Get ready to file

Steps

  1. Determine the filing due date

    The filing due date is based on information return type. Refer to the guides listed below for full details

    List of guides
    List of guides
    Type of information return Links and Due dates
    AGR-1, Statement of Farm-Support Payments File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.
    T4A(OAS), Statement of Old Age Security
    T4A(P), Statement of Canada Pension/Quebec Pension Plan Benefits
    T4E, Statement of Employment Insurance Benefits
    NR4, Statement of Amounts Paid or Credited to Non-Residents of Canada

    File by March 31 following the calendar year to which the information return applies or no later than 90 days after the end of the fiscal year for an estate or trust. If the last day of March falls on a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: NR4, Statement of Amounts Paid or Credited to Non-Residents of Canada

    T3, Statement of Trusts Income Allocations and Designations

    File no later than 90 days after the end of the trust's tax year.

    Refer to: T3, Statement of Trusts Income Allocations and Designations

    T4, Statement of Remuneration Paid Refer to: T4, Statement of Remuneration Paid Or Filing due date
    T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income Refer to: T4A, Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income Or Filing due date
    T4A-NR, Statement of Fees, Commissions, or Other Amounts Paid to Non-Residents for Services Rendered in Canada Refer to: T4A-NR, Statement of Fees, Commissions, or Other Amounts Paid to Non-Residents for Services Rendered in Canada Or Filing due date
    T1204, Government Service Contract Payments Refer to: T1204 slip - Government services contract payments Or Filing due date
    T4RIF, Statement of Income From a Registered Retirement Income Fund

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T4RIF, Statement of Income From a Registered Retirement Income Fund

    T4RSP, Statement of Registered Retirement Savings Plan Income

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T4RSP, Statement of Registered Retirement Savings Plan Income

    T5, Statement of Investment Income

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T5, Statement of Investment Income

    T5007, Statement of Benefits

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T5007, Statement of Benefits

    T5008, Statement of Securities Transactions

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T5008, Statement of Securities Transactions

    T5018, Statement of Contract Payments Refer to: T5018 slip - Statement of contract payments Or Filing due date
    RRSP, Contribution Receipt Filing

    File by May 1 of the year in which the contribution year ends. The contribution year is the period beginning on the 61st day of one year and ending on the 60th day of the following year.

    Refer to: RRSP, Contribution Receipt Filing

    T215, Exempt from Certification Past Service Pension Adjustment (PSPA) Refer to: RRSPs and Other Registered Plans for Retirement
    TFSA, Tax Free Savings Account

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: TFSA, Tax Free Savings Account

    T4FHSA, Tax Free First Home Savings Account

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T4FHSA annual information return

    T5013 FIN, Partnership Financial Return Refer to: T5013, FIN Partnership Financial Return
    T5013, Partnership Information Return Refer to: T5013, Partnership Information Return
    T661, Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Expenditures Claim Refer to: T661, Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Expenditures Claim
    PRPP, Pooled Registered Pension Plan Information Return

    File by May 1 of the year in which the contribution year ends. The contribution year is the period beginning on the 61st day of one year and ending on the 60th day of the following year.

    Refer to: PRPP, Pooled Registered Pension Plan Information Return

    RRSP and RRIF, Non-Qualified Investments Information Return

    File by May 1 of the year in which the contribution year ends. The contribution year is the period beginning on the 61st day of one year and ending on the 60th day of the following year.

    Refer to: RRSPs and Other Registered Plans for Retirement

    Part XVIII Information Return, International Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts

    File before May 2 following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If May 1 is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: Part XVIII Information Return – International Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts

    Part XIX Information Return, International Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts

    File before May 2 following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If May 1 is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: Part XIX Information Return, International Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts

    T2202, Tuition and enrolment certificate

    File by the last day of February following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of February is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.

    Refer to: T2202, Tuition and enrolment certificate

    If you file your information return late

    If you file your information return past the due date, you may be charged a penalty.

    Refer to: What happens if you file late or you do not file

  2. Determine if you must file electronically

    As of January 2024, if you file more than 5 information returns (slips) for a calendar year, you are required to file electronically by:

    You may have to pay a penalty as determined in the table below if you file using the wrong method.

    Each slip is an information return, and the penalty the CRA assesses is based on the number of information returns filed in an incorrect format. The penalty is calculated per type of information return.

    Penalty by number of information returns (slips)
    Number of information returns (slips) Penalty
    6 to 50 $125
    51 to 250 $250
    251 to 500 $500
    501 to 2,500 $1,500
    2,501 or more $2,500

    For example:

    • 51 T5 slips filed on paper (penalty is $250)
    • plus 51 T4 slips filed on paper (penalty is $250)
    • equals$500 penalty
  3. Create an XML file, if needed

    •  If you use commercial software or the Web Forms: Option 1

      Proceed to the next step: Use the XML specifications

    • If you do not use commercial software or the Web Forms: Option 2

      Understand how characters affect the xml file
      • Data records filed must match our exact specifications. This allows us to process the data efficiently.
      • These specifications are subject to change.
      • If you need to use any of the following special characters, please use a semi-colon after the characters as shown in the chart below:
        Understand how characters affect the xml file
        Special characters Use
        < &lt;
        " &quot;
        > &gt;
        ' &apos;
        & &amp;

        Although the special characters in the table are entered as 4 characters or more, they are considered to be only 1 character when entered in the content area of an XML tag.

        Example: "John Smith & Sons" will be entered as: "John Smith &amp; Sons"
        • You do not need to include any optional tags that are empty (i.e. which do not contain any information).

        Example: <padj_amt/> is an optional empty tag.
        If you have no amount to report in this tag, you do not need to include the tag in your submission.

      Use these encoding options
      • ISO-8859-1 (International Characters)
      • Windows-1252
      • UTF-8
      • To properly capture international characters (for example, the French character é) in XML files, you must use ISO-8859-1 encoding.
        The first line of your file should describe the character encoding that you used to create your file.
        Example: If you used ISO-8859-1, then you would start with
        <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
      Download the CRA schema

      The XML schema defines the building blocks of an .xml file. The schemas are in .xsd format.

      To file information returns:

      • For 2024: Download the xmlschm1-24-1 file
        (version 1-24-1, last updated December 21, 2023)
      After you save the .zip file on your computer, use an extracting software (for example WinZip) to extract the .xsd files. You have to extract and save all files to one location on your hard drive.
      Create and save your file
      1. Create your .xml file using the specifications for the information return you are filing
      2. Save your .xml file on your computer
      3. Name your file with extension .xml and note the location

      An .xml file created with Web Forms or PDF document saved as .xml will not pass validations through Internet file transfer.

      Validate your file

      To validate your file, check both the format and content of an .xml file against our schema files using a validating parser. You can download validating parsers from the Internet. The software is not provided or supported by the CRA. If you have questions, ask the software companies that created the validating parser.

      1. Launch the validating parser
      2. Include in the parser the path to the schema files you saved
      3. Follow the instructions in the parser to locate and open your .xml file
      4. Correct all errors the parser finds and re-validate
      5. Send new corrected file to CRA
  4. Use the XML specifications

    The xml specifications assist you with your xml file by identifying what we can accept in the file.

    • You must include a T619, Electronic Transmittal record to create a complete submission
    • The T4FHSA, First Home Savings Account, will be accepted for processing starting January 8, 2024

    View the XML specifications

    Additional resources:

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