Payroll can run cleanly all year, then February arrives and the whole file gets graded at once. This guide covers the deadline, what lateness costs, where the T4A line sits, and the two checks CRA runs on every return.
Key Takeaways
- Slips for the 2026 tax year are due Monday, March 1, 2027, to CRA and to your staff.
- Filing late costs a minimum of $100, and the daily rate climbs with slip count.
- More than five slips of one type makes electronic filing mandatory.
- The T4 Summary has to reconcile to the remittances you actually sent CRA.
The T4 Slip Deadline: When Employers Must File T4s in 2026
You must file the T4 information return with the Canada Revenue Agency and deliver each employee’s copies by the last day of February following the calendar year the slips cover. One date governs both duties. When it lands on a weekend the deadline shifts to the next business day, so slips for 2025 were due Monday, March 2, 2026, and slips for 2026 are due Monday, March 1, 2027.
Employers filing more than five slips of a single type must file electronically, a threshold that dropped from 50 on January 1, 2024. Web Forms suits a handful of slips typed into a browser; Internet file transfer accepts an XML file from payroll software. Paper filing above the threshold carries its own penalty, starting at $125. [VERIFY: whether the electronic filing threshold changes again for the 2026 filing season | CRA “File information returns electronically” page]
T4 Late Filing Penalty: What It Costs Per Slip
The penalty is the greater of $100 and a daily amount that scales with how many slips you filed late, counted for up to 100 days. ITA s. 162(7.01) sets the statutory tiers, and CRA applies a gentler scale at the small end in its Employers’ Guide, Filing the T4 Slip and Summary:
| Slips filed late | Penalty | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 5 | $100 flat | $100 |
| 6 to 10 | $5 per day | $500 |
| 11 to 50 | $10 per day | $1,000 |
| 51 to 500 | $15 per day | $1,500 |
| 501 to 2,500 | $25 per day | $2,500 |
| 2,501 to 10,000 | $50 per day | $5,000 |
| 10,001 or more | $75 per day | $7,500 |
Example: nine slips, 40 days late. Nine slips sits in the 6 to 10 band, so the rate is $5 per day. Forty days produces $200, which beats the $100 floor. Stretch those slips to 120 days and the count stops at 100 days and the $500 ceiling, with arrears interest compounding on top.
When to Issue a T4 Slip and When a T4A Applies
Issue a T4 slip to anyone you employed during the year if you withheld income tax, CPP contributions, or EI premiums, or if their remuneration exceeded $500. A taxable group term life insurance benefit or a pension adjustment overrides that floor. Terminated employees still get slips, and an employee who changed provinces of employment gets one slip per province.
A T4A slip covers the other side of the line: pension and annuity income, lump sums, and fees for services paid to someone who is not your employee. The working relationship decides the slip, not the paperwork you would prefer. When CRA recharacterizes a contractor as an employee, the amounts you never withheld land on you, and the worker’s own tax return has to be revisited. Our guide to Canadian self-employment tax forms covers that side.
The T4 Summary: Reconciling Slips to Your Remittances
The T4 Summary totals every slip in the return: gross employment income, CPP contributions, EI premiums, and income tax withheld. CRA sets those totals beside the payments actually posted to your payroll program account. A difference is never a rounding curiosity: it is either a balance to collect or an overpayment to trace.
So reconcile before you file. Stack your twelve PD7A confirmations, compare the total against the Summary, and chase any gap while the bank records are still in front of you. In our CRA audit representation work, that comparison is the first thing a trust examiner runs, and the employers who fail it are rarely the ones who missed a payment. They are the ones who never checked. The remittance schedule behind those payments sits in our payroll source deductions guide.
PIER Reviews: What CRA Checks After You File Your T4 Return
A PIER, or pensionable and insurable earnings review, is the automated check CRA runs on every return it receives. The system recalculates what CPP contributions and EI premiums should have been from the earnings you reported, then compares that against the amounts on your slips. Differences print on a PIER listing that arrives by mail.
Most deficiencies trace to a short list of causes: the $3,500 basic exemption prorated over the wrong number of pay periods, an employee who turned 18 or 70 partway through, a CPT30 election filed mid-year, or employment that was never EI-insurable. You can pay the deficiency or reply with an explanation first, but ignoring it compounds the cost, because the employer share travels with the employee share on every unpaid line. CRA’s PIER guidance sets out the response process.
Taxable Benefits: The Information on T4 Slips CRA Cross-Checks
Taxable benefits belong in box 14 with the rest of employment income, and repeat in an “other information” code so CRA can see them separately. Code 40 carries other taxable allowances and benefits; code 34 carries the standby charge and operating cost benefit for a company vehicle. An allowance toward an employee’s own vehicle goes to code 40 instead.
Benefits are also where slips drift furthest from reality, because a benefit accrues quietly each month while payroll only sees cash move. Employer-paid parking, personal use of a cell phone plan, and gift cards that fail CRA’s non-cash test all belong on the slip. Catching them in February means an amended T4, so review benefits in December.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the penalty for filing T4 slips late?
The minimum is $100, and for one to five slips $100 is the whole penalty. Above five slips CRA charges a daily rate for up to 100 days: $5 a day for 6 to 10 slips, $10 a day for 11 to 50, and steeper rates beyond, to a $7,500 ceiling.
What is the T4 deadline for 2026?
Slips for 2025 were due Monday, March 2, 2026, because February 28 fell on a Saturday. Slips covering 2026 are due Monday, March 1, 2027. One date governs both filing with CRA and giving employees their copies.
Do I have to file T4 slips electronically?
Yes, whenever you file more than five slips of one type. That threshold took effect January 1, 2024, down from 50. Web Forms handles small batches in a browser, while Internet file transfer accepts an XML file from payroll software.
How do I amend a T4 slip after filing?
File an amended slip with the corrected figures rather than a second original, and send only the slips that changed. Where the correction moves CPP, EI, or income tax totals, your T4 filing and the remittance reconciliation move with it.
The Bottom Line
- File and distribute by February’s final day, treating a weekend deadline as the next Monday.
- Know your slip count: it sets the electronic filing obligation and the penalty rate.
- Reconcile the T4 Summary to your remittances before filing, not after CRA asks.
- Answer a PIER letter promptly, because the arithmetic rarely improves with age.
Slip filing looks mechanical until a taxable benefit, a mid-year province change, or a contractor reclassification enters the picture. Owner-manager pay adds a layer our corporate tax advisory team folds into the salary-versus-dividend decision. If any of that describes your year, contact us to talk it through.
