Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communication are described. A user equipment (UE) or a base station may identify a timing advance parameter and a processing parameter for the UE, and one or both may determine a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) timing based on the identified parameters. For example, if the UE has a large timing advance or reduced processing capacity, a longer HARQ timing may be chosen. When the UE receives downlink (DL) transmissions from the base station, the UE may send an acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) based on the chosen HARQ timing. The base station may send a retransmission (in the case of a NACK) based on the HARQ timing. In some cases, the UE may request a specific HARQ timing, or request an updated timing advance. If HARQ synchronization is lost, the UE and the base station may default to a preconfigured HARQ timing.