How to File T4 Slips and the T4 Summary in Canada
Every employer in Canada closes the payroll year the same way: a T4 slip for each employee and a T4 Summary that totals them, filed with the CRA and handed out to staff. Employees use the slip to file their personal returns. The CRA uses it to check that the CPP, EI and income tax you withheld all year actually reached it.
Most T4 problems are not filing problems. They come from small payroll errors made during the year that only surface when the totals have to match. This guide covers who gets a T4, the 2027 deadline, the boxes small employers get wrong and how to reconcile before you file. It is part of our handbook on how to do payroll in Canada.
Who Needs a T4 Slip and Who Gets a T4A Instead
You prepare a T4 for an employee you paid during the calendar year if any of these apply:
- Pay over $500: you paid them more than $500 in remuneration.
- Deductions: you were required to deduct CPP, EI or income tax, whatever the amount.
- Pension adjustment: they earned one under your registered pension plan or deferred profit sharing plan.
- Group term life: you provided taxable group term life insurance, which needs a T4 even if nothing else was paid.
An owner-manager who takes a salary from their own corporation gets a T4 like any other employee.
Contractors do not get a T4. If you paid a self-employed individual or a corporation more than $500 in fees for services during the year, or deducted tax from the payment, the amount goes on a T4A in box 048, without GST/HST. Construction businesses have a separate slip for subcontractor payments: see our guide to T5018 slips for contract payments.
T4 Deadline 2027: When T4 Slips for the 2026 Tax Year Are Due
T4 slips and the T4 Summary are due on the last day of February after the calendar year. When that day falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the CRA treats the return as on time if it receives it, or it is postmarked, by the next business day. February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so the 2026 T4 return is due Monday, March 1, 2027.
Employees must also have their copies by the last day of February. Paper copies are fine, but to send slips by email you need the employee’s written consent first. Late distribution carries its own penalty of $25 a day per slip, with a $100 minimum and a $2,500 maximum. Our 2027 tax deadlines in Canada calendar lists every other CRA date for the year.
How to File T4 Slips Online: Web Forms and Internet File Transfer
If you file more than five slips of the same type for a calendar year, you must file electronically. The threshold dropped from 50 to five for returns filed on or after January 1, 2024, so a business with six employees can no longer mail paper slips. Filing 6 to 50 slips on paper when you should have filed electronically costs $125, on top of any late-filing penalty.
The CRA’s page on how to file information returns describes two electronic routes:
- Web Forms: an online form on the CRA website that handles up to 100 slips, including amended and cancelled ones. It suits a small employer without payroll software.
- Internet file transfer: an upload of an XML file created by payroll, commercial or in-house software.
With five or fewer slips of a type, paper filing is still allowed. Include one copy of each slip with the summary and keep a copy of everything you send.
T4 Boxes Small Employers Get Wrong
The CRA’s RC4120 guide to filing the T4 slip and summary explains every box. These are the ones we see go wrong most often on small payrolls:
| Box | What it reports | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Total employment income before deductions, including taxable benefits | Reporting a benefit under a code but leaving it out of box 14 |
| 16 and 16A | Employee CPP and CPP2 contributions deducted | Leaving 16A blank instead of entering 0 |
| 17 and 17A | QPP and QPP2, only when the province of employment is Quebec | Using these boxes for Ontario staff |
| 18 | Employee EI premiums deducted | Adding the employer’s share |
| 22 | Income tax deducted | Including amounts garnished for the employee’s old tax debts |
| 24 | EI insurable earnings, capped at $68,900 for 2026 | Copying box 14 when pay exceeds the cap |
| 26 | CPP pensionable earnings, capped at $85,000 for 2026 | Stopping at $74,600 and ignoring CPP2 earnings |
| 28 | CPP, EI or PPIP exemption | Ticking an exemption that only applied for part of the year |
| 44 and 46 | Union dues and charitable donations deducted from pay | Leaving them off, so the employee misses the deduction or credit |
Boxes 16 and 18 hold only the employee’s share. Your employer CPP and EI go on the T4 Summary, never on the slip. For an employee paid $90,000 in 2026, box 24 shows $68,900, box 26 shows $85,000 and box 16A shows $416 of CPP2, which is $85,000 less $74,600, times 4%.
Taxable Benefits That Belong on the T4 Slip
A taxable benefit is added to box 14 and also reported with a code in the Other information area at the bottom of the slip. The codes small employers use most:
- Code 30, board and lodging: housing or meals you provide.
