Payroll Year-End Checklist for 2026: T4 Deadlines, Penalties and What to Check

For the 2026 tax year, your T4 and T4A returns are due to the CRA on Monday, March 1, 2027, and your employees need their slips by the end of February. Before that, your December remittance is due January 15, 2027, and an Ontario employer over the Employer Health Tax exemption files by March 15, 2027. Most of the work happens in December, while the year's numbers can still be fixed on a pay run instead of on an amended slip.

When are T4 and T4A slips due for 2026?

The CRA's rule is the last day of February after the calendar year. When that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the return is on time if the CRA receives it, or it is postmarked, by the next business day (CRA: when to file information returns, accessed October 7, 2026). February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, which moves the 2026 filing date to March 1. The same shift happened last year: the CRA's T4 guide (RC4120, Rev. 25) set the 2025 due date at March 2, 2026.

The weekend rule speaks to returns reaching the CRA. Handing out slips by Friday the 26th keeps you clear either way. The CRA also suggests giving a departing employee their slip when they leave, which saves you a February search for a forwarding address.

What should you check before the last pay run of 2026?

A pay run in December corrects a mistake. A T4 amendment in March reports it. Go through this list before your final 2026 payroll:

• Names, addresses and SINs. Every slip goes out under these. Fix a typo in December and you avoid amending a slip in March.
• CPP and EI totals. For 2026 the CPP maximum is $4,230.45 each for the employee and employer, on maximum pensionable earnings of $74,600 with a $3,500 basic exemption (CRA: CPP rates, accessed October 7, 2026). Higher earners also pay CPP2, required since January 1, 2024. Outside Quebec, the 2026 EI maximum employee premium is $1,123.07 on $68,900 of insurable earnings, and the employer pays 1.4 times the employee premium, up to $1,572.30 (CRA: EI rates, accessed October 7, 2026). Check mid-year hires most closely.
• Taxable benefits. A car, a phone or a gift card paid by the business may belong on the slip. Add them before the year closes.
• Box 45, dental coverage. Since the 2023 tax year, every T4 must say whether the employee or their family could access dental coverage through you on December 31 (RC4120, Rev. 25).
• Your payroll account against your books. What you remitted in 2026 should match what your payroll register says you withheld, plus your share.

Who needs a T4A instead of a T4?

Contractors, not employees. If you paid a person fees for services outside an employment relationship and the total for the year came to more than $500, or you deducted tax, the CRA says a T4A must be issued. The fees go in box 48, without GST/HST or PST (CRA: payments of fees for services, accessed October 7, 2026). Pull everyone you paid as a vendor in 2026 and sort out who crossed $500. Clean payables make that list a report, not a search.

What do late or paper T4s cost?

Three separate penalties, all from the CRA's 2025 T4 guide, the current edition (RC4120, Rev. 25, accessed October 7, 2026):

The penalty bands grow for larger employers. An overdue T4 return also breaks the CRA's "perfect compliance" record, which a business needs to keep quarterly remitting.

Do Ontario employers have anything else to file?

Employer Health Tax. The annual return and any balance are due on or before March 15. The exemption for eligible employers is currently $1 million of Ontario payroll, so most small businesses owe nothing. You still file if your payroll is above the exemption, you got a personalized return, or your associated group is over it. Payroll over $1,200,000 pays monthly instalments (Ontario: Employer Health Tax, updated September 18, 2026, accessed October 7, 2026).

What happens in January?

The first pay run of 2027 uses 2027 rates. The CRA updates CPP and EI figures for the new year, so check the two rate pages linked above before you run it, and keep 2026 payroll records for six years from the end of the year they relate to (CRA: keeping records, accessed October 7, 2026). If you closed the business or stopped having employees in 2026, the deadline is earlier: file within 30 days of the business stopping (RC4120).

Intersect's payroll service runs this checklist in December and files your slips well before the deadline, alongside the rest of your back office. Books and Payroll starts at $1,500 a month. See what a payroll service includes and the HST deadlines that land in the same quarter. Behind on payroll or not sure your 2026 totals are right? Get in touch and we will go through it with you.

Frequently asked questions

When are 2026 T4 slips due?

The CRA deadline is the last day of February after the calendar year. February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, and a return due on a weekend is on time if the CRA receives it by the next business day, so 2026 T4 and T4A returns are due Monday, March 1, 2027.

Do I have to give a T4A to a contractor?

If you paid a person fees for services outside an employment relationship and the total for the calendar year was more than $500, or you deducted tax, the CRA says a T4A slip must be issued. Report the fees in box 48 and leave out GST/HST and PST.

Can I file my T4s on paper?

Only if you file 5 slips or fewer. Above that, the CRA requires electronic filing, and the penalty for filing paper instead starts at $125 for 6 to 50 slips.

What happens if I file T4s late?

For 1 to 50 slips, the CRA can charge $10 a day, up to $1,000, with a $100 minimum. Not giving an employee their slip is a separate penalty of $25 a day per slip, from $100 up to $2,500.