After T4’s have been generated, edited and verified they can be uploaded to CRA directly (i.e. without having to re-enter the details through CRA’s web portal). If you have more than 50 T4’s then you must use this procedure. The purpose of this procedure is to create a structured file that you will provide to the CRA via their web portal. The generated file contains all T4’s that will be submitted as well as totals and other information required by CRA.
Before you can create the export file, the payroll account must be defined in Company Settings – > Company -> Tax Info. This is usually the company business number followed by RP and then a 4 digit identifier (ie: 888555222RP0001).
If you receive this message when trying to export the T4’s then you have not configured this setting.
From the T4 Statement screen click the “Export for CRA” button and the following screen will be presented.
- Submission Reference Number – Enter a number to use for reference purposes
- Report Type – Selections are Original, Amendment and Cancellation
- Preferred Correspondence Language – Choose English or French
- Company Name – Company name. Use second box if the complete name does not fit in the first box
- Proprietor #1 SIN – Company owners Social Insurance number
- Proprietor #2 SIN – Additional owners Social Insurance number
- Name – Contact person’s name
- Area Code – Contact area code
- Phone Number – Contact phone number
- Extension – Contact phone extension
- Email – Contact email address
Clicking ‘OK’ will prompt you to save the exported xml file that can now be uploaded to CRA.
Once you have uploaded the T4’s they should each be marked as ‘Remitted’. This can be achieved by selecting all the T4’s and clicking “Mark remitted”. Do not do this before you have created the CRA T4 upload file and have confirmed that it has been submitted successfully. Note that while this process creates the file for submission, you must still upload the file to CRA. Talk to your accounting professional if you aren’t sure how to do this.
Note that cancellation and amendment submission files can also be created. To create amendments or cancellations, change the status of individual T4’s by loading and changing them. When you choose “Amendment” as a “Report type” only T4’s marked as amended are included in the CRA upload file. The same process applies to T4 cancellations.