Tax Slips Explained: T4, T4A, T5, T3 and More

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Tax slips are the building blocks of a return. Your employer, your bank, and other payers send you a slip for each kind of income and send a copy to the CRA, so the CRA already knows most of your income before you file. This guide explains the common slips, what the important boxes mean, and what to do if a slip is missing or wrong. It shows no real slip and no personal information.

The slips in one paragraph

The T4 reports employment income (Box 14), CPP contributions (Box 16), EI premiums (Box 18) and tax deducted (Box 22). The T4A covers pension and other income, the T5 covers investment income, the T3 covers trust income, and the T2202 covers tuition. Employers must issue T4s by the last day of February after the tax year.

The T4: employment income

The T4 is the slip most people get. It reports what your employer paid you and what it deducted. Box 14 is your total employment income. Box 16 is the CPP contributions deducted from your pay, Box 18 is the EI premiums, and Box 22 is the income tax your employer withheld and sent to the CRA.

Box 26 shows the pensionable earnings used to calculate your CPP contributions, and Box 24 shows the insurable earnings used for EI. Those two boxes are often the same as Box 14, but not always — for example, if some of your pay was not pensionable. If your T4 shows tax deducted in Box 22, that amount is a credit against the tax you owe; it is not the tax you owe.

CPP and EI on your T4

The CPP and EI figures on your T4 follow the annual rates. For 2026, CPP is 5.95% each side — employee and employer — on pensionable earnings from $3,500 to $74,600 (the year’s maximum pensionable earnings), up to $4,230.45 a year. On earnings from $74,600 to $85,000, an additional CPP contribution of 4% applies, up to $416.

EI in 2026 is 1.63% for employees outside Quebec, on insurable earnings up to $68,900, up to $1,123.07 a year. Your employer pays 1.4 times your EI rate. In Quebec the rates are different: the employee EI rate is 1.30%, and Quebec workers pay into the Quebec Pension Plan instead of CPP.

T4A, T4E and other T4s

The T4A reports pension, retirement, annuity, and other income — including payments to self-employed people in some cases. The T4E reports Employment Insurance benefits you received. There are other T4 slips for specific situations: the T4RSP and T4RIF for withdrawals from retirement plans, and the T4A(P) for Canada Pension Plan benefits.

Each slip has its own boxes, but the pattern is the same: one box for the income, and boxes for any tax withheld. Report each slip on the line of the return it belongs to — tax software does this automatically when you enter the slip.

T5, T3 and T2202

The T5 reports investment income: interest from bank accounts, dividends from shares, and similar income. Banks and investment firms issue T5s for the interest and dividends they paid you. The T3 reports income from a trust, including mutual fund trust distributions.

The T2202 is the tuition slip issued by colleges and universities. It reports the tuition you paid, which supports the tuition tax credit. Keep the T2202 even if you cannot use the credit this year: unused tuition amounts can be carried forward or transferred to a parent or spouse in limited circumstances.

If a slip is missing or wrong

If a slip has not arrived by the end of February, check CRA My Account first: slips the CRA has received are shown there, and you can use those figures to file. If the CRA does not have it either, contact the issuer — your employer, your bank, or the payer.

If a slip is wrong — the wrong amount in Box 14, for example — ask the issuer to correct it and send an amended slip to the CRA. Do not file with numbers you know are wrong. If you cannot get a corrected slip before the deadline, file with your best estimate from pay stubs or statements, keep the proof, and ask for an adjustment when the corrected slip arrives.

Sources: Canada Revenue Agency, canada.ca; CRA, T4 slips; CRA, CPP and EI rates 2026.

General information only. This page explains what tax slips report and how to use them in plain English. It is not tax advice, and it cannot tell you what to claim, what you owe, or how to file your own return. Always confirm the current rules, rates, and your own position on canada.ca or in your CRA My Account before you act. If you need advice about your own taxes, speak to a qualified tax professional. Contact: hello [at] tapetoolhq.com.