Every employed person in Canada receives a T4 slip from their employer by the last day of February. It summarizes everything the CRA needs to know about your employment income from the previous year. Understanding it makes filing your taxes much easier.
What Is a T4?
A T4, officially called a "Statement of Remuneration Paid", is a tax slip your employer is legally required to give you. It reports how much you earned and how much was deducted for taxes, CPP (Canada Pension Plan), and EI (Employment Insurance).
The Key Boxes on Your T4
Box 14, Employment Income: This is your total gross income for the year before any deductions. This is the number that gets reported on your tax return as employment income.
Box 22, Income Tax Deducted: The total federal and provincial income tax your employer withheld from your paycheques throughout the year. If this number is close to what you actually owe, your refund or balance will be small.
Box 16, Employee's CPP Contributions: Your contributions to the Canada Pension Plan, which builds your future retirement benefit.
Box 18, Employee's EI Premiums: Contributions to Employment Insurance, which provides income support if you lose your job.
Box 52, Pension Adjustment: Relevant if your employer has a pension plan. Affects your RRSP contribution room.
Box 40, Other Taxable Allowances: If your employer paid for things like a car allowance or gym membership, that amount may appear here as taxable income.
What to Do With Your T4
Keep your T4 in a safe place. When you file your taxes, you'll enter the numbers from key boxes into your tax software. The software does the math. You don't need to calculate anything manually.
If you worked multiple jobs, you'll receive a T4 from each employer. All of them get included in your return.
What If Your T4 Is Wrong or Missing?
If your employer hasn't sent your T4 by end of February, contact your HR department or payroll team first. If they're unresponsive, call the CRA at 1-800-959-8281. The CRA can sometimes retrieve employment data on your behalf. You can also check CRA My Account. T4s are often uploaded there directly.
Ottawa Tip
Many Ottawa employers issue T4s electronically through payroll portals like ADP, Ceridian, or Workday. Check your employee portal login before assuming a paper slip is coming in the mail. Federal government workers (a huge employer in Ottawa) receive T4s through the Phoenix pay system, log in to your GC pay portal to download yours.
The Bottom Line
Box 14 is your income. Box 22 is what you already paid. If Box 22 is higher than what you owe, you get a refund. If it's lower, you owe the difference. That's the core of how employment taxes work in Canada.
