Cost-effective Form RC199 — voluntary disclosure application

Form RC199 — who files it, when it is due, what late filing costs, and what we charge to prepare it. Canada (CRA). Cost-effective RC199 with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.

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Send what you have. We price the engagement from your own documents, in writing, before any work starts.

24-hour helpline: +1 (416) 619-0068
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE
  • 15+ years of cross-border experience
  • Google rating 5.0 out of 5
In 60 words

Form RC199 is a catch-up or disclosure filing: The application under the CRA's voluntary disclosures programme to correct unreported income or unfiled information returns. Canadian taxpayers who did not report foreign income, foreign property or foreign affiliates and want relief before the CRA finds it.

Who this applies to

Canadian taxpayers who did not report foreign income, foreign property or foreign affiliates and want relief before the CRA finds it.

Everything else on this page follows from this. It only works while the disclosure is still voluntary. Once the CRA has begun to act, relief narrows, and the programme distinguishes between limited and general relief on the basis of how the failure came about.

Two of the firm’s advisers and the team in the open-plan office

What rc199 voluntary disclosure application costs here

A voluntary disclosure application is priced on the years being brought current and on what has to be rebuilt to do it — unreported foreign income, accounts, property or affiliates, each with returns and slips behind it. Where the records still exist the work is assembly; where they do not, reconstruction is the larger part.

CRA voluntary disclosure package — fixed-fee price

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

The disclosure application with the corrected filings, a documented chronology of how the failure arose, and representation through to the CRA's decision.
See the full fee page

Catch-up & voluntary disclosure

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

For a filing history that stopped — the penalty position assessed first, then the years filed in the order that protects it.
See the fee schedule

Foreign asset & information reporting

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Accounts, property and company interests held outside the country of residence, reported on the schedules that carry penalties whether or not tax is owed.
See the fee schedule

Individual tax filing

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

A personal filing built from your own documents — employment, investment and rental income across borders, with the treaty position set out.
See the fee schedule

Non-resident & departure filings

From $349

fixed, quoted before work starts

Arrival and departure years priced as one engagement, with the part-year residence position and the assets deemed disposed of on exit.
See the fee schedule

Corporate cross-border filing

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

Corporate compliance for a group that trades or holds assets in more than one country, prepared on both sides together.
See the fee schedule

Payroll & mobility setup

From $999

fixed, quoted before work starts

The employer side of mobility — where to register, what to withhold, and what to report once someone works across a border.
See the fee schedule

Transfer pricing documentation

From $2,500

fixed, quoted before work starts

Local file, master file and benchmarking for groups trading across borders, documented to the standard the authority expects.
See the fee schedule

All published fees on one page — the whole fee schedule in one place, with no from-to bands to decode.

What the reporting test actually looks at

What decides whether Form RC199 applies
What is in scopeWhat the route provides
The obligationThe application under the CRA's voluntary disclosures programme to correct unreported income or unfiled information returns.
Who it bindsCanadian taxpayers who did not report foreign income, foreign property or foreign affiliates and want relief before the CRA finds it.
Jurisdiction and authorityCanada — CRA
Category of filingCatch-up or disclosure filing

When it is due

A disclosure route is available while the disclosure is still voluntary. There is no fixed date — the deadline is the moment the tax authority acts first, which is why the assessment of eligibility comes before anything is filed. The deadline is set out in writing with the engagement, along with what has to be in our hands to meet it.

What late or missed filing costs

The point of these routes is penalty relief, so the comparison is between the relief a programme provides and the exposure of the ordinary regime. Choosing the wrong route, or filing outside one, can forfeit relief that was available the day before. None of that is unusual, and none of it is unfixable. It is, however, cheaper to address before an authority raises it.

What this looks like with numbers

Worked through with figures, the mechanism looks like this.

How an information-return exposure compounds

A filer who owed no tax at all, but missed an information return for 5 years with 2 forms due each year. Assume a per-form penalty of US$8,000 for the illustration.

