T4 Slips in Canada (2026): Who Issues Them, the Deadline, Boxes and Penalties

Every Canadian employer has the same job in the first two months of the year: give each employee a T4 slip showing what they were paid and what was deducted, and send the CRA the matching T4 return. Get it right and it's an afternoon's work. Get it wrong and the CRA sends penalty notices, pensionable and insurable earnings reviews, and phone calls from staff who can't file their own returns. This guide is for small employers and bookkeepers preparing 2026 slips. It covers who gets a T4, the deadline, the boxes that cause the most trouble, online filing, penalties, the T4A, corrections and a worked example in Canadian dollars.

Quick answer

A T4 slip (Statement of Remuneration Paid) reports an employee's employment income and the CPP, EI and income tax deducted for the calendar year. Employers must give it to employees and file it with the CRA, with a T4 Summary, by the last day of February — for 2026 slips that's 1 March 2027, because 28 February 2027 is a Sunday.

• Required if pay was over C$500 or you deducted anything

• More than 5 slips → you must file electronically

• Late filing: C$10/day for up to 50 slips (min C$100, max C$1,000)

• Contractors get a T4A, not a T4

• Box 45 (dental coverage) needs a code 1–5 on every slip

What a T4 slip is and who must issue one

The T4 is the CRA's information slip for employment income. It's prepared by the employer, not the employee, and it does two jobs: it tells the employee what to put on their income tax return, and it tells the CRA what the employer paid and withheld so it can match that against the employer's remittances and the employee's return. A T4 Summary totals all the slips you issue under one payroll account.

You must prepare a T4 for every employee to whom you paid salary, wages, tips or gratuities you controlled, bonuses, vacation pay, commissions, taxable benefits and allowances, or a retiring allowance, if either of these is true:

• the total remuneration paid in the year was more than C$500; or
• you had to deduct CPP or QPP contributions, EI premiums, QPIP premiums or income tax — at any amount.

Because EI applies from the first dollar, almost every employee ends up needing a slip, even a student who worked three shifts. You also need a T4 when an employee accrued a pension adjustment under your registered pension plan or deferred profit-sharing plan, and for taxable group term life insurance benefits to current employees, whatever their pay.

Income goes on the slip for the year it was paid, not the year it was earned. A December 2026 pay period that's paid on 2 January 2027 belongs on the 2027 T4. That's a common source of mismatches between payroll registers, which often run by period end date, and the CRA's records, which follow the payment date.

Owner-managers are not exempt. If your corporation pays you a salary, you're an employee of the company and need a T4 like everyone else. Dividends go on a T5 instead.

If you employ people in Quebec, the T4 is only half the job. Quebec income tax, QPP and QPIP are administered by Revenu Québec, which has its own slip, the RL-1, and its own summary. The T4 for a Quebec employee shows federal tax in box 22, QPP in boxes 17 and 17A and QPIP in boxes 55 and 56, while the RL-1 reports the Quebec side. Check Revenu Québec's guide for the RL-1 deadline and filing rules before February.

Employees see their slip in two places once you've filed: on paper or electronically from you, and in the CRA's My Account, where the tax software's auto-fill service picks it up. An employee who says their T4 is "missing" from My Account usually means the return hasn't been processed yet or was filed under a different payroll account number — another reason to file early and check the acceptance message rather than the receipt email.

The T4 deadline: last day of February

The filing deadline is fixed in the Income Tax Regulations: T4 slips must be given to employees, and the T4 return (slips plus summary) must reach the CRA, on or before the last day of February following the calendar year. If that day is a Saturday, Sunday or a CRA-recognized public holiday, the return is on time if it's received or postmarked by the next business day.

T4 timeline for the 2026 tax year

31 December 2026

Last payment date that counts for 2026 slips; record box 45 dental coverage status as of this date

January 2027

Reconcile payroll registers with remittances; check every employee's SIN and address

1 March 2027

Deadline: slips to employees and T4 return to the CRA (28 Feb 2027 is a Sunday)

30 April 2027

Employees' personal tax returns due; expect requests for missing or corrected slips

If your business stops operating, the deadline is earlier: you must file within 30 days of the day the business ceased, and the T4 for a deceased sole proprietor or partner is due 90 days after the death. Don't wait until February in those cases.

You can file before the deadline and many employers do — employees can't file their returns until they have their slips, and the CRA's auto-fill service only shows a T4 once the employer has filed it.

