A T4 slip, officially called the Statement of Remuneration Paid, is the tax form that shows how much you earned from an employer in a year and how much was withheld from your pay. If you held a job in Canada, you can expect one. This guide walks through what appears on the slip, when it arrives, how to get a copy online or from past years, and what the most talked-about boxes actually mean.
What are T4 slips?
A T4 slip is the tax form that reports how much you earned from an employer in a year and how much was withheld from your pay, and it is officially called the Statement of Remuneration Paid. Every Canadian who has had a full-time job would recognize it. Right here on the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) website, “T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid (slip),” you’ll find the T4’s official home.
The slip includes your name, social insurance number, how much you were paid in a given year, and the amount of taxes that were withheld. It also carries other financial information from a tax year: contributions to a Registered Pension Plan (RPP), union dues you paid, and how much you contributed to Employment Insurance (EI), the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), or the Québec Pension Plan (QPP). The CRA sets out all the particulars.
Who gets T4 slips?
Employers send T4s not only to you, the employee; they also provide identical copies to the CRA. This is the big reason you need to file your taxes every year. If you received a T4, the tax authorities know exactly how much employment income you earned in any given year.
When do I receive my T4?
T4s are a reliable bunch. Your employer must give you your T4 by the end of February, roughly 2 months before the usual tax-filing deadline. By that same date, the employer must also file its T4 information return with the CRA, or it will risk being assessed penalties.
How to get a T4 online
You can access your current tax year T4 and past year T4 slips through the CRA’s website, in the personal taxpayer section known as “CRA Account.” There are three ways to sign in:
Sign-in partner: log in using an account you already hold with one of the CRA’s sign-in partners.
CRA user ID and password: log directly into the CRA website. If you don’t have a login (or have forgotten it), you can register for one.
Provincial credentials: if you live in BC or Alberta, sign in with your BC Services Card credentials or Alberta.ca Account credentials, respectively.
To confirm your identity when you register, the CRA will ask for the following, then verify your details:
Personal details: your social insurance number, date of birth, and current postal code, plus one of the figures from a past income tax return.
Security code by mail: once submitted, the CRA will mail a security code to your physical address within 10 business days.
Instant identity check: skip the delay by completing the identity check on your smartphone using the official CRA Verify Your Identity Guide.
On its “Registration process to access the CRA login services” page, the CRA provides step-by-step instructions and troubleshooting solutions.
How to get past T4 slips
If you’ve lost one or more T4 slips and need a copy, the most reliable place to retrieve them is the “CRA Account” section on the CRA’s website. Directly above, in the “How to get a T4 online” section, you’ll find detailed instructions on how to access the site. The CRA should have T4 slips dating back several years.
If the information you’re seeking is missing, reach out to the human resources department of the current or former employer who issued the slip. They should be able to set you up.
The most important boxes on the T4
Every box on the T4 serves a purpose, and the CRA publishes a guide that outlines what each one is for. Here are a select few T4 boxes that you’ll hear about quite a bit.
Box 14: employment income
Box 16/Box 17: employee’s CPP/QPP contributions
Box 18: employee’s EI premiums
Box 20: RPP contributions
Box 46: charitable donations
Box 85: employee-paid premiums for private health service plan
What is box 40 on the T4?
Box 40 is where other taxable allowances and benefits you received from your employer are reported. This amount is already included in Box 14, so you don’t report it separately. These can be paid in cash, such as a meal allowance, or provided in a manner other than cash, such as a parking space or a gift. The CRA refers to gifts specifically as “gifts, awards, and long-service awards,” which may include cash awards, “near cash” awards like gift cards, and “non-cash” awards such as tickets to an event.
What is a T4 summary?
A T4 summary, also known as the Summary of Remuneration Paid, is the one-page form filled out by employers and sent to the CRA. It adds up the total dollar amounts of the T4 slips the company has provided for individual employees. An employer submits its T4 summary along with its T4 slips to the CRA.
Other T-slips
The T4 is the king of the jungle in an ecosystem of hundreds of slips. Completists may enjoy reviewing the CRA’s “forms listed by number” page, but for brevity’s sake, here are a few of the T4’s more common cousins. What do these T-slips have in common? They’re statements of income, and both you and the CRA receive copies.
T3: statement of trust income allocations and designations
T4A: statement of pension, retirement, annuity, and other income
T4A(P): statement of CPP/QPP benefits
T4A(OAS): statement of Old Age Security benefits
T4RSP: statement of Registered Retirement Savings Plan income
T4RIF: statement of income from a Registered Retirement Income Fund
T5: statement of investment income
What is line 15000 on the T1 tax return form?
Line 15000 on the T1 tax return form corresponds to your total income before deductions. The number on line 15000 can be calculated by adding the amounts found on lines 10100, 10400 to 14300, and 14700 on the tax return.
