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Information slips

Draft — unverified

Information slips are how third parties tell CRA what they paid a taxpayer. Employers issue T4s, financial institutions issue T5s, trusts issue T3s, and a long tail of other slips covers everything from pensions to scholarships. Slips do two jobs at once: they tell the taxpayer what to report, and they let CRA check what was reported against what the payer said. That second job is why a missing slip is not a missing obligation — CRA has the information whether or not the taxpayer does. This tutorial covers the main slips, when they arrive, what to do when one is missing or wrong, and why matching drives so many reviews.

How to work through this tutorial

This follows a slip from issue to assessment: 1. Understand what an information slip is and the two jobs it does. 2. Learn the main slip types and what each reports. 3. Learn when slips must be issued, and when a taxpayer should have them. 4. Handle the missing slip — the most common enquiry in this topic. 5. Handle the wrong slip, which is a different problem with a different fix. 6. Understand slip matching and why it drives reviews. 7. Check your work against the common errors. 8. Verify every specific against CRA's published guidance before relying on it.

What a slip is, and the two jobs it does

An information slip is a statement from a payer to a recipient, with a copy to CRA, reporting amounts paid during a calendar year and any tax withheld. The first job is to tell the taxpayer what to report. Boxes on the slip correspond to lines on the return, and a taxpayer with a complete set of slips has most of what they need. The second job is verification. Because CRA receives its own copy, it knows what the payer reported independently of what the taxpayer files. That is the basis of slip matching, and it is why the most consequential fact about slips is this: **the obligation to report income does not depend on receiving a slip.** Income is reportable because it was earned, not because a piece of paper arrived. Taxpayers frequently believe the opposite, and the belief is intuitive — no slip, nothing to report. An agent should correct it plainly, because the taxpayer who acts on it will be reassessed later with interest. The reverse also holds: a slip is not conclusive. If a slip reports an amount the taxpayer did not receive, the slip is wrong and the fix is with the issuer, not the return.

The main slips

**T4 — Statement of Remuneration Paid.** Employment income and the deductions withheld from it: income tax, Canada Pension Plan contributions, Employment Insurance premiums. It also carries a set of information boxes that are not income but affect the return, the pension adjustment among them. **T4A — Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income.** A catch-all for amounts that are not employment income: pension payments, certain self-employed commissions, scholarships and bursaries, and various other payments. Its breadth is why it turns up in so many unrelated situations. **T5 — Statement of Investment Income.** Interest, dividends and certain other investment income from financial institutions and corporations. **T3 — Statement of Trust Income Allocations and Designations.** Amounts allocated by a trust, including mutual fund trusts — which is why ordinary investors receive them. **T4E** covers Employment Insurance benefits. **T5008** reports securities transactions. **T2202** reports tuition. Others exist for specific programs and situations. The practical skill is not memorising every slip but recognising that the box, not the slip, determines the treatment. Two amounts on the same slip can be reported on different lines and taxed differently, and an agent who reasons from the slip type alone will misdirect a taxpayer.

When slips arrive

Most information slips for a calendar year must be issued to recipients and filed with CRA by the end of February following that year. That is why filing very early in the year is risky for a taxpayer with several income sources: the slips may not all exist yet. Some slips run on different timetables. T3 slips in particular are commonly issued later, because a trust must first determine its own allocations, and taxpayers with mutual fund holdings often find their return incomplete until those arrive. Confirm the specific deadlines rather than applying the February date to everything. Slips also become available in CRA's online services once the payer has filed them, which lets a taxpayer see what CRA holds without waiting for paper. This is the single most useful thing to tell a taxpayer chasing a missing slip, and it also lets them check whether what they received matches what CRA has. Availability online is not instantaneous — it follows the payer's filing, which may itself be late. A slip absent from the portal in early February is not evidence that no slip exists. A taxpayer who files before their slips are complete will usually need an adjustment afterwards, which is more work than waiting.

