Your T4 slip is a record of what a single employer paid you in a year and what it took off before the money reached your account. Knowing how to read your T4 slip matters at tax time, because many of its boxes point to a specific line on your return. This guide covers the T4 for the 2025 tax year, which employers had to give you by the end of February 2026. The slips for 2026 arrive by the end of February 2027.
What a T4 slip is and when it arrives
The CRA’s employer guide says a T4 “identifies all of the remuneration paid by an employer to an employee during a calendar year.” Salary, wages, tips, bonuses, vacation pay, commissions and taxable benefits all land on it, along with the deductions your employer withheld.
Employers must hand out slips “by the last day of February of the following calendar year to which the slips apply.” Yours can come on paper, by email if you consented in writing or electronically, or through your employer’s secure payroll portal. A paper slip comes as two copies. An employer that distributes slips late can be charged $25 per day per slip, with a $100 minimum and a $2,500 maximum.
You get a separate T4 from each employer you worked for during the year. One employer can also send you more than one. The CRA tells employers to fill out a separate slip for each province or territory you worked in, and a second slip can carry overflow codes.
Income goes on the slip for the year it was paid, “regardless of when it was earned.” Pay for late-December work that reaches you in January belongs on the next year’s T4.
How to read a T4 slip, box by box
A few boxes hold no dollar amounts. They identify you and your employer or flag a special situation. Box 10 is your province of employment, which “is not always the province where the employer is located.” Box 12 is your social insurance number.
Box 28 carries a check mark if you didn’t have to pay CPP/QPP, EI or PPIP for the full period. Box 29 holds an employment code for a few special cases, such as placement agency workers. Box 54 is your employer’s payroll account number, and it stays blank on your copies.
The table covers the boxes that hold amounts or codes, and where each one goes on your return, if anywhere:
| Box | What it shows | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | Employment income before deductions | Line 10100 |
| 16 | Your CPP contributions | Schedule 8 or Form RC381, then lines 30800 and 22215 |
| 16A | Your second CPP contributions (CPP2) | Schedule 8 or Form RC381, then line 22215 |
| 17 and 17A | QPP and QPP2, for work in Quebec | Same forms as boxes 16 and 16A |
| 18 | Your EI premiums | Line 31200 |
| 20 | Registered pension plan (RPP) contributions | Line 20700 |
| 22 | Income tax deducted | Line 43700 |
| 24 | EI insurable earnings | Checks for an EI overpayment |
| 26 | CPP/QPP pensionable earnings | Checks for a CPP overpayment |
| 44 | Union dues | Line 21200 |
| 45 | Dental benefits code | Not reported on your return |
| 46 | Charitable donations | Line 1 of Schedule 9 |
| 52 | Pension adjustment | Line 20600 |
| 55 and 56 | Quebec parental insurance (PPIP) premiums and earnings | Box 55: line 31205 if you lived in Quebec on December 31, otherwise line 31200 |
Box 14 and box 22: income and tax
Box 14 shows your income before deductions. The CRA tells employers to report “total income before deductions using box 14,” so it’s the amount before income tax, CPP, EI or anything else was taken off. If you had more than one employer, line 10100 is the total of box 14 from all your T4 slips. Working out your take-home pay from that figure is a separate calculation from reading the slip.
Box 22 is the federal, provincial and territorial income tax your employer withheld, except Quebec provincial tax, which isn’t included. It’s the tax you’ve already paid during the year, and your return compares it with what you owe.
CPP, CPP2 and EI: boxes 16, 16A, 18, 24 and 26
Box 16 is your share of Canada Pension Plan contributions. Your employer pays a matching share, but the CRA tells employers not to show it on your slip. Box 16A is the newest of the main boxes: second CPP contributions (CPP2) began on January 1, 2024, and apply to earnings above the year’s maximum pensionable earnings. Box 18 is your share of EI premiums.
Boxes 24 and 26 report earnings, not deductions. They show the pay your employer used to work out your EI premiums (box 24) and your CPP and CPP2 contributions (box 26), up to that year’s ceiling. The CRA notes that “In many situations, boxes 14 and 24 will be the same amount.” They split apart when you earn above a ceiling or when part of your pay wasn’t subject to EI or CPP.
Each maximum applies per employer. The CRA defines the CPP maximum as the most you and your employer must each pay “in a year for their employment with that employer,” and EI and CPP2 work the same way. With two employers in one year, your combined deductions can go past the yearly maximum. The CRA points to line 44800 for a CPP or QPP overpayment and line 45000 for EI.
Pension adjustment, union dues and dental benefits
Box 52, the pension adjustment, generally shows the value of the benefits you earned that year in a registered pension plan or deferred profit-sharing plan. The CRA is direct about it: “This amount is not an income or a deduction.” You enter it on line 20600, and the CRA uses it to set your RRSP deduction limit for the following year. That’s how a workplace pension reduces your RRSP room.
Box 20 holds your own contributions to a registered pension plan, including past service contributions. Box 44 shows union dues your employer deducted, used when the union has agreed not to issue its own receipts.