The boxes that matter

A T4 has more than 30 boxes and an "other information" area for coded amounts. Most employers only use a dozen. These are the ones that cause the most errors.

Box 45 came in with the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and the CRA's transitional leniency has ended: since the 2025 slips, every T4 must carry a code. Code 1 means the employee wasn't eligible for any dental coverage you offered; 2 covers the employee only; 3 the employee, spouse and dependent children; 4 the employee and spouse; and 5 the employee and dependent children. You report what was offered on 31 December, whether or not the employee enrolled. An employee who opted out of a plan you offered still gets code 2–5.

Boxes 16A and 17A are for CPP2 and QPP2, which apply to earnings between the first ceiling and the YAMPE. A separate T4 is needed for each province of employment, and CPP2 and QPP2 can never appear on the same slip. Our payroll deductions guide shows how the 2026 ceilings work pay by pay.

How to file: Web Forms, My Business Account or XML

Filing your T4 return online

1. 1

   Reconcile before you start

   Total each employee's gross pay, CPP, CPP2, EI and tax for the calendar year (by payment date). Compare the totals with what you remitted — the difference will show up on the T4 Summary.

2. 2

   Choose a filing method

   Web Forms (free, up to 100 slips, in your browser), filing through My Business Account or Represent a Client, or an XML file transfer from your payroll software.

   RC4120 guide
3. 3

   Enter or import the slips

   Use the payroll account number (BN + RP) that appears on your remittances. The same account number must be on every slip and the summary.

   Tip: A closed or wrong RP account is one of the most common reasons files are rejected.

4. 4

   Complete the T4 Summary

   Totals of each box, your employer CPP, CPP2 and EI, total remittances, and any balance due or overpayment.

5. 5

   Submit and save the confirmation

   The CRA's emailed 'confirmation of receipt' only means the file arrived. Check in My Business Account that it was accepted, not rejected.

6. 6

   Deliver slips to employees

   On paper (two copies) or electronically. Email delivery needs the employee's written consent; a secure employer portal must still give paper on request.

Since 1 January 2024, if you file more than 5 information returns of a type for a calendar year, you must file them electronically. In practice: one to five T4 slips can still go on paper to the CRA's Jonquière tax centre; six or more must be filed online. The penalty for ignoring the rule depends on the number of slips: C$125 for 6 to 50 slips, C$250 for 51 to 250, C$500 for 251 to 500, C$1,500 for 501 to 2,500, and C$2,500 for 2,501 or more.

Web Forms is enough for most small employers: it's free, saves your work, runs validation checks as you type and creates the XML file for you. Payroll software that produces an XML file is quicker for larger payrolls, but the CRA's own notes on rejected files are worth reading — missing mandatory tags and a transmitter number that doesn't match the account used to log in account for many rejections.

If you give slips to employees electronically, keep the consent on file. When you mail paper slips, send two copies and don't print the box 54 payroll account number on the employee's copies.

Late filing and other penalties

T4 penalties at a glance

C$10/day

Late filing, 1–50 slips

Min C$100, max C$1,000

C$7,500

Maximum late-filing penalty

10,001+ slips at C$75 a day

C$25/day

Slip not given to employee

Per slip, min C$100, max C$2,500

C$125+

Paper filing when 6+ slips

Up to C$2,500

The late-filing penalty scales with the size of the return. For 1 to 50 slips it's C$10 a day; 51 to 500 slips, C$15 a day (maximum C$1,500); 501 to 2,500, C$25 a day (maximum C$2,500); 2,501 to 10,000, C$50 a day (maximum C$5,000); and 10,001 or more, C$75 a day (maximum C$7,500). The minimum is C$100 in every case. Interest also runs on any penalty you don't pay.

The penalty for not giving an employee their slip is separate: C$25 a day for each slip, with a C$100 minimum and a C$2,500 maximum. There are also penalties for failing to report an employee's SIN when you could have obtained it, and much heavier ones for false information.

Penalties can sometimes be cancelled under the CRA's taxpayer relief provisions if the delay was caused by circumstances beyond your control — a serious illness, a natural disaster, or a CRA system outage. The CRA has granted blanket relief in specific years, as it did in February 2025 when it waived late-filing penalties on information returns filed by 7 March. Don't plan on it: relief is announced, if at all, only days before the deadline.

Example. A café with eight employees files its T4 return on paper on 21 March 2027, 20 days after the 1 March 2027 deadline. The late-filing penalty is 20 × C$10 = C$200. Because it filed eight slips on paper, it can also be charged C$125 for not filing electronically, for C$325 in total — plus interest, and plus C$25 a day per slip if staff didn't get their copies on time.

