As an employer, you are obligated to file a T4 with the CRA if you have employees working for your company last year. If you paid dividends to yourself or to another shareholder during the same period, you are required to file a T5 as well. Both T4 and T5 deadlines are at the end of February.
Let’s go through the information you need to gather for these filing requirements:
Information required for T4
For each employee who was on payroll last year, you need to gather the following information:
- Employee’s legal name
- Social Insurance Number
- Mailing address
- Total gross salaries and wages paid last year
- Value of other employment benefits provided
- EI deducted and remitted to the CRA
- CPP deducted and remitted to the CRA
- Income taxes deducted and remitted to the CRA
- Employer’s portion of EI remitted to the CRA
- Employer’s portion of CPP remitted to the CRA
Once you have gathered the required information, send them to your accountant for preparation. You must file the T4 Summary and issue a T4 Slip to each employee by the end of February.
Information required for T5
For each shareholder who received a dividend last year, you’ll need to gather the following information:
- Shareholder’s legal name
- Social Insurance Number
- Mailing address
- Total dividend paid last year
Similar to T4, send the required information to your accountant for preparation. You must file the T5 Summary and issue a T5 Slip to each shareholder by the due date.
Don’t forget about the T4A
Many businesses neglect to file T4A. This is required by the CRA if your company is structured to hire contractors to provide services for your business. If you paid a contractor at any point during the year, you are required to file a T4A Summary and issue T4A slip to each contractor by the end of February. Similar to T4 and T5, you’ll need to gather the contractor’s legal name, Social Insurance Number, mailing address, and the total amount paid for services performed.