Box 45 has been mandatory since the 2023 slips. It’s a code from 1 to 5 saying whether you or your family could access dental coverage your employer offered on December 31. It supports the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and you don’t report it on your return.
The “Other information” codes at the bottom
The bottom of the slip has unnumbered boxes where your employer enters a code and an amount. The CRA says these relate to “employment commissions, taxable allowances and benefits, deductible amounts, fishers’ income, and other entries if they apply.”
Many of these amounts are already inside box 14. Code 30 (board and lodging), code 34 (personal use of an employer’s vehicle), code 40 (other taxable allowances and benefits) and code 42 (employment commissions) each carry the CRA note “This amount is already included in box 14.” Adding them to your income again would count the same money twice. A few codes do get entered on your return: code 42 also goes on line 10120, and codes 39 and 41 (security options deductions) go on line 24900.
A slip has room for six codes. When more apply, your employer issues an additional T4 holding only the extra codes, and each code and amount is reported once. A second slip that holds only codes is an overflow slip, not extra income.
One new code arrives with the 2026 slips. Code 96 certifies the eligible earnings of personal support workers at eligible health care establishments, on slips for calendar years 2026 through 2030. Those earnings are already part of box 14 (or code 71, if tax-exempt). The code lets an eligible worker claim the personal support worker tax credit.
Check your T4 against your last pay stub of the year
If your last pay stub of the year shows year-to-date totals, line them up with the slip. Compare gross pay with box 14, tax with box 22, CPP with boxes 16 and 16A, and EI with box 18. Box 14 includes taxable benefits, so a benefit that never showed as cash on your stub can make box 14 higher than your year-to-date gross pay.
A worked example with 2025 rates
Take someone in Ontario who earned $85,000 in 2025 from one employer, all year, with no CPP or EI exemption. These are the CRA’s 2025 figures: a 5.95% CPP rate with a $3,500 basic exemption, 4% for CPP2, and 1.64% for EI outside Quebec.
| Box | Amount | How it’s worked out |
|---|---|---|
| 14 | $85,000.00 | Total pay before deductions |
| 26 | $81,200.00 | Capped at the 2025 additional maximum pensionable earnings |
| 16 | $4,034.10 | ($71,300 maximum pensionable earnings minus $3,500) × 5.95% |
| 16A | $396.00 | ($81,200 minus $71,300) × 4% |
| 24 | $65,700.00 | Capped at the 2025 maximum insurable earnings |
| 18 | $1,077.48 | $65,700 × 1.64% |
Those three deductions, $4,034.10, $396 and $1,077.48, are also the CRA’s 2025 maximums for an employee’s CPP, CPP2 and EI. If you earned above the ceilings from a single employer and your slip shows more, ask your employer about it. Box 22 depends on your pay and tax situation, so there’s no fixed figure to check it against.
For the 2026 slips, the ceilings rise: $74,600 maximum pensionable earnings, $85,000 for CPP2, and $68,900 maximum insurable earnings, with the EI rate at 1.63%.
What to do if your T4 is missing or wrong
Start with your employer. The CRA’s T4 page says that if you have questions about the amounts, “contact the issuer of the slip.” The employer can correct a reporting error by amending the slip. The CRA’s line 10100 page also tells you to contact your employer if your T4 hasn’t arrived by early April.
If the slip never arrives, the CRA’s guide to getting a copy of your slips gives three options:
- Ask your employer for a copy.
- Check My Account, where you may be able to view your tax slips. The CRA can’t give you a copy until your employer has sent it in.
- Estimate your income from your pay stubs. Include a note with your return giving the employer’s name and address, the type of income, and what you’re doing to get the slip. Attach copies of the stubs to a paper return, or keep them if you file electronically.
When your T4 shows up in My Account and Auto-fill
The CRA says it should receive most tax slips by the end of February and have them processed and available by mid-March. From then, Auto-fill My Return can bring your T4 into certified tax software, as long as you’re registered for a CRA account.
If a slip is still missing, the CRA gives two possible reasons. It hasn’t received or processed the slip yet, or the slip was issued with an error in your SIN, first name or last name. Either way, its advice is to review the slip you received and contact the issuer.
Other slips, and where your T4 goes next
A T4 covers employment income. EI benefits come on a T4E, CPP benefits on a T4A(P), and pensions and other income on a T4A. You get your EI and CPP slips by signing in to Service Canada.
The rates that apply to your box 14 income come from the federal and provincial or territorial tax brackets for the year, which is a separate subject. How long a refund takes after you file is a separate question too.
A lender may ask for your T4 as proof of income, since it shows what one employer paid you over the year. If you’re self-employed, there’s no T4 to show, and the paperwork is different.
If you’re looking at installment loans, one application with Lend For All connects you with several lenders. Comparing offers through Lend For All doesn’t involve a credit check. A lender only checks your credit after you choose its offer and agree to the check on its own page, and that check can affect your score.
- How to Dispute Unauthorized Charges on Your Credit Card - October 22, 2026
- How to Read Your T4 Slip in Canada - October 22, 2026
- Tax Refund Timing in Canada: When Will Yours Arrive? - October 22, 2026