How an information-return exposure compounds
ItemAmount
Years unfiled5
Forms due per year2
Assumed penalty per formUS$8,000
Exposure before any reliefUS$80,000
Tax actually owed on the incomeUS$0

US$80,000 of exposure against nil tax. That asymmetry is why the disclosure routes exist and why the sequence of filings matters more than the arithmetic — filed in the right order under the right route, the penalty position can be very different from this. The interesting question is where your own figures fall relative to that, which is a computation rather than an opinion.

Treat these numbers as a worked example rather than advice — they exist to make the mechanics visible, and the rates and thresholds are assumed for the illustration. For a real filing, we verify each figure with the authority that publishes it, for your year.

How we prepare and file it, and what it costs

Form RC199 is priced as part of the filing set it travels with, quoted in writing before any work begins. A change in scope is re-quoted rather than added to the invoice. See the Canada–US treaty explained for comparable engagements.

The four steps

  1. 1We start with the chronology: dates, countries, and what has already been filed
  2. 2You get the scope and the fee in writing before we touch anything
  3. 3The work is prepared and reviewed by a named person, not a queue
  4. 4Nothing is filed until you have read it
  • Documents move through one secure portal, and you can meet us in person at any of our offices.
  • A 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068, before you commit to anything.
  • We will tell you when you do not need us, and that call is free.

The quote comes before the work, in writing.

Read and approved for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. General information, not advice for your circumstances — call our 24-hour helpline to discuss your own position.

Canada tax forms, in practice

The subject here is RC199, which is what people mean when they search for Canada tax forms. This page covers who it applies to, the filings it produces, and the fixed fee agreed before work begins.

It only works while the disclosure is still voluntary.

The four phases of the work

  1. Start with a conversation about the facts

    Dates, residence, where the income arose. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know what applies.

  2. Scope and price, both written down

    You get the scope and the fixed fee together, so there is no question later about what was included.

  3. Prepared by one team, reviewed by a named practitioner

    The same people see both sides of the file, and the reviewer signs their name to it.

  4. Filed, then followed through

    Submission is not the end of the engagement — the queries that arrive afterwards are part of it.

What you are actually buying with rc199 voluntary disclosure application

Factor Legal Quotient Hourly billing model
Pricing A fixed fee, agreed in writing before work starts Hourly, billed as incurred
Experience 15+ years of cross-border work, 18,000+ clients Varies by file
Both sides of the border Prepared together by one team, so relief is claimed exactly once One country at a time, reconciled later
Who reviews it A named practitioner, published on the page Whoever the queue reaches
Where the work happens Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE Whichever single office you can travel to

Key terms behind this page, defined

Foreign affiliate
A non-resident corporation in which a Canadian resident holds a specified level of interest, bringing surplus computations and information reporting with it.
Section 116 certificate
The Canadian clearance certificate on a non-resident's disposition of taxable Canadian property. The purchaser holds back part of the price until it issues.
Credit method
A relief method under which the residence country taxes the foreign income and allows the foreign tax against its own, up to its own tax on that income.
Portability
The election allowing a deceased US spouse's unused exemption to be used by the survivor. It has to be claimed on a return.
rc199 voluntary disclosure application: Our analysis

It only works while the disclosure is still voluntary.

Complexity changes the work, not the deal: the written fee and scope come first, a named practitioner signs off, and the filing follows your approval of the delivered file.

Fixed fees around rc199 voluntary disclosure application

Before anything is drafted there is a judgement to make: whether the disclosure is still voluntary, and which relief the facts will support. That assessment shapes how the narrative is written and how much of the file has to be evidenced, so it belongs in the engagement. The price is agreed in writing at the outset.

Foreign asset & information reporting

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Disclosure of assets and interests held abroad, built once from a single asset list and filed on every side that asks for it.

See this fee page

Individual tax filing

$349fixed, before work starts

Covers: Individual returns where salary, investments or property sit outside the country of residence, prepared so relief is claimed once and in the right place.

See this fee page

Why choose Legal Quotient for rc199 voluntary disclosure application

Cross-border is the whole practice

International and cross-border tax is all we do — not a sideline next to domestic work. The edge cases on this page are our ordinary Tuesday.

