A T4 slip is a summary of each employee's earnings and deductions for the year. As an employer, you must submit T4 information to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for all qualifying employees. You must also provide a copy of the information to your employees.

The CRA provides information about payroll submissions. Go to the CRA's payroll information (opens in a new tab).

First, you need to know whether you qualify as an employer. Some workers are not considered employees. To understand whether you must pay payroll taxes for your workers, read about the difference between employees and independent contractors. Open Employee or self-employed? (PDF).

When you hire an employee, get their Social Insurance Number (SIN) and ensure they complete a Form TD1 Personal Tax Credits Return, so the CRA can work out how much tax you must deduct from their income.

You are responsible for making and reporting the appropriate payroll deductions for your employees. It's also your responsibility to provide your employees with the correct forms.

You must make the correct deductions each payroll period, then calculate and pay your share of their Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions and Employment Insurance (EI) premiums.

Due dates vary depending on remitter type. Read about remitter types and due dates.

If you qualify as an employer, you'll need a payroll program account with the CRA.

If your company already has a business number (BN), add a payroll program account to the existing BN. If your company does not have a BN, register for a BN, then add a payroll account. Register your company for a business number (opens in a new tab).

Go to submissions. Select federal tax forms, then new T4 form.

Create a new T4 form as an XML file, and T4 slips as a PDF file. Submit the XML file to the CRA and print or send the slips to your employees.

Select the tax year and choose which employees you want to include in the submission. Your employees are in the box labelled Employees not included in T4 form. Move them to the box labelled Employees included in T4 form. You can search an employee's name to find them in the Employees not included in T4 form box.

Enter the company details or ensure they are correct before you generate your new T4 form.

You can submit an amended or cancelled form to the CRA to correct any previous submissions you've made. Create a new T4 form as an XML file, labelled 'amended' or 'cancelled'. This option will also create T4 slips in a PDF file.

Select the tax year and choose which employees you want to include. Choose a report type to label the T4 as amended or cancelled.

Create draft T4 slips in a PDF file. This option will only create T4 slips to print or send to your employees, and a T4 totals report for your records.

When your T4 forms have generated, you can download the XML file and upload it to the CRA website. The XML file contains all of your T4 slips, and additional information the CRA needs to calculate your T4 summary. If you submit the XML file online, you will not need to submit a T4 summary. Read about filing information returns electronically.

The T4 totals report PDF provides you with the information that is in the XML file, but in a format that you can read easily.

Download the T4 slips PDF file so you can print or send the slips to your employees.

Returns are due on the last day of February that follows the calendar year that the information return applies to. For example, for 2023 payroll information, the deadline is the last day of February 2024. You should also send each employee a copy of their slips by the end of February.

When you've uploaded your T4 XML file to the CRA website, send the correct T4 slip to each of your employees by the end of February.

The CRA requires you to keep adequate records for 6 years after you file each return.

Your records must provide enough detail to determine your tax obligations and support your deductions. Keep all of your original documents well organized and available to you in case the CRA decides to audit your company. Read more about keeping records (opens in a new tab).