You didn’t start your business so you could become an expert in tax slips. Yet here we are: T4A, CRA rules, deadlines, penalties… it’s a lot.
This guide is for the owner who says:
“Just tell me what I need to know and what I need to do.”
No dense tax language—just the essentials.
The big picture: what T4As are
Think of a T4A as a summary of certain payments to people who aren’t your employees. It tells the CRA and the recipient:
• Who got paid
• Who paid them
• How much they received in the year for specific types of income
It’s part of your responsibility as a business, just like filing your own tax return or collecting sales tax when required.
Step 1: list who you paid
Look back over the year and make a simple list:
• Employees on payroll
• Contractors and freelancers
• Other people you paid for services
Employees get T4s. Everyone else goes on your “T4A radar” list for review.
Step 2: identify contractors and service providers
For each non-employee, ask:
• Did we pay them for services as part of our business?
• Were they self-employed or operating a business?
• Are we planning to deduct these payments as business expenses?
If the answer is yes, they’re likely a candidate for T4A review under CRA rules.
Step 3: collect information early
You’ll need basic info for each contractor, such as:
• Full legal name or business name
• Address
• SIN or business number (as applicable)
• Email address for sending slips or questions
Get this when you start working together—not at year-end when people are harder to reach. Make it part of your onboarding.
Step 4: track payments during the year
Use your accounting system (or at least a simple spreadsheet) to:
• Record each payment
• Tag it to the correct person or entity
• Track the total per contractor for the year
By December, you should be able to see “We paid Alex Consulting $X, we paid Jordan $Y,” and so on.
Step 5: check whether a T4A is required
Once you know who you paid and how much, talk to your accountant or check CRA guidance to confirm which payments need T4As. Things that matter:
• The type of service or income
• Total amounts paid
• Whether the recipient is a non-resident
You don’t need to memorize the technical rules—you just need to bring good data to the person or tool helping you.
Step 6: generate and file the slips
When you know who needs a T4A:
• Prepare the slips with correct recipient info and amounts
• File them with the CRA by the deadline
• Deliver copies to recipients so they can prepare their own returns
Tools like T4ASlip exist to make this step much less painful by pulling in your payout data and generating slips in a repeatable way.
Step 7: save your records
Keep:
• Copies of the T4A slips and summaries
• Contractor invoices and agreements
• Payment records or reports from your accounting system
Store them somewhere safe (ideally digitally) so if the CRA ever asks, you’re ready.
What if you feel overwhelmed?
You don’t need to become a tax professional. Your realistic responsibilities are to:
• Know that T4As exist and that they’re your job, not your contractors’
• Keep clean records of who you pay, why, and how much
• Ask for help early—before year-end—when you’re unsure
From there, software and professionals can help you with specific rules, forms, and filings.
How T4ASlip supports non-experts
T4ASlip is built with the non-accountant in mind. It can help you:
• Capture the right information from contractors
• Pull together payments from your existing systems
• Check for missing or inconsistent data
• Generate the slips in a few organized steps
Instead of wrestling with forms by hand, you follow a guided process—and then get back to running your business.