T4 box-by-box guide for small employers

Before the boxes

Every employee you paid in 2026 gets a T4 slip showing their pay and the deductions you took. The slips, and a T4 Summary that totals them, are due by the last day of February. For 2026 slips that is Sunday, February 28, 2027, so the practical deadline is Monday, March 1, 2027. For who gets which slip and the penalties, see T4 and T4A deadlines.

A few rules apply to every box:

• Report amounts in dollars and cents, except box 52, which is dollars only.
• Leave a box blank if it has nothing to report. Don't write "nil" or "N/A", and only enter "0" where the CRA says to (boxes 24 and 26).
• One slip per employee per province of employment. An employee who worked in two provinces gets two slips.
• Use the 2026 maximums: CPP $4,230.45 on pensionable earnings up to $74,600, CPP2 $416 up to $85,000, EI $1,123.07 on insurable earnings up to $68,900 (Quebec $895.70).

Boxes 10, 12 and 54: who and where

• Box 10, province of employment: the two-letter code of the province or territory where the employee reported for work (ON, BC, QC and so on), not where they live.
• Box 12, SIN: as the employee gave it to you. Wrong SINs are the most common slip error, so check them against your hiring records.
• Box 54, employer's account number: your 15-character payroll program account, such as 123456789RP0001, the same one your remittances go to.

Box 14: employment income

Box 14 is the employee's total employment income before deductions: salary, wages, overtime, bonuses, vacation pay, commissions, and taxable benefits and allowances. Common points:

• Taxable benefits, such as personal use of a company car, a group life insurance premium you pay, or a gift card, go in box 14 and in the other information area with their own code (34 for automobile, 36 for low-interest loans, 40 for most others).
• Commissions are in box 14 and also shown separately under code 42.
• Leave box 14 empty if you enter employment code 11, 12, 13, 16 or 17 in box 29; the CRA's instructions for each code say where that income is reported instead.
• Box 14 is income paid in 2026. A cheque dated January 2, 2027 for December work belongs on the 2027 slip.

Boxes 16 to 22: what you deducted

Only the employee's share goes on the slip. Your employer CPP and EI appear on the T4 Summary.

Boxes 24 and 26: insurable and pensionable earnings

• Box 24, EI insurable earnings: the earnings you used to work out the EI premium in box 18, up to $68,900 for 2026. Often the same as box 14 for employees under the maximum. Enter "0" only if the employee had no insurable earnings and box 18 is empty.
• Box 26, CPP/QPP pensionable earnings: the earnings you used for CPP or QPP, including CPP2, up to $85,000 for 2026. Leave out pay before and in the month the employee turned 18, after the month they turned 70, and in months they were considered disabled under the CPP or QPP. Enter "0" only if there were no pensionable earnings and boxes 16, 16A, 17 and 17A are empty, and also when an employee aged 65 to 70 gave you Form CPT30 to stop contributions for the whole year.

The CRA uses these two boxes to check that you deducted enough. If box 24 times the EI rate doesn't match box 18, or box 26 doesn't match box 16, expect a pensionable and insurable earnings review (PIER) letter.

Box 28 and box 29: exemptions and codes

Box 28 has three tick boxes: CPP/QPP, EI and PPIP. Tick one only when you had nothing to deduct for that plan for the whole period of employment, or when you enter a code in box 29. Don't tick it if you report any amount in the related boxes (16, 16A, 17, 17A or 26 for CPP; 18 or 24 for EI; 55 or 56 for PPIP).

The situations small employers meet most:

• Family members (EI). When you and the employee are related and not dealing at arm's length, the job may not be insurable, unless it is reasonable to conclude you would have offered a similar contract to a stranger: similar pay, hours, duration and importance of the work. If it is not insurable, you deduct no EI and tick EI in box 28.
• Major shareholders (EI). An employee who controls more than 40% of the corporation's voting shares is not insurable for EI. They still pay CPP and income tax.
• CPP still usually applies to relatives. You deduct CPP for a related employee like any other, except a spouse or common-law partner whose pay you cannot deduct as a business expense.
• Age (CPP). An employee who was under 18 or over 70 for the whole year has no CPP; tick CPP/QPP. For an employee who stopped part way through the year, report the pensionable part in box 26 and don't tick box 28.

If you are not sure whether a job is insurable or pensionable, either you or the worker can ask the CRA for a CPP/EI ruling. That is safer than guessing, because the CRA can assess unpaid premiums for past years.

Box 29, employment code, is blank for most employees. Use it only for the special cases the CRA lists: 11 for placement or employment agency workers, 12 for taxi and other passenger-vehicle drivers, 13 for barbers and hairdressers, 15 for the Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program, 16 for an employee detached to work abroad under a social security agreement, and 17 for fishers.

Boxes 44 to 56 and the other information area

• Box 44, union dues: only if the union will not issue receipts for the dues you deducted.
• Box 45, employer-offered dental benefits: mandatory. Code 1 if the employee and their family could not get any dental coverage through you; 2 for the payee only; 3 for payee, spouse and dependent children; 4 for payee and spouse; 5 for payee and dependent children. The code reflects what they were eligible for, even if they declined it.
• Box 46, charitable donations you deducted from pay for a registered charity.
• Box 50, RPP or DPSP registration number, and box 52, pension adjustment (whole dollars), if you have a registered pension or deferred profit sharing plan. Your plan administrator usually works out box 52.
• Boxes 55 and 56: Quebec Parental Insurance Plan premiums and insurable earnings, for Quebec employment.
• Other information (the boxes at the bottom of the slip): a code and an amount for items such as 30 (board and lodging), 32 (travel in a prescribed zone), 34 (automobile benefit), 36 (loans), 40 (other taxable benefits) and 42 (commissions). Most of these are already inside box 14; the code tells the CRA what they are.

Filing and checking

• More than 5 slips? You must file electronically. Small employers can use the CRA's free Web Forms (up to 100 slips) or upload an XML file through Internet File Transfer. Paper is allowed for 5 slips or fewer.
• Give employees two copies by the same date, on paper or electronically if they have agreed to that.
• Check the Summary against your remittances. The T4 Summary totals for CPP, EI (employee and employer) and tax must agree with what you remitted on your PD7A account for the year. A difference means a missed remittance or a slip error.
• Before you file, scan the slips for CPP or EI over the 2026 maximums, missing box 45 codes, box 28 ticks next to amounts, and income in the wrong province.

In AcboBooks

AcboBooks, a Windows accounting program bought once for $399.99, totals each employee's 2026 pays into a T4 worksheet with boxes 10, 14, 16, 16A, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 44 and 55, the box 45 dental code from Company Settings, and code 40 for non-cash taxable benefits, plus the T4 Summary. It saves a T4 XML file to validate and upload through CRA Internet File Transfer; the worksheets themselves are not official slips, so employees get their copies from Web Forms or the CRA's fillable T4. CPP/QPP-exempt and EI-exempt employees are set on the Employees screen, so no deductions are taken. It does not fill box 29 codes, boxes 46, 50 or 52, or the box 28 ticks; add those when you file. Quebec RL-1 figures come as worksheets. See Canadian payroll.

Frequently asked questions