What is a T4 Statement of Remuneration Paid Slip in Canada?

As a taxpayer who worked for an employer, you will need to provide your employment income information to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) when filing your tax returns.

Your employment income and tax information are found in your T4 tax slip.

Here’s what you need to know about the T4 tax slip and how to use it. 

The T4 slip is also known as the Statement of Remuneration Paid.

If you have received remuneration from an employer such as employment income, commissions, bonuses, taxable allowances, benefits, and retiring allowances, you would need a T4 slip containing information on this income to file your Income Tax and Benefit Return.

You might receive multiple T4 tax slips if you worked for different employers in a tax year.

A T4 slip usually contains critical information such as:

• The given tax year
• The employee’s social insurance number (SIN)
• The employee’s name and address
• The employer’s name
• The employer’s account number

A T4 tax slip provides earning information on employment income, pensionable earnings, income tax deduction, employment insurance premiums, union dues, and charitable donations that arise from working for an employer in Canada.

Employers have the responsibility to issue a T4 tax slip for employees for the tax year.

Employees who worked in more than one province or territory for an employer in the year may need multiple T4 slips to show each province or territory’s earnings and applicable deductions.

Each region has different income tax rates and regulations.

When Do Employers Usually Send Out T4 Slips?

Employers must send out T4 tax slips to employees on or before the last day of February after the calendar year for which the remuneration was received.

So for any income you received last year, the employer must send out your T4 by February 28 of this year.

Employers may send a T4 slip by mail or electronically if an employee elects to receive this online. 

If you have not received a T4 slip from an employer, you can access your T4 from your CRA My Account profile or by phone, as employers also send this tax slip to the Canadian Revenue Agency every year.

Most Important Boxes on a T4

Separate boxes categorize the information in a T4 tax slip.

A few notable boxes on the T4 tax slip include:

Box 14 – Employment Income:

Any employment income received as salaries, wages, bonuses, tips, or commissions are recorded in Box 14 of the T4 slip.

This amount is used to fill line 10100 of your Income Tax Benefit and Return.

Box 16 and Box 17 – Employee’s CPP/QPP contributions:

Any base Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) contributions made through employment income is reported in Box 16 and Box 17 of the T4 slip. 

Box 18 and Box 24 – Employee’s EI premiums and EI insurable earnings:

Box 18 shows the employment insurance premiums that you paid in the tax year.

The EI insurance premiums are calculated based on your EI insurable earnings shown in Box 24.

Your employment insurance premiums are shown in line 32100 of your tax return.

Box 26 – CPP/QPP pensionable earnings:

The amount shown in Box 26 are the CPP or QPP pensionable earnings.

These are used to calculate the CPP or QPP contributions reported in Box 16 and Box 17, respectively.

Box 22 – Income tax deducted:

Usually, taxes are deducted from your gross earnings received as employment income, the total income tax deducted from your income will be shown in Box 22.

Frequently Asked Questions