Understanding T4A Slips Your Easy Handbook

T4 slip, T4A Slip, T4A (P), T4A OAS), T4E and other slips are the T-Slips which shows the income earned by the recipient of such T Slip.

T4 is the statement of remuneration payment made by an employer to employee during the calendar year. Whereas T4A covers lot of other payments made a payer to a payee. T4A slips are issued by Payers of certain payments. The list of payments covered under T4A is very broad. Examples of few are as follows:

1. Pension / Superannuation
2. Annuities
3. Death benefits
4. Fee or other amounts for services
5. Self Employed commissions
6. RESP accumulated income payments

The T4A is issued on a Calendar Year basis irrespective of the Tax Year of Payer and it shows the nature / type of payment made by the payer to the payee along with following details of the Payer and Payee:

1. Payer’s Details i.e.
   • Name of the Payer
   • Payer’s Program account number
2. Payee’s /Recipient’s Details
   • Name and Address of the Recipient (The mailing address should the address where the payee lived on the last day of the previous year)
   • In case the Recipient is an Individual then Social Insurance Number (SIN) or incase the recipient is a Corporation then Business Number

Information about the payments:

Box 20 – Self Employment Commissions (Fill the amount excluding GST / HST component)

Box 48 – Fee for Services (Fill the amount excluding GST / HST component)

The amount shown in Box 20 and 48 represent a kind of self employment income and therefore individuals have to complete ‘T2125 – Statement of business or professional activities’ while filing their T1 - Income Tax Return (personal Income Tax Return) to claim the business or profession related expenses. If some business expenditures are incurred to earn this revenue, the same must be claimed to arrive at the correct Taxable Income. T4A is issued when the total payment made during the calendar year are more than $500.

T4A-NR Slips – Similar to T4A slips, T4A-NR slips are issued towards the payments made to non-residents towards the services (other than employment) performed in Canada. The payment to non-residents includes payment to individuals, Partnership Firms or Corporations. The T4A-NR is issued irrespective of any tax withheld by the payer. 

Due date of issuance of T4A to Payees – Last date of the February, following immediately after the previous calendar year during which the payment is made by the payer to payee.

Due date of filing of T4A Returns (T4A Summary) – T4A return is a summary of all T4A slips issued by the payer during the calendar year. The summary of all T4As i.e. T4A return is filed with the CRA and individual T4A’s are issued to the respective payee / recipient. The due date of filing the T4A return is ‘last day of the February’, following immediately after the previous calendar year.

Mode of filing T4A return – The T4A Summary can be file electronically or by paper. However in case of more than 5 T-slips, the return must be filed electronically via Web form or extensible Markup Language (xml) file transfer using internet file. In other cases it may be submitted on paper by mailing the same to CRA.

Role of Accounttax Pros as a Tax Consultant – If you need any kind of assistance in issuance of T4s, T4As or T4A-NR, T1 Personal Income Tax Return Filings or corporate T2 tax returns filing, Accounts Tax Pros can help you with all kinds of Income Tax compliances, assisting in CRA audits, Incorporation of Company, GST / HST registration and GST HST return filing.