Get ready to file
Steps
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.
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.
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
Part XX, Information Return, Reporting Rules for Digital Platform Operators File by the last day of January following the calendar year to which the information return applies. If the last day of January is a Saturday or Sunday, your information return is due the next business day.
If you file your information return late
If you file your information return past the due date, you may be charged a penalty.
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)
- 51 T4 slips filed on paper (penalty is $250)
- $500 penalty
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 < < " " > > ' ' & & 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 & 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) - For 2025:
Download the t619xmlschm1-25-1 file.
(Contains only the new T619 XML schema part, version 1-25-1, last updated June 17, 2024)Note: The full XML schema package for 2025 will be available in October.
- For the new Part XX information return, download the partXXxmlschm1-25-1.zip file (version 1-25-1, last updated July 26, 2024)
Create and save your file
- Create your .xml file using the specifications for the information return you are filing
- Save your .xml file on your computer
- 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.
- Launch the validating parser
- Include in the parser the path to the schema files you saved
- Follow the instructions in the parser to locate and open your .xml file
- Correct all errors the parser finds and re-validate
- Send new corrected file to CRA
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
- 2024: T619, Electronic Transmittal
- 2025: T619, Electronic Transmittal (this version will be accepted for processing starting January 2025)
Note: Starting January 2025, all returns to be filed in a same submission must be the same information return type (ex; Only T4 information return types).
Additional resources:
- For a list of options available for Registered Plans forms refer to: Filing forms with the Registered Plans Directorate
- For a list of filing options available for the T3ATH-IND, T3RET, T3M and T3S, as well as T3P, T3D, T3PRP, T3RI, T3GR, T1061 and T2000 (New for 2024) return types, refer to: How to file a T3 return.
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