18,000+ clients served

Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.

A named reviewer on every file

Every page on this site and every file we deliver says which practitioner reviewed it — a person, not a team inbox.

Filed with the authority, not just prepared

The engagement runs to submission and to the correspondence that follows it, including the queries that arrive months later.

The team reviewing a file together at a desk

How the engagement runs, phase by phase

Step 1

Initial call

A first call to map the obligations across every country involved

Step 2

Scope and fee

A single fixed fee covering the whole set, agreed before we begin

Step 3

Preparation and review

Preparation in the order that makes the relief usable, with a reviewer's sign-off

Step 4

Filing and payment

You approve the finished work, and we file it

The team at work in the open-plan office

A fixed quote first, in writing

  • Step 1: Send what you already have – Slips, statements, prior returns — in any order. We list what is still needed after reading them.
  • Step 2: A fee agreed in writing – Quoted from those documents, before the work starts, and it does not move once you accept it.
  • Step 3: Each side drafted against the other – The returns are built together rather than in sequence, so relief is claimed once and in the right country.
  • Step 4: You approve before it is filed – The finished return comes to you first. Nothing is submitted on your behalf unseen.

Quoted up front, in writing.

Contact Us 24-hour helpline +1 (416) 619-0068

Keep reading, sideways

Every link below is a full page of its own — the same depth as this one, for its own subject.

Services these clients use most

Investor & start-up visa tax Investor & start-up visa tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Taxpayer relief — penalties & interest The full guide to taxpayer relief penalties interest, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
State residency & domicile forms Its own page: US state residency domicile forms — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Functional & risk analysis Everything on functional & risk analysis, at the same depth as this page.
Outbound investment (ODI) from India Outbound investment (odi) from India — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Form T1134 — foreign affiliates and excluded property The full guide to excluded property foreign affiliate, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Related-party goods purchases — transfer pricing Its own page: related party goods purchases transfer pricing — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Indian pension received abroad Everything on Indian pension received abroad, at the same depth as this page.
Treaty relief for students & researchers Treaty relief students researchers — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

Who we bring this work to

Franchise owners — your filing calendar Franchise owners your filing calendar — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for freelance designers & writers The full guide to freelance designers & writers tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Tax for teachers abroad Its own page: teachers abroad tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Airline pilots — what you owe in each country Everything on airline pilots what you owe in each country, at the same depth as this page.
Airline pilots — your filing calendar Airline pilots your filing calendar — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Tax for architects The full guide to architects tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Civil & structural engineers — what you owe in each country Its own page: civil & structural engineers what you owe in each country — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Mining & energy cross-border tax Everything on mining & energy cross border tax, at the same depth as this page.
Professors & lecturers — what you owe in each country Professors & lecturers what you owe in each country — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

Countries and corridors this work reaches

US–UAE tax corridor US UAE tax — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Canada–Australia tax corridor The full guide to Canada Australia tax, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Canada–UAE tax corridor Its own page: Canada UAE tax — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Italy tax for expats — country guide Everything on Italy tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Luxembourg tax for expats — country guide Luxembourg tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.
Thailand tax for expats — country guide The full guide to Thailand tax for expats, with the fee fixed before any work starts.
Namibia tax for expats — country guide Its own page: namibia tax for expats — mechanism, deadlines and published fees.
Iceland tax for expats — country guide Everything on Iceland tax for expats, at the same depth as this page.
Pakistan tax for expats — country guide Pakistan tax for expats — the guide, the FAQ and the fixed fee.

The people on your file

Five named practitioners, each with the part of a cross-border file they carry. Every page on this site says who reviewed it, and the reviewer is one of these people rather than an unnamed team.

Udit Gupta

Udit Gupta

Cross-Border Tax Expert

CA (ICAI), In-Depth Tax Trained

Reviews and signs off the practice's cross-border positions, and carries final responsibility for the treaty analysis on every file that leaves the office.

