How Many Years Back Does a Canada VDP Correct Your Tax Filings?

If your tax mistakes go back many years, you may wonder whether you have to fix all of them to use the Voluntary Disclosures Program. The answer involves two separate ideas: how many years of documents you submit, and how many years of relief the CRA can give.

The CRA's pages describe these in different ways, so it helps to separate them. This article explains each and what to confirm before you file.

This article covers Canadian federal tax law, which applies in every province.

Two questions, not one

The first question is which years you must include with your application. The second is how far back the CRA can cancel penalties and interest. They are related but they are not the same number.

Because CRA pages state look-back figures differently, confirm the current figure with a tax professional before you file.

How many years of records to include

Income tax applications must include supporting documents for the affected years. Records generally cover the most recent six years, or ten years for assets or income located outside Canada. Years with no errors or omissions need not be included.

For GST/HST and related taxes, supporting documents are required for the most recent four years. Clean periods in that window need not be included, and the CRA may ask for older periods at its discretion.

Where books and records do not exist, you should make reasonable estimates. The CRA may request additional records, and years beyond the required periods are at the CRA's discretion.

How the ten-year limit applies to relief

The CRA's legal basis for cancelling penalties and interest is subsection 220(3.1) of the Income Tax Act. It lets the Minister waive or cancel all or part of any penalty or interest, and the request must be made on or before the day ten calendar years after the end of the taxation year.

Penalty and interest relief follows that limitation period, so older years may get reduced or no relief. The CRA's June 2026 VDP page says relief covers information going back up to 10 years from the disclosure date, and older information may get reduced relief.

Relief runs up to the effective date of disclosure, which the CRA assigns in the acknowledgement letter it sends after receiving your application, if you qualify.

Other points that affect the years you cover

• Your application must include information at least one year past the filing due date.
• Years with no errors or omissions need not be included for income tax.
• The CRA may audit any information in your application, and if it finds fraud or misrepresentation it may assess any year.
• The CRA may deny an application as incomplete if requested information or documents are not provided within a reasonable timeframe.

What to do next

• List every year in which you had an error, omission or unfiled return.
• Gather records for each of those years, and estimate where records do not exist.
• Separate income tax years from GST/HST periods, and note any foreign assets or income.
• Ask a tax lawyer or accountant which years the CRA is likely to expect and which may receive reduced relief.
• Check the date of your application against the circular that applies to it.

Frequently asked questions