owe. So if he genuinely never earned more than the personal minimums then there is no downside to filing.

If he is going to claim RRSP contributions he is going to have to document his earnings for those years.

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