Canadian tax forms explained

The three kinds of Canadian tax form

Almost everything in your envelope falls into one of three groups, and knowing which group a form is in tells you what to do with it.

Group	What it does	Examples
Slips you receive	Report income someone paid you, with a copy sent to the CRA	T4, T5, T4A, T3, T5007
Forms you give someone	Tell an employer or payer how to treat your money	TD1, direct deposit forms
Forms you file	Your return, and the schedules and certificates attached to it	T1, T2200 from your employer

Slips are the biggest group and the one that causes the most anxiety, usually because one arrives late. The CRA receives its own copy of most slips, so a missing slip is a timing problem rather than a secret.

Slips you receive

These are information slips. You do not fill them in. Someone who paid you fills them in, sends you a copy and files another with the CRA.

• T4, Statement of Remuneration Paid. Employment income and the amounts withheld from your pay. If you had three jobs, expect three T4s.
• T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity and Other Income. The catch-all slip for income that is not regular employment, such as certain pensions, self-employed commissions and some benefits.
• T5, Statement of Investment Income. Interest and dividends paid to you by a bank or another payer. The walkthrough is at CRA Form T5.
• T3, Statement of Trust Income Allocations and Designations. Income allocated to you from a trust, including many mutual funds.
• T5007, Statement of Benefits. Certain benefit payments, which may be reportable even when they are not taxable.

What to do with a slip: check that your name and social insurance number are right, keep it with your tax papers, and use it when you prepare your return. If a slip is wrong, ask the issuer for an amended one rather than changing the numbers yourself.

Forms you give to someone else

These set up how you are paid and how much tax is withheld. You complete them and hand them over, and they are not filed with the CRA by you.

• TD1, Personal Tax Credits Return. You give this to a new employer or payer so they withhold a sensible amount of tax. There is a federal TD1 and a provincial or territorial one. Fill both in when you start a job, and fill in a new one when your situation changes. The fillable version is at CRA Form TD1.
• Direct deposit information. Payroll needs your branch, institution and account numbers. Do not hand over a signed cheque. See how to get a void cheque, or use the direct deposit form template.

Forms connected to your return

The T1 is the personal income tax and benefit return most people file. Two other forms come up often enough to be worth naming.

• T1, Income Tax and Benefit Return. The return itself, with schedules attached depending on what you need to report. The province you lived in at the end of the year decides which provincial pages you use.
• T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment. Your employer completes this to certify the conditions of your job. You need it before you can claim certain employment expenses, and you keep it rather than mailing it in. See CRA Form T2200.
• Record of Employment. Not a tax form at all. The ROE goes to Service Canada and supports an Employment Insurance claim. See Record of Employment and how to apply for EI.

Quick reference: who issues what

Form	Who prepares it	Who receives it
T4	Your employer	You and the CRA
T4A	The payer	You and the CRA
T5	Your bank or other payer	You and the CRA
T3	The trust or fund	You and the CRA
TD1	You	Your employer or payer
T2200	Your employer	You, and you keep it
T1	You	The CRA
ROE	Your employer	Service Canada

Reading a slip without panicking

Every information slip is laid out the same way once you know the pattern: identification at the top, numbered boxes in the middle, and the issuer at the bottom. You do not need to understand every box. You need to check the handful that identify you and recognise which boxes carry the money.

1. Check your identification first. Your name and social insurance number have to be correct. A wrong SIN is the one error worth chasing immediately, because it decides whose record the income lands on.
2. Find the income boxes. These carry the amounts paid to you. On a T4 that is your employment income; on a T5 it is interest and dividends.
3. Find the deduction boxes. On employment slips these show what was withheld from your pay and sent on your behalf. They reduce what you owe at the end.
4. Note the year. Slips arrive for the year just ended, not the current one. Filing a slip in the wrong year creates a mismatch the CRA will notice.
5. Look at the issuer's name. This tells you who to contact if a figure looks wrong, and it is the fastest way to work out which slip is which when several arrive together.

If a box is blank, that usually means nothing of that type was paid, not that something is missing. If a number is unfamiliar, ask the issuer what it represents before you assume it is an error.

New to Canada, or filing for the first time

A first tax year has a few extras that catch people out, and none of them are complicated once you know they exist.

• You need a social insurance number before you start work. Our walkthrough is at how to register for a SIN number in Canada.
• Complete both a federal and a provincial TD1 on your first day at a new job, not months later, so your withholding is sensible from the start.
• Set up direct deposit with the CRA so any refund or benefit reaches you without a cheque in the mail.
• Expect slips from every employer you had in the year, including a job you left in January.
• Keep a copy of everything you file. Next year's return is far easier when last year's is at hand.

What to do when a slip is missing or wrong

1. Check your CRA My Account. Many slips issued to you appear there once the issuer has filed them.
2. Ask the issuer for a copy, or for an amended slip if a figure is wrong. They hold the source records.
3. If a slip is genuinely unavailable, use your own records, such as pay statements or bank statements, and keep them.
4. If a slip arrives after you have filed, do not file a second return. Use the CRA's process for changing a return you already filed.
5. When in doubt, call the CRA or speak to an accountant. Filing dates and the process for amendments change, so confirm the current rule rather than relying on last year's memory.

Keeping the paperwork under control

• Make one folder per tax year, digital or paper, and put every slip in it the day it arrives.
• Name digital files so they sort themselves, for example year, then form, then issuer.
• Keep the supporting documents, not just the slips. Receipts and statements are what an audit asks for.
• Fill PDFs on screen instead of printing them. The free fill a PDF tool types into any form, and sign PDF adds a signature, with the file staying on your device.
• Store the finished PDFs somewhere you will still have access next year.

Next step

Find the form you were asked for in the Canadian forms library, or browse everything in the forms library. Download the current version from the Canada Revenue Agency, open it in the free fill a PDF tool, type your answers and download a clean copy. This article is general information, not tax advice. Confirm anything about your own situation with the CRA or an accountant.