The missing slip

This is the most common enquiry in the topic, and the answer has a clear order. First, the taxpayer should check CRA's online services. If the payer has filed, the slip is there and the problem is solved. Second, they should contact the issuer. A slip may have gone to an old address, or may not have been issued at all. The issuer is the only party who can produce or correct it. Third — and this is the part taxpayers resist — **they must still report the income.** If the amount cannot be obtained, it should be estimated from the best available records: pay stubs, bank statements, the previous year's slip. A return filed with an estimate and a note is a far better position than a return that omits the income entirely. The reason is the repeated failure to report income penalty, which applies where a taxpayer omits income in a year and has also omitted income in one of the preceding three years. It is a serious penalty and it applies to the omission, regardless of whether a slip arrived. Confirm the conditions and the amount before describing it. Where a slip arrives after filing, the fix is an adjustment request rather than a second return.

The wrong slip

A slip that reports an amount the taxpayer did not receive, or reports it in the wrong box, is a different problem from a missing one, and the fix is different too. The correction has to come from the issuer, who files an amended slip with CRA and gives the taxpayer a copy. Until that happens, CRA holds the original figure and any matching will be against that. The taxpayer should not simply report what they believe is correct and leave the discrepancy for CRA to notice — that reliably produces a review. Where the issuer will not or cannot correct the slip, the taxpayer should file with an explanation, keep their records, and expect to have to substantiate the position. A common variant is a slip issued to the wrong person, or in a wrong name, which is more serious and may indicate identity misuse. Treat it as such rather than as a clerical error. Another is a duplicate: the taxpayer receives what appears to be two slips for the same income, typically after an amendment. An amended slip generally replaces rather than adds to the original, and reporting both double-counts the income.

Slip matching

CRA compares what taxpayers report against the slips it holds. Where a return omits an amount a payer reported, that discrepancy can generate a review or a reassessment. Matching is not immediate. It commonly happens well after the return has been assessed, which is why a taxpayer can receive an unexpected reassessment for a year they thought was settled. Explaining that the original assessment did not mean CRA had checked everything is often the substance of the call. The practical consequences worth conveying: omitted income surfaces, generally with interest from the original payment deadline, and repeated omissions attract the repeated failure penalty. Matching also works in the taxpayer's favour on occasion — a credit or deduction supported by a slip the taxpayer did not claim may be identified. Do not describe matching as purely an enforcement mechanism. For an agent, the useful framing when a taxpayer asks why an old year has been reopened is that the assessment was based on what they filed, and the slip information arrived or was matched afterwards. That is usually a satisfying answer, and it is accurate.

Common errors

Telling a taxpayer that income without a slip need not be reported. The obligation follows the income, not the paperwork. Advising a taxpayer to wait indefinitely for a missing slip. They should estimate and file, then adjust. Reasoning from the slip type rather than the box. Amounts on one slip can be reported on different lines and taxed differently. Applying the end-of-February issuing deadline to every slip. Some, T3 in particular, commonly run later. Treating absence from CRA's online services in early February as proof no slip exists. Availability follows the payer's filing. Encouraging a taxpayer to report what they think is right and let CRA sort out a wrong slip. That reliably produces a review; the issuer must amend. Reporting both an original and an amended slip. The amended one generally replaces the original. Treating a slip issued in the wrong name as a clerical matter. It may indicate identity misuse. Describing the repeated failure to report income penalty imprecisely. Confirm the conditions and the amount — it is severe and taxpayers ask about it specifically. Implying that an assessment means CRA verified everything. Matching commonly happens afterwards.

What to verify this tutorial against

This was drafted without a source document. Slip names, box numbers and deadlines are exactly the material most likely to be misremembered, and every one of them is on this page's checklist. CRA's pages listing information slips describe each slip, what it reports and which lines of the return it feeds. The employers' guide to filing T4 and T4A returns covers issuing deadlines, amendments and the box definitions for the two most common slips. The general income tax and benefit guide for the year maps slip boxes to return lines, and is the right reference for a taxpayer working through their own return. CRA's guidance on the repeated failure to report income penalty sets out the conditions and how the penalty is determined. Confirm this before describing it to a taxpayer. CRA's pages on requesting a change to a return cover what to do when a slip arrives after filing. CRA's online services documentation confirms what slip information is available to taxpayers and when it appears.

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