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$1,765.00 is what CRA can charge a small Canadian employer with 12 T4 slips that files its 2026 return 30 days late on paper, hands 2 slips to employees 20 days late and pays a $3,400.00 year-end balance 30 days late.
| Penalty | Rule | Sample employer |
|---|---|---|
| Late filing, 12 slips, 30 days | $10 a day for 11 to 50 slips | $300.00 |
| Paper filing, 12 slips | $125 for 6 to 50 slips | $125.00 |
| 2 slips handed out 20 days late | $25 a day per slip | $1,000.00 |
| Year-end balance paid 30 days late | 10% after 7 days | $340.00 |
| Total CRA penalty | $1,765.00 | |
| Per T4 slip | $147.08 |
The biggest line is not the late return. It is the two slips that reached employees late: $500.00 each.
When the clock starts
The T4 return is due on the last day of February. For 2026 slips that is Sunday, February 28, 2027. CRA treats a return as on time if it receives it by the next business day, so the real deadline is Monday, March 1, 2027. From then on, the days count.
The four penalties, one by one
Late filing comes from Income Tax Act section 162(7.01). CRA applies a relieving administrative policy to T4 returns: 1 to 5 slips cost a flat $100, 6 to 10 slips $5 a day up to $500, 11 to 50 slips $10 a day up to $1,000, and higher tiers up to $75 a day for more than 10,000 slips. Days stop counting at 100, and the minimum is $100.
Paper filing comes from section 162(7.02). More than 5 slips must be filed electronically. Filing 6 to 50 slips on paper costs $125, 51 to 250 costs $250, and the top tier is $2,500.
Slips not given to employees on time cost $25 a day per slip, with a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $2,500, according to CRA's page on distributing slips.
A year-end balance remitted late costs 3% if it is 1 to 3 days late, 5% for 4 or 5 days, 7% for 6 or 7 days and 10% after that. CRA generally applies it only to amounts over $500. Interest is extra and is not in this calculator.
Change one condition and the answer moves
With 8 slips instead of 12, the relieving policy drops the late-filing rate to $5 a day. The late-filing line falls to $150.00 and the total to $1,615.00. Switch the policy off to see the legislated $10 a day, and the total goes back to $1,765.00.
Keep 12 slips, but file electronically, hand every slip out on time and pay the balance 5 days late. The total is $470.00: $300.00 for the late return and $170.00 for the late balance at 5%.
How to check your own employer
Open the free calculator in your browser and type 8 numbers: slips in the return, days late, paper or electronic, the relieving-policy switch, slips not handed out and how late, and any year-end balance paid late with its days. All 11 results appear at once, including the total and the cost per slip. Nothing is uploaded.
If you keep payroll files for several employers, the .xlsx workbook has the same 11 live formulas and a README with the CRA tiers, so you can keep one copy in each client's year-end file.
15 seconds — what it actually does
Full walk-through
Questions people ask
What does this T4 late filing penalty calculator do?
It adds up the four CRA penalties an employer can owe at T4 year-end: late filing of the T4 return by slip-count tier, filing more than 5 slips on paper, slips not given to employees on time, and a year-end balance remitted late. You type your slip count and days late and see each penalty plus the total.
Who is it for?
Bookkeepers and owner-managers of Canadian small businesses who run payroll in house and file the T4 information return themselves. It is for the moment before the last day of February when you need to know what filing late, on paper or without handing out slips would cost the business.
Why not just read the CRA pages?
CRA's pages split these four penalties across four separate pages and four charts; none of them adds them up for your slip count and your days late. The calculator applies the right tier for your count, caps the days at 100 as the Act does, and gives one total you can show the owner.
What is free?
The browser calculator is free and complete for one employer: all 8 inputs and all 11 results, including the total CRA penalty and the cost per slip. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is held back. The paid part is the .xlsx file you keep per client employer with the same live formulas and a README of the CRA rules.
What does it cost compared with getting it wrong?
The workbook is $21 once, not a subscription. A small employer with 12 slips that files 30 days late on paper, hands 2 slips out 20 days late and pays a $3,400.00 year-end balance 30 days late owes CRA $1,765.00, under Income Tax Act s.162(7.01), s.162(7.02), CRA's distribution rule and its late-remittance rule.
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