Every January, a familiar scramble starts for a lot of incorporated business owners in Calgary. Payroll needs to be reconciled, dividends paid to shareholders need to be reported, and slips need to go out to employees and the CRA before the deadline hits. If this is your first year going through it, or if it always feels more stressful than it should, you are not alone.
T4s, T5s, and general payroll filing are some of the most common areas where small business owners run into confusion, mainly because there are several moving pieces that all need to line up at once. Getting this right matters, not just to stay compliant with the CRA, but because clean payroll and slip reporting also makes your own year end and personal tax filing much smoother.
This guide breaks down what T4 and T5 slips actually are, who needs to file them, when they are due, and the mistakes that tend to trip up growing businesses in Alberta.
What T4 Slips Are and Who Needs to File Them
A T4 slip, officially called the Statement of Remuneration Paid, reports the employment income you paid to an employee during the calendar year, along with the CPP, EI, and income tax that was deducted. If your corporation has any employees, including yourself if you pay yourself a salary through payroll rather than dividends, you are required to issue T4 slips.
This applies whether you have one employee or twenty. Even a single employee who earned a small amount during the year still needs a T4 prepared and filed. Business owners sometimes assume there is a minimum income threshold before a T4 is required. There is not one. If payroll deductions were withheld, a T4 is expected.
What T5 Slips Are and When They Apply
A T5 slip, the Statement of Investment Income, is used to report dividends paid to shareholders, along with certain types of interest income. For incorporated business owners in Alberta, this typically comes up when the corporation pays dividends to its shareholders instead of, or in addition to, a salary.
Many owner-operators use a mix of salary and dividends as part of their overall compensation strategy. If your corporation paid you or another shareholder dividends during the year, a T5 needs to be issued to report that income, even if the shareholder is also an employee who already receives a T4.
This is one of the areas where accountants often see confusion. A business owner may assume that because they already receive a T4, no further reporting is needed. If dividends were also paid, that assumption leaves a gap in your filing.
Key Deadlines for T4 and T5 Slips
T4 and T5 slips generally need to be issued to recipients and filed with the CRA by the last day of February following the calendar year being reported. When that date falls on a weekend, the deadline shifts to the next business day.
This deadline applies to both giving the slip to the employee or shareholder and submitting the related summary to the CRA. It is not enough to have the slip ready internally. It needs to actually reach both the recipient and the CRA by the due date.
Because this deadline sits close to year end and often overlaps with GST filing, instalment payments, and other obligations, it is easy for a growing business to lose track of it in the middle of a busy season. Setting a reminder several weeks ahead, rather than relying on memory once February arrives, is one of the simplest ways to stay ahead of it.
Payroll Remittance Basics
Separate from the annual T4 slip deadline, corporations that run payroll are also responsible for remitting the CPP, EI, and income tax withheld from each pay period on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Most small businesses remit monthly, with the remittance generally due by the 15th of the month following the pay period. Some employers with a more established remitting history may qualify for quarterly remittances instead.
This is a different obligation from the T4 filing itself. The T4 slip is the annual summary of what was paid and withheld. The remittance is the actual ongoing payment of those deductions to the CRA throughout the year. Business owners sometimes confuse the two and assume that filing T4s in February settles everything. It does not. If remittances were missed or paid late during the year, that is a separate compliance issue with its own penalties, regardless of whether the T4 slip itself was filed on time.
Common Mistakes Calgary Business Owners Make with T4 and T5 Filing
A few patterns show up consistently with small and growing corporations in Calgary and across Alberta.
- Treating T4 filing as optional for very small payroll amounts
- Forgetting to issue a T5 when dividends were paid alongside a salary
- Assuming remittances and slip filing are the same obligation
- Waiting until late February to start pulling payroll numbers together
- Mismatches between the T4 Summary and what was actually remitted throughout the year, which tends to raise questions from the CRA
This last one is worth paying attention to. Your T4 Summary is expected to reconcile with your remittance history. When the two do not match, it usually points back to a bookkeeping gap earlier in the year rather than an issue with the slip itself. This is one of those areas where small mistakes early in the year can create bigger problems by the time filing season arrives.
How to Stay Organized Throughout the Year
The businesses that handle T4 and T5 season with the least stress are usually the ones that keep payroll and dividend records current throughout the year, rather than trying to reconstruct everything in January.
A few habits that make a real difference:
- Reconcile payroll remittances each month rather than waiting until year end
- Track dividend payments as they happen, not after the fact
- Keep a running note of any changes in employee status, pay rate, or benefits
- Confirm your remitter type and due dates with the CRA if your payroll has grown
- Build your T4 and T5 preparation into your year end checklist, not as a separate scramble
If your bookkeeping has fallen behind during the year, our simple bookkeeping checklist for new Calgary businesses is a useful starting point for getting your records back in order before slip season arrives. And if you are still deciding how to structure owner compensation between salary and dividends, understanding personal services business status and how it can affect your corporation is worth reviewing as well, since it shapes how your T4 and T5 filings should look going forward.
When Professional Payroll and Filing Support Helps
T4 and T5 preparation looks straightforward on the surface, but the details matter. Box codes need to be correct, T4 Summaries need to reconcile with your remittance history, and dividend reporting needs to reflect what was actually paid, not just what was planned. A professional review can often catch a mismatched box entry or a missing T5 before it becomes a bigger issue with the CRA down the road.
This is especially true for businesses going through their first full payroll year, or corporations that recently changed how owners are compensated. Getting an outside set of eyes on the numbers before they are filed is often the difference between a smooth February and a stressful one.
Get Ahead of Your T4 and T5 Filing This Year
If T4s, T5s, and payroll remittances feel like a moving target every year, you do not need to figure it out alone. Getting your slips and payroll records right the first time protects you from unnecessary CRA correspondence and keeps your own tax picture clean going into filing season.
Vision Accounting works with small business owners and incorporated professionals across Calgary who want reliable, practical support with payroll, T4 and T5 preparation, and year round bookkeeping. Whether you need help reconciling remittances, sorting out salary versus dividend reporting, or simply want your slips filed accurately and on time, our team can help you stay organized and avoid the mistakes that catch so many growing businesses off guard.
Contact Vision Accounting today to get support with your payroll and slip filing, or explore our full range of accounting and bookkeeping services to see how we help Calgary businesses stay compliant and organized throughout the year.