Abhinav Gupta

Abhinav Gupta

Canada Tax / International Tax

Canada Tax, International Tax, Cross-Border Tax, Transfer Pricing

Canadian returns with foreign income, non-resident filings, and the transfer-pricing documentation that runs alongside intercompany work.

Raghav Gupta

Raghav Gupta

International Tax

International Tax, Transfer Pricing Specialist

Benchmarking, method selection and the local-file and master-file sets that support a group's pricing policy under examination.

Anmol Mittal

Anmol Mittal

Canada and US tax

CPA Canada, CPA USA, CA (ICAI)

Files that have to be right on both sides of the border at once — dual filings, streamlined catch-ups, and the foreign tax credit reconciliation between them.

Vinayak Indolia

Vinayak Indolia

CFO advisory

CPA, CA. Fractional CFO and Senior Advisory Specialist

Groups that need the tax position and the finance function to agree: structure reviews, intercompany policy, and the reporting a board can act on.

Meet the whole team

Files that look like this one

Case study 1

Fifteen Per Cent Held Back From a Fee for Services in Canada

A payer must withhold from fees paid to a non-resident for services rendered in Canada, whether or not any tax is ultimately owed. A waiver applied for before the work is invoiced avoids the withholding; after it, the money comes back through a return.

Read how this one runs
Case study 2

Deemed Resident or Factual Resident — Not the Same File

The two statuses attract different returns, different credits and different provincial treatment, and the label is decided by facts rather than chosen. Establishing which applies is the work; the filing follows from it without argument.

Read how this one runs
Case study 3

A Trust Abroad With a Canadian Connection

Contributions or beneficiaries in Canada can bring a foreign trust inside the Canadian net entirely. The analysis is who contributed what and when, because the answer decides whether the trust files here at all.

Read how this one runs
Case study 4

First Canadian Return After Arriving Mid-Year

The arrival date splits the year and sets the cost base of what you brought with you. Getting that date and those values right is what determines whether a later sale is taxed on the whole gain or only on the part that accrued after landing.

Read how this one runs
Case study 5

Interest and Penalties Put to a Relief Application

Relief is discretionary and is decided on the circumstances that caused the delay, evidenced year by year. The application is built from the same chronology the filings rest on, so the two cannot contradict each other.

Read how this one runs
Case study 6

A Family Trust Abroad With Reporting on Both Sides

A trust settled in one country and a beneficiary living in another produces reporting for the trust, the settlor and the beneficiary, on different forms and different dates. The engagement maps who files what before anything is prepared.

Read how this one runs
Case study 7

Green Card Kept, Moved to Canada — Both Returns Still Due

Holding a green card does not end the US filing obligation, and living in Canada starts a Canadian one. The engagement fixes residence under the treaty tie-breaker, then decides which return the relief is claimed on so the two do not contradict each other.

Read how this one runs
Case study 8

Ten Years of Missed Returns Filed as One Engagement

Filing many years at once is a sequencing problem: carry-forwards, instalments and credits from the earliest year feed the latest. Filing them out of order is what turns a recoverable position into an assessed one.

Read how this one runs

All case studies — every published engagement in one place.

Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services

International Tax Planning & Advisory

Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.

One coordinating team: filings on every side of the border are sequenced so treaty relief and foreign tax credits are claimed once — and in the right country.

U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns

Dual filers: U.S. citizens in Canada and Canadians with U.S. income run two parallel systems — we prepare both, in the right order, every year.

Expat & Emigration Tax

The move year is its own project: the elections and valuations filed that year decide the next decade of both countries’ returns.

Non-Resident Canadian Tax

Default withholding is 25% of gross: elective returns routinely turn over-withheld rent and pensions into refunds.

Transfer Pricing & BEPS

Documentation prepared with the return is the cheapest insurance in international tax; reconstructing it during an audit is the most expensive.

Cross-Border Estates & Trusts

Wills drafted for one country routinely misfire in the other — deemed disposition here, estate tax there, credits in between.

Cross-Border Corporate Tax

Expansion raises the same four questions every time — entity, PE, repatriation, payroll. We answer them before the tax authorities do.

