Employers have to give you a T4 slip by the last day of February after the tax year ends. If it hasn’t turned up by then, ask your employer first, check CRA My Account, and if you still have nothing, file with your pay stubs and fix the return later. Don’t skip filing.
The deadline your employer has to meet
The CRA sets the T4 deadline at the last day of February following the calendar year. That applies to both filing the T4 return with the CRA and handing copies to employees. For the 2025 tax year the date landed on March 2, 2026, because February 28 was a Saturday.
An employer must issue a T4 if CPP, EI or income tax was deducted from your pay, or if total pay for the year was more than $500. So even a short summer job usually produces one.
Late slips aren’t free for the employer. The CRA may charge $25 a day for each T4 not given to an employee, with a $100 minimum and a $2,500 maximum. That’s a useful thing to know if you need a polite nudge, though you don’t have to mention it.
Check My Account before you chase anyone
Employers send their copies to the CRA too. Once they do, your slip shows up in CRA My Account under your tax information. Sign in and look before you write to anyone. If you haven’t set the account up, the CRA My Account sign-in guide covers the steps.
There’s a catch. The CRA says it can’t give you a copy of a slip until after the issuer has sent it in. So an empty My Account can mean the employer hasn’t filed yet, or that the slip is there but hasn’t posted. Either way, the answer is the same: go to the source.
How to ask the employer
The CRA tells people to contact the slip issuer directly, not the CRA, when a slip is missing. Start with payroll or HR, and put the request in writing so you have a date on record.
- Give your full name, the tax year and the last four digits of your SIN or your employee number.
- Give the mailing address or email where you want the slip sent, and say if your address changed during the year.
- Ask for a copy of the T4, or for the box amounts if a slip can’t be reissued quickly.
Old addresses cause many late slips. If you moved, or left the job in the fall, check the address on file before assuming anything worse.
When the employer doesn’t answer
Give it a week or two, then follow up once, in writing. Keep your final pay statement handy, because it will do most of the work later.
After that, your options are less clear-cut than people expect. The T4 duty comes from federal tax rules, and the CRA is the body that penalizes employers who miss it. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act deals with pay, wage statements and similar rights, and you can file a claim with the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development if you think that act was broken. Nothing official we found confirms that a missing T4 by itself is something the ministry acts on. Treat a claim as a route for pay problems, and raise unpaid wages or missing pay statements there.
For the slip itself, tell the CRA what happened if the employer has gone quiet. No official page we found sets out exact steps for this case, so check the current contact options on the CRA site before calling. You’ll want the employer’s legal name and address, your dates of work and what you already tried.
Filing without the slip
The deadline for most people is April 30, and a missing slip doesn’t move it. A late return can bring a penalty of 5% of the balance owing plus 1% for each full month, up to 12 months. See the late-filing penalty guide for how that adds up.
If you can’t get the slip in time, the CRA says to estimate your income. Add up your pay stubs, or use your final pay stub or statement of the year, which normally shows year-to-date pay, CPP, EI and income tax. Claim the deductions and credits linked to that income.
Then add a note to the return with three things: the employer’s name and address, the type of income, and what you’re doing to get the slip. Paper filers attach copies of the pay stubs and the note. Electronic filers keep the documents in case the CRA asks.
A quick worked example. Say your final pay stub shows $48,200 of employment income to December 31, $2,410 of CPP and $786 of EI. You’d enter those amounts as your estimate, then use the income tax calculator to see roughly what tax you should expect before you file. Those numbers are made up, but the method is the same for real ones.
One warning on Auto-fill My Return. It imports what the CRA holds at that moment. The CRA advises using it only after all your slips appear in My Account, so a missing T4 means missing income unless you add it by hand.
Fixing the return once the slip arrives
Compare the slip to your estimate. Matching amounts need no action. When they differ, don’t file a second return. Use the online change-return service in My Account, or in certified tax software, and add or correct the slip there.
The CRA says most online change requests are processed in about two weeks, though some that need extra review take much longer. Paper requests are slower. Pay promptly when the correction shows more tax owing, since interest can run on the balance. A penalty already charged for a delay that wasn’t your fault can be challenged, and the late-filing guide above explains relief requests.
What about T4A, T5 and T3 slips
The T4A (pensions, some self-employment fees, other income) and the T5 (investment income) follow the same timing as the T4. Issuers have until the end of February. The T3, for income from trusts and many mutual funds held outside registered accounts, and the T5013 for partnerships, can arrive as late as the end of March.
The same rules apply when one is missing. Contact the issuer, look in My Account, and estimate from statements if you have to. Brokerage year-end statements work well for T5 and T3 amounts. If you hold dividend stocks, the dividend tax calculator helps check the tax on the figures.
Benefit slips such as EI, OAS and CPP are different. The CRA points people to Service Canada’s online portal for those. For your own numbers, try the Marginal Tax Rate & Tax Brackets calculator, or browse the tax calculators.
Sources
- CRA: Get a copy of your tax slips
- CRA: Tax slips
- CRA tax tip: Tax slips at tax time
- CRA: Employers’ Guide, Filing the T4 Slip and Summary
- CRA: Changing a tax return
- Ontario: Your guide to the Employment Standards Act, filing a claim
Common questions
When must an employer issue a T4?
Last reviewed: . Figures come from the official sources listed above. How we check the numbers and our editorial policy.