When one of my young relatives first started working, their employer did not mail them their T4 slips which led to a delay in filing their income tax return although they did get it submitted by the deadline. To prevent another delay in the future, my relative decided to sign up for online access to their CRA My Account so they could look online for a copy of their T4 and use it to file their tax return by the April 30 deadline.
Does My Employer Have to Provide Me With a T4 and By When?
In Canada, employers of conventional part-time and full-time employees are required to create a T4 slip for each employee. They must file a copy of the slip with the Canada Revenue Agency. According to the CRA website “Generally, you need to fill out a T4 slip if you are an employer (resident or non-resident) and you paid your employees employment income, commissions, taxable allowances and benefits, fishing income, or any other remuneration.”
The employer is supposed to file the information with the government on the last day of February or the first business day after that, if the last day is on a Saturday or Sunday.
So even if the form itself is not ready to hand to the employee by the first business day in March, the employer should know the information that belongs on it.
The employer is supposed to provide a copy of the T4 to the employee. In reality, though, many employers do not provide the slip on time. What can you do then?
Can I Look Up My T4 Slip Online Somewhere?
If the employer filed the information correctly with the government, you may be able to get a copy of your T4 slip from the CRA instead of directly from your employer!
To see your T4 slips online, you need to have a CRA My Account online account.
My young relative applied for such an account and now can see his T slips online. Next year, if his T4 goes astray again, he will check whether he can get a copy more quickly from the CRA website.
The General Procedure to Open a Personal CRA My Account to Access Tax Slips Like T4s Online
You will need a copy of the income tax return you last submitted that has been processed by the CRA to verify your identity. Your Notice of Assessment will not be useful, you need the actual return you submitted so that you can look up what number you reported on a specific line when they ask you for that number.(The value may differ from that reported on your Notice of Assessment for that same line.)
There is a big slow step in the middle of creating a personal CRA My Account to look at your T4 and other T slips online: you have to wait for Canada Post to deliver you a special access code!
First you apply online and even set up all your security questions.
Then you wait for the CRA to mail you a letter containing a verification code, called a CRA security code.
After you receive the letter, you can input the code online and get complete access to your CRA My Account including access to view your T4 and some other tax slips.
What If I Can’t Wait for the Security Code to File My Taxes?
According to the 2016 Income Tax Guide, if you can’t get your T4 in time, you should estimate your income and deductions as best you can from your pay slips, bank deposits and so on. Then, when you finally get the correct information you can file a change to your income tax return. (See the section “What if you are missing information”)
Applying to Use a Personal CRA My Account to Read Your T4 and Some Other Tax Slips Online
Go the web page for the CRA My Account for Individuals. On September 26, 2017 it is located at https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/e-services-individuals/account-individuals.html but you may have to use a search engine to find it if they move from that URL.
Part way down the page, click on the button: CRA register
The Validate your identity – social insurance number Page
In the social insurance number text box, type your SIN.
Click on the Next button.
The Validate your identity – continued Page
In the appropriate text box, type your Postal Code
From the drop-down lists, select the day and month of your birth,
In the text box, type the year of your birth
In the Tax information – amount entered on line XXX of your XXXX return text box, type the amount you reported on that specific line of your income tax return.
For example, they may ask you to type the amount you reported on line 120 of your 2016 return.
Note: even if you reported XXX.99 you do not round up your answer. Just report XXX not XXX+1.
The CRA security code notification Page
They will now mail you your CRA security code.
You can also ask to receive your code by email or telephone but you may change all future contact with the CRA by doing this. For example, they may not mail you your Notice of Assessment just email a letter stating you should sign in and read through it.
The Verification – current postal code or ZIP code Page
Read through the information about your postal code and click to reply Yes or No that this is your proper code.
Click on the Next button.
The Create – CRA user ID and password Page
You will now create the User ID and password you will use when looking up information online.
Your User ID must be
- 8-16 characters long
- contain no more than 7 numbers
- not contain any spaces
- not contain any special characters other than a dot, dash, underscore or apostrophe
Your password must be
- 8-16 characters long
- contain at least one capital (upper case) letter
- contain at least one small (lower case) letter
- contain at least one number (digit)
- not contain any accents
- not contain any spaces
- not contain any special characters other than a dot, dash, underscore or apostrophe
- not repeat any characters 4 times in a row; for example not have AAAA or 1111
When you have typed in your desired User ID and typed in your password twice, click on the Next button.
The Create – security questions and answers page
You will be asked to answer one or more security questions each time you access the My Account website.
The answers you provide for the security questions must
- contain at least 3 characters
- not contain any special characters other than a dot, dash, underscore or apostrophe
The answers are not case-sensitive so it doesn’t matter if you use capital or small letters (upper or lower case letters)
To set your questions and answers:
From the Question 1 drop-down list select a question.
In the Answer 1 text field type your reply.
Repeat for each of questions 2 to 5.
You can reduce the number of questions you are asked if you have a computer you will routinely use to access My Account and if you believe that computer is fairly secure.
To reduce the numbers of questions, click to not select
- Ask me a security question each time I login using this device (recommended if you are using a public or shared device).
and click to select
- Do not ask me a security question each time I login using this device
Click on Next
The Review – security questions and answers Page
Read the information on the page.
Click on the Next button
The Terms and conditions of use Page
Read the information on the page.
Somewhere secure, make a note of your User ID:
In the text field, type in your Password
Click on the button I agree or I do not agree
The CRA security code notification –confirmation Page
Note that the CRA will mail your security code in 5-10 days.
Click on the Next button
The My Account terms and conditions of use Page
Read the information on the page.
Click on the button I agree or I do not agree
The Welcome to My Account, YOUR NAME Page
You have limited access until you can enter your CRA security code.
- You can view your most recent Notice of Assessment.
- You can read your RRSP deduction limit.
- You can read how to make a payment to the CRA.
Click on the Logout button when you are finished.
The Secure session ended Page
Read the confirmation that you have logged out.
Click on the Exit button.
After all this you now have to wait for that Canada Post truck to bring the envelope with the security code. What happens next will be in another article.
Related Reading
- [How to File Your First Income Tax Return with the CRA]
Join In
Did you ever use your CRA My Account to look up a T slip so you could finish your income tax return? Please share your experience with a comment.