T4 vs T4A: employees vs contractors

The T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income, is the slip for income that isn't employment income. Payers use it for pensions and annuities, retiring allowances paid to non-employees, scholarships and research grants, death benefits, and — the one most small businesses meet — fees for services paid to self-employed individuals.

T4 or T4A?

	T4	T4A
Who gets it	Employees (contract of service)	Contractors, pensioners, students and other payees
Typical income	Salary, wages, bonuses, vacation pay, taxable benefits	Fees for services (box 048), commissions to self-employed (box 020), pensions, scholarships
Threshold	Over C$500 or any deduction	Fees over C$500 in the year, or tax deducted
CPP and EI deducted?	Yes, usually	No (the payee pays CPP as self-employed)
Deadline	Last day of February	Last day of February
Dental box	Box 45	Box 015

Who gets it

T4

Employees (contract of service)

T4A

Contractors, pensioners, students and other payees

Typical income

T4

Salary, wages, bonuses, vacation pay, taxable benefits

T4A

Fees for services (box 048), commissions to self-employed (box 020), pensions, scholarships

Threshold

T4

Over C$500 or any deduction

T4A

Fees over C$500 in the year, or tax deducted

CPP and EI deducted?

T4

Yes, usually

T4A

No (the payee pays CPP as self-employed)

Deadline

T4

Last day of February

T4A

Last day of February

Dental box

T4

Box 45

T4A

Box 015

The test is the relationship, not what the contract calls it. If you control how, when and where the work is done, supply the tools and carry the financial risk, the CRA is likely to see an employee who should have had deductions and a T4. If the worker runs their own business, sets their own hours and can make a profit or loss, a T4A for fees over C$500 is correct. Payments to incorporated contractors generally don't need a T4A at all — except in trucking, where since the 2025 tax year the CRA charges penalties if a business that earns most of its income from trucking doesn't report box 048 payments over C$500 to trucking corporations.

Payments to non-resident contractors for services provided in Canada go on a T4A-NR, not a T4A.

Correcting a T4: amended, additional and cancelled slips

Mistakes happen, and the fix depends on what went wrong. To change a slip already filed, file an amended slip online (the amended option in Web Forms, or report type code A in XML) or on paper marked AMENDED, re-entering the unchanged figures as well as the corrected ones, and give the employee a new copy. Don't file an amended T4 Summary. A change of address on its own doesn't need an amendment.

To add a slip you forgot, file it as an additional slip. To withdraw a slip filed in error, cancel it (code C in XML, or CANCELLED on paper). If an employee loses their copy, give them a duplicate — it doesn't go to the CRA.

If the CRA sends you a pensionable and insurable earnings review (PIER) saying your CPP or EI deductions don't match the earnings you reported, respond to the PIER in My Business Account rather than amending the slips. And if you over-deducted CPP or EI, don't change the slip: the employee gets the excess back on their return, and you can claim back the employer share with Form PD24 within four years for CPP and three years for EI.

Worked example: a T4 and T4 Summary for 2026

Take an Ontario employer with two employees and these 2026 payroll totals (using the rates in our payroll deductions guide; the income tax figures are illustrative, since they depend on each TD1):

Employee A — C$60,000 salary. Box 10 ON; box 14 C$60,000.00; box 16 C$3,361.75; box 16A C$0.00; box 18 C$978.00; box 22 C$8,100.00; box 24 C$60,000.00; box 26 C$60,000.00; box 45 code 3 (family dental plan offered).

Employee B — C$95,000 salary. Box 14 C$95,000.00; box 16 C$4,230.45; box 16A C$416.00; box 18 C$1,123.07; box 22 C$17,900.00; box 24 C$68,900.00 (capped); box 26 C$85,000.00 (capped at the YAMPE); box 45 code 3.

On the T4 Summary: line 14 is C$155,000; line 16 C$7,592.20 and line 16A C$416.00 (employees' CPP and CPP2); line 27 C$7,592.20 and 27A C$416.00 (employer's matching share); line 18 C$2,101.07; line 19 C$2,941.50 (1.4 × EI); line 22 C$26,000. Line 80, total deductions, is C$47,058.97. If the employer remitted C$47,058.97 during the year (line 82), there's nothing on lines 84 or 86. If it remitted C$46,800.00, line 86 shows a balance due of C$258.97, which should be paid right away — the CRA treats it as a late remittance, not a year-end top-up. The CRA generally doesn't charge or refund a difference of C$2 or less.

