If your T4 slip hasn’t shown up, there are three reliable ways to get your T4 slip: ask your employer’s payroll department for a copy, download it from the Canada Revenue Agency’s My Account portal, or phone the CRA to request one. If your employer has closed or gone bankrupt and none of those routes work, you can still file on time by estimating your income from pay stubs and bank records.
Ask Your Employer First
Payroll or human resources at the company that paid you is the fastest source. Under Section 209 of the Income Tax Regulations, employers must distribute T4 slips no later than the last day of February following the calendar year the slip covers.1Justice Laws Website. Income Tax Regulations – Section 209 For 2025 income, that means February 28, 2026.
Many employers now post T4s inside an internal payroll portal alongside pay stubs and benefits information. If yours mails paper slips, check that your current mailing address is on file with payroll well before February. A slip sent to an old address is one of the most common reasons a T4 goes missing, and calling payroll to update your record and reissue the slip usually fixes it in a day or two.
A T4, formally the Statement of Remuneration Paid, reports your total employment earnings in Box 14, the income tax deducted from your pay in Box 22, and the amounts withheld for the Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance.2Canada Revenue Agency. T4 Slip: Statement of Remuneration Paid Employers are required to issue one for anyone who received more than $500 in pay during the year or had any deductions taken for CPP, EI, or income tax.3Canada Revenue Agency. Employers Guide – Filing the T4 Slip and Summary Any job where taxes were withheld should generate a T4.
Duplicate or Amended Slip
If you lost the T4 you received, ask for a duplicate. Your employer can print a copy marked “DUPLICATE” at the top; it isn’t re-filed with the CRA.3Canada Revenue Agency. Employers Guide – Filing the T4 Slip and Summary
An amended slip is different. If your original T4 has an error, such as the wrong income amount or an incorrect deduction figure, ask for an “AMENDED” slip. That version replaces the original in the CRA’s records, and copies go to both you and the CRA.3Canada Revenue Agency. Employers Guide – Filing the T4 Slip and Summary Compare your slip against your final pay stub of the year before you file, and request an amendment if the numbers don’t match.
Download It From CRA My Account
Once your employer files the T4 with the CRA and the agency processes it, the slip appears in the “Tax information slips” section of My Account.4Canada Revenue Agency. Tax Slips: Get a Copy of Your Slips Online filing for the 2026 season opened on February 23, 2026, and most slips become available around that time as employers submit them.5Canada Revenue Agency. What You Need to Know for the 2026 Tax-Filing Season
To use My Account, register through the Government of Canada’s sign-in portal, which accepts GCKey credentials or a sign-in partner such as a major Canadian bank.6Government of Canada. Sign In to a Government of Canada Online Account First-time registration takes a few days because the CRA mails a security code to the address on your file.
Inside the portal, pick the tax year you need. You’ll see the same figures your employer reported, and you can save the slip as a PDF or print it. Many certified tax programs will pull the data directly from My Account, which cuts down on manual entry errors. Even so, compare the numbers against your last pay stub of the year before you file.
Call the CRA
If you don’t want to use the online portal, phone the CRA’s individual inquiries line at 1-800-959-8281 and request copies of your slips.7Canada Revenue Agency. Contact the Canada Revenue Agency Have your Social Insurance Number, date of birth, and details from a recent tax return or notice of assessment ready; the agent will use them to verify your identity before releasing any tax information.8Canada Revenue Agency. Social Insurance Number
My Service Canada Account Won’t Have It
If you use My Service Canada Account for Employment Insurance or CPP, your employment T4 isn’t there. MSCA directs you to CRA My Account for personal income tax slips.9Government of Canada. My Service Canada Account MSCA does hold the T4E for any Employment Insurance benefits you received during the year, which is a separate slip from the T4 your employer issues.
Make Sure You Actually Need a T4
Some people spend time chasing a slip that was never issued. A T4 covers employment income where an employer withheld taxes. A T4A, the Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income, covers pensions, self-employed commissions, retiring allowances, and certain government benefits.10Canada Revenue Agency. Tax Slips Independent contractors typically get a T4A rather than a T4, and payments from the Wage Earner Protection Program after an employer’s insolvency also come on a T4A.11Government of Canada. Wage Earner Protection Program – After Receiving Your WEPP Payment Confirm which slip your income should appear on before you start hunting.
If Your Employer Has Closed or Gone Bankrupt
When the company that paid you no longer exists, your options narrow but don’t disappear. Start with CRA My Account. If the employer filed the T4 with the CRA before shutting down, it will appear there like any other slip.4Canada Revenue Agency. Tax Slips: Get a Copy of Your Slips
If the company went bankrupt, a court-appointed trustee handles its affairs and may be responsible for issuing outstanding T4s. Contact details for the trustee are available through the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.
If nothing surfaces, you’ll need to reconstruct the numbers yourself from pay stubs, bank deposit records, and any employment contract that shows your pay rate.
Filing Without a T4
The April 30, 2026 filing deadline doesn’t move because a slip is late.5Canada Revenue Agency. What You Need to Know for the 2026 Tax-Filing Season If you’ve contacted the employer and checked My Account with no result, the CRA expects you to file on time using your best estimate. Total up your pay stubs or bank statements to calculate your earnings and the tax that was withheld.4Canada Revenue Agency. Tax Slips: Get a Copy of Your Slips
Include a note with your return giving the employer’s name and address, the type of income, and the steps you took to obtain the slip. If you file electronically, keep the supporting documents for at least the standard record-retention period. If you file on paper, attach copies of your pay stubs and the note to the return.4Canada Revenue Agency. Tax Slips: Get a Copy of Your Slips
When the CRA eventually receives the T4 from your employer, it will match the slip against what you reported. If the figures differ, the CRA will reassess your return and send either a bill or a refund for the difference. Waiting past the deadline for a slip you may never receive is usually the worse call, because late-filing penalties and interest begin accumulating the day after April 30.
Penalties If You Skip the Income
Missing a T4 is one thing. Leaving the income off your return is another. If you omit $500 or more and you also failed to report income on a return in any of the three preceding tax years, you face a repeated failure to report penalty. It is the lesser of 10% of the unreported amount or 50% of the difference between the understated tax and any tax already withheld on that income.12Government of Canada. False Reporting or Repeated Failure to Report Income
If the CRA decides you knowingly made a false statement or omission, the penalty rises to the greater of $100 or 50% of the understated tax related to that statement.12Government of Canada. False Reporting or Repeated Failure to Report Income Making a reasonable effort to estimate and report the income, even without a slip in hand, keeps you clear of these provisions.