India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents

The deduction is taken on the sale price, not the gain — which is why an NRI property sale strands cash unless the certificate is applied for before closing.

Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element

Residency is decided on facts, not on a form — and the year you arrive or leave is the one where the largest amounts turn on the smallest details.

UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country

A zero-tax country is only half the answer — the question that decides the bill is whether the country you came from still treats you as resident.

Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
Technology & SaaS
Professional Services Firms
Cross-Border Real Estate
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
Investment Funds & Holding Companies

Global E-commerce & Marketplaces

  • Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
  • Marketplace withholding reviews
  • Inventory nexus & PE analysis
  • Multi-currency books reconciled
Explore E-commerce & Marketplaces

Technology & SaaS

  • Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
  • IP structuring with real substance
  • Equity for cross-border teams
  • U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Explore Technology & SaaS

Cross-Border Real Estate

Foreign property income and sales are taxed in both countries by default; Section 216, FIRPTA and treaty credits are the standing toolkit.

Property is taxed where it sits, which is the one rule no treaty overrides. What the treaty does decide is the credit, the rate on the rent and what happens on the sale — and the clearance certificate on a disposition is applied for before closing, not after the buyer has already held the money back.

  • Section 216 rental returns
  • FIRPTA withholding recovery
  • Section 116 clearance
  • Treaty credit optimization
Explore Real Estate

Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers

  • Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
  • Customs value vs transfer price
  • Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
  • Country-by-country reporting
Explore Trade & Manufacturing

Athletes, Artists & Entertainers

  • Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
  • Multi-state & country calendars
  • Touring income allocation
  • Royalty & image-rights withholding
Explore Athletes & Entertainers

Remote Workers & Digital Nomads

  • Residency analysis before moving
  • Employer payroll exposure
  • Totalization & social security
  • Foreign tax credits
Explore Remote Workers

Investment Funds & Holding Companies

  • Treaty access & PPT reviews
  • FAPI & surplus computations
  • Withholding-efficient routing
  • Governance & substance
Explore Funds & Holdcos

Form RC199 — questions we are asked

Do I file Form RC199 even if no tax is owed?

Catch-up or disclosure filing obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. Canadian taxpayers who did not report foreign income, foreign property or foreign affiliates and want relief before the CRA finds it.

What happens if I have missed Form RC199 for several years?

Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.

Is Form RC199 the same as the other reports I already file?

No. The application under the CRA's voluntary disclosures programme to correct unreported income or unfiled information returns. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.

My T3 or T5 shows foreign income — does that go on the T1135 too?

They answer different questions. The slip reports income you received; the T1135 reports property you held. Foreign income earned inside a Canadian mutual fund or ETF is reported on the slip, but the underlying foreign securities belong to the fund, not to you, so they are not your specified foreign property. Foreign shares held directly in your brokerage account are — even though the broker is Canadian and the account statement is in dollars. See the T1135.

What is T1135 and who files it?

The T1135 is Canada's foreign income verification statement, filed by a resident whose specified foreign property exceeds the reporting threshold measured on cost, not market value. It is an information return, so it is required on the facts whether or not the property produced income or tax. Its penalties run per year and are not proportionate to tax owing, which is why missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time. See T1135.

Are foreign trusts taxable in Canada?

They can be. Canada's deemed-resident-trust rules can pull a non-resident trust into the Canadian tax system where there is a resident contributor or, in some cases, a resident beneficiary — taxing it as though it were resident here. Separate reporting applies to transfers or loans to a non-resident trust and to distributions and debts from one. The planning point is that contributing to an offshore trust from Canada rarely achieves what the brochure suggests. See non-resident trusts.

A named reviewer on every filing

Get Form RC199 handled for a fixed fee

Send us the facts. You will get a scope and a fixed fee in writing, and nothing starts until you agree to both.

  • 24-hour helpline, +1 (416) 619-0068
  • A named reviewer signs off every filing
  • Offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE

Our practitioners are alumni of leading accounting and tax institutions

Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.

Request a Quote +1 (416) 619-0068