- Code 34, personal use of an employer’s automobile: the benefit from driving a company vehicle for personal trips.
- Code 36, interest-free and low-interest loans: the interest benefit on money you lend an employee.
- Code 40, other taxable allowances and benefits: the catch-all, including employer-paid group term life premiums and cash or near-cash gifts.
Gift cards catch a lot of owners. The CRA treats cash and near-cash gifts as always taxable, so a $100 holiday gift card belongs on the T4. Non-cash gifts and awards are treated differently: up to $500 a year in total is not taxable for an employee who deals with you at arm’s length. The CRA’s chart of taxable benefits shows the T4 code for each benefit and whether CPP and EI apply.
Reconcile the T4 Summary to Your Payroll Remittances
The T4 Summary totals every slip and adds the employer share: employee CPP (line 16), employer CPP (line 27), employee EI (line 18), employer EI (line 19) and income tax (line 22). Together they make total deductions reported (line 80). Subtract what you remitted during the year (line 82) and you get a balance owing or an overpayment.
Here is a one-employee example on a $55,000 salary in 2026, with $7,800 of income tax withheld:
| T4 Summary line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Employee CPP contributions (16) | $3,064.25 |
| Employer CPP contributions (27) | $3,064.25 |
| Employee EI premiums (18) | $896.50 |
| Employer EI premiums (19) | $1,255.10 |
| Income tax deducted (22) | $7,800.00 |
| Total deductions reported (80) | $16,080.10 |
| Remittances during the year (82) | $15,880.10 |
| Balance due | $200.00 |
A balance due usually points to a short or missed remittance, such as a bonus paid outside the normal cycle. Find the cause before you file rather than after.
Once the return is in, the CRA runs a Pensionable and Insurable Earnings Review (PIER), recalculating the CPP and EI each slip should show and comparing it with what you reported. If the figures differ, it sends a PIER report with a listing of the employees affected and asks for a reply within 30 calendar days. Our guide to payroll remittance in Canada covers the remittance side of the year.
How to Amend or Cancel a T4 Slip
Mistakes found after filing are fixed with amended or cancelled slips, not a second original return.
- Amending: correct the slip and mark it “Amended”. Web Forms accepts amended slips if you filed electronically. On paper, send one copy to the CRA with a letter explaining the change and give the employee two copies.
- Cancelling: if a slip should never have been issued, for example a duplicate or a slip for the wrong person, file it marked “Cancelled” the same way.
- Summary: do not file an amended T4 Summary on paper.
A PIER report changes the process. Do not amend the slips yourself in response to one. Reply to the report with any changes it needs, and the CRA issues the amended slips.
T4 Late-Filing Penalties
The penalty for a late T4 return depends on how many slips are late. For T4 returns the CRA applies a relieving administrative policy, and the penalty is the greater of $100 and the amount in this table, according to its page on when to file information returns:
| Slips filed late | Penalty per day (up to 100 days) | Maximum penalty |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | Flat penalty, not based on days | $100 |
| 6 to 10 | $5 | $500 |
| 11 to 50 | $10 | $1,000 |
| 51 to 500 | $15 | $1,500 |
| 501 to 2,500 | $25 | $2,500 |
| 2,501 to 10,000 | $50 | $5,000 |
| 10,001 or more | $75 | $7,500 |
A business with eight employees that files two weeks late would face 14 days at $5, or $70, so the $100 minimum applies. The late-filing penalty is separate from the penalty for filing on paper when you had to file electronically and from the penalty for giving employees their slips late.
Year-End T4 Checklist for Employers
- December: confirm every employee’s SIN, legal name and address are on file and correct.
- Last pay of the year: run taxable benefits such as gift cards, vehicle use and group life premiums through payroll so the deductions are taken in the right year.
- January: reconcile year-to-date payroll to the general ledger and to the remittances the CRA shows on your payroll account.
- February: review boxes 16A, 24, 26 and 28 for every employee, file the return and give employees their slips.
- Quebec staff: employees who report to work in Quebec also need an RL-1 slip filed with Revenu Québec.
- Records: keep the slips, the summary and your working papers for at least six years.
If you are adding staff in 2027, our checklist for hiring your first employee in Canada covers the setup side, from the payroll account to WSIB.
Rules and figures reflect CRA guidance as of October 2026. This is general information, not advice for your situation.
We prepare and file T4s, T4As and T5018s for small businesses every winter, after reconciling the year’s payroll so the summary matches what was remitted. If you run payroll yourself, we can review your slips before they go in. See our payroll services for small business or get in touch.