Common T4 mistakes and how to avoid them

• Using the period end date instead of the payment date. Year-end pay periods that straddle 31 December are the classic error.
• Wrong or missing SIN. Ask for it on the first day; employees must give it within three days of starting.
• Box 24 and 26 left blank. Unless the employment is exempt and box 28 is ticked, the CRA expects insurable and pensionable earnings, and blanks trigger PIER reviews.
• No code in box 45. Files without it are rejected.
• Taxable benefits missed. A company phone used privately, a parking spot, gift cards — all go in box 14 (and some in other info codes), and employees often only notice when their return is reassessed.
• Contractors who should be employees. Issuing a T4A instead of a T4 doesn't change the relationship; the CRA can assess both shares of CPP and EI plus penalties.

Next steps

Diary 1 March 2027, reconcile your remittances in January, and set up Web Forms access in My Business Account before you need it. If the T4 Summary shows a balance due, find out why before the next pay run — it usually means a deduction error that will repeat. The salary slip generator helps you give employees clear pay stubs during the year, so the T4 holds no surprises, and the CRA business contact numbers page lists the information returns line if a filing is rejected.

Official links

• RC4120 Employers' Guide – Filing the T4 slip and summaryBoxes, penalties, amendments
• When to file information returnsDeadlines and weekend rule
• T4A slipWhen to use a T4A
• T4 XML specifications (2026)For payroll software and XML filers
• Canadian Dental Care Plan – employer reportingBox 45 codes

This is general information, not legal or tax advice — confirm on the official source or with a professional.

Frequently asked questions

When is the T4 deadline for the 2026 tax year?

T4 slips must reach employees, and the T4 return must reach the CRA, by the last day of February after the tax year. For 2026 slips, 28 February 2027 is a Sunday, so the CRA's weekend rule moves the deadline to 1 March 2027. Filing earlier is fine and gives employees time to do their returns.

Do I have to file T4 slips electronically?

Yes, if you file more than 5 information returns of a type for the calendar year — so six or more T4 slips must go online through Web Forms, My Business Account or an XML upload. Paper is allowed only for one to five slips. Filing six to 50 slips on paper can cost a C$125 penalty.

What is the difference between a T4 and a T4A?

A T4 reports employment income — salary, wages, bonuses, vacation pay and taxable benefits — paid to employees under a contract of service. A T4A reports other income such as pensions, retiring allowances paid to non-employees, scholarships, and fees for services paid to self-employed people over C$500 in the year. Contractors get a T4A, not a T4.

What is the penalty for filing T4 slips late?

For 1 to 50 slips the penalty is C$10 a day, with a minimum of C$100 and a maximum of C$1,000. Bigger filers pay more per day, up to C$7,500. Separately, failing to give an employee their slip costs C$25 a day per slip, up to C$2,500.

Do I need to issue a T4 to an employee who earned under C$500?

Not always. You must issue a T4 if remuneration was more than C$500, or if you deducted CPP, EI, QPIP or income tax, whatever the amount. Most part-time employees have at least EI deducted, so in practice nearly every employee needs a slip. A T4 is also required for taxable group term life insurance even if total pay is lower.

How do I fix a mistake on a T4 after filing?

File an amended slip with the CRA — online with the amended option in Web Forms or report type code A in XML, or on paper marked AMENDED — and give the employee a corrected copy. Don't file an amended T4 Summary. If the CRA has sent you a pensionable and insurable earnings review (PIER) for that employee, respond to the PIER instead of amending.

Sources & verification

Figures on this page were checked against the sources below when it was last reviewed on 9 October 2026. Each rate and limit is stored once with its own official source and review date, and official update channels are monitored daily so changes are picked up. How we verify

1. 1.RC4120 Employers' Guide – Filing the T4 Slip and Summary — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
2. 2.When to file information returns — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
3. 3.T4, Statement of Remuneration Paid – XML specifications 2026 — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
4. 4.T4A slip — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
5. 5.CRA strengthens compliance in trucking sector by lifting the moratorium on T4A penalties — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
6. 6.Update on the filing of information returns (February 2025) — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
7. 7.Employers and pension plan administrators responsibilities – Canadian Dental Care Plan — Government of Canada · accessed 9 October 2026
8. 8.Second additional CPP (CPP2) contribution rates and maximums — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026
9. 9.EI premium rates and maximums — Canada Revenue Agency · accessed 9 October 2026