What is the T3010 and what happens if a registered charity files it late?

The T3010 is the annual information return every registered charity must file with the Canada Revenue Agency, reporting on its activities, finances, governance, and fundraising for the year — it is the primary way CRA (and the public, since T3010 filings are published) monitors ongoing compliance with charitable registration requirements.

Filing late is treated seriously and is, in practice, one of the most common reasons registered charities lose their status. If a return is not filed on time, CRA will generally follow up, but continued failure to file leads to a formal notice of intention to revoke the charity's registration, published in the Canada Gazette, after which the charity's status can actually be revoked if it still does not comply.

Revocation for non-filing is administrative rather than punitive in the sense that it can often be avoided simply by getting the outstanding return in, but once revocation is complete, restoring registered status generally means applying for registration again from scratch, not simply resubmitting the missing return. A charity that has missed a filing deadline, even by a short time, should treat it as urgent and file as soon as possible rather than waiting for a further notice.