Preparing T4 and RL-1 slips

At year end, each Canadian employer gives its employees a T4 slip and, for those who work in Quebec, an RL-1 slip. Canadian payroll draws them from the closed pays of the year and the takeover totals. For the T4, it prepares the PDF slips and the XML to upload to the CRA Internet File Transfer, then publishes the slips to the employees’ files. For the RL-1, it prepares a working document and an export, to be entered in Revenu Québec’s online service. This article is aimed at payroll managers and administrators.

Before you start #

• All pays of the year must be closed: an open pay does not count — see Calculating, closing and publishing a Canadian pay.
• Employee files must be complete, in particular the SIN and the dental benefits code — see The employee’s Canadian payroll tab.
• The employer record holds the head office address and contact person used in the summary, and the pension plan registration number (box 50) where applicable.
• T4 right: at the Access level, you read the preview and download the PDFs and XML; at the Execute level, you make the annual entries, prepare, publish, amend a published year and receive reminders.
• RL-1 right: at the Access level, you read the slips, the RLZ-1.S summary and the watermarked preview; at the Execute level, you make entries, correct boxes with a reason and download the CSV export.
• The Administrator and Payroll Manager roles hold both rights at the Execute level.

T4 slips #

Reading the preview #

1. Open Canadian payroll › T4. Before June, the screen opens on the previous year, whose T4 slips are produced in February.
2. Choose the Employer and the Year if needed.

The year’s T4 return card shows the deadline (“due by …”), the number of employees ready and the status of the return: Not prepared yet, Preparing…, Prepared on …, not published, To prepare again: an entry changed since the preparation or Published on ….

The Employees table lists each employee paid in the year: Province, Income (14), Tax (22), Status and Slips. An employee has one slip per province of employment. The status reads Ready, or states what is missing. Expand an employee to read the boxes of their slip.

Annual entries #

Some boxes do not come from the pays. In an employee’s details:

1. Enter, where applicable, the Pension adjustment (box 52) and the Donations deducted from pay (box 46).
2. For Other information, click Add information, then choose the Code and enter the Amount.
3. Click Save the entries.

To correct a calculated box, use Correct the box: choose the Box, enter the amount and the Reason. The Corrected boxes remain listed with their reason and can be removed one by one.

Preparing and uploading #

1. Click Prepare the T4 slips. Illizeo produces, in the background, one PDF slip per employee and the return XML; the screen updates on its own.
2. Review the slips: each slip’s icon opens it as a PDF.
3. Click Download the XML and upload the file yourself to the CRA Internet File Transfer.

As long as nothing is published, you can correct an entry and click Prepare again. If preparation fails, a banner gives the reason and offers Restart.

Publishing the slips #

1. Click Publish the slips (N).
2. The confirmation dialog warns: each slip is filed in the employee’s “Salary certificates” folder, and the employee is notified; once published, the T4 slips of the year can no longer be prepared.
3. Confirm with Publish. The message “T4 slips published.” appears.

If a four-eyes validation circuit is active for publishing T4 slips, publication goes for validation: the T4 slips are frozen until a second officer decides.

Amending a published year #

An error in a published slip? Open an amendment: Illizeo compares with what is published and files only what changes.

1. Click Open an amendment.
2. Correct the entries or boxes.
3. Enter the Reason for the amendment (goes to the CRA summary) and click Save the note.
4. Click Prepare the amendment. Slips that change are marked amended, cancelled or additional, with one XML per type of submission.
5. Upload the XML file(s) to Internet File Transfer, then publish: each new slip goes into the employee’s file, next to the original.

The History section lists the Original return and each amendment, with its publication date.

RL-1 slips (Quebec) #

Until Revenu Québec authorizes Illizeo to produce the RL-1, the RL-1 screen is a working document: nothing is published or filed from it. You copy its amounts into Revenu Québec’s online entry, with the balance payment, before the deadline shown on the screen.

Reading the slips #

1. Open Canadian payroll › RL-1, then choose the Employer and the Year.
2. The Employees table lists one slip per employee paid in Quebec: Income (A), QPP (B.A), Tax (E) and Checks (“No issue”, or what is flagged).
3. Expand an employee to read all the boxes of their slip.

Completing a slip #

• What the pays do not separate: J, K, P, V and W detail taxable benefits paid through payroll (they leave box L); M, S and T are part of box A. Enter these amounts.
• Box O code: to choose if box O is filled in.
• Additional information: Add information, then Code and Amount.
• Click Save the entries.
• To correct a calculated box: Correct the box, with the Box, the amount and the Reason. The box then shows “corrected”, with the calculated amount as a reminder.

The RLZ-1.S summary #

The RLZ-1.S summary card sums up the year’s amounts: Quebec income tax and QPP and QPIP contributions, amounts paid period by period (including the takeover paid before Illizeo), then the Health Services Fund, the Labour standards contribution and the WSDRF (1% training), each with its balance. It ends with the Total of the balances and the Balance due or the Refund.

Preview and export #

• PDF preview (working document): the slips as a watermarked PDF.
• Export for online entry (CSV): the slips box by box, with the full SIN, to copy into Revenu Québec’s online entry.

Good to know #

• T4 and RL-1 slips are recalculated each time the screen opens, from closed pays and takeover totals.
• Holders of the Execute level of T4 receive a reminder as long as the previous year’s T4 slips are not produced, until the end of February.
• If the CRA has not yet published the year’s T4 schema, or the RL-1 tables are not loaded, the screen says so instead of showing the return.
• With the SFTP deposit set up, the T4 XML and PDF slips go to the company’s server on their own when they are prepared.

Frequently asked questions #

Why is an employee not ready? #

Their status says what is missing: SIN missing or invalid, dental benefits code not chosen… Complete their Canadian payroll tab, then prepare the T4 slips again.

Does Illizeo send the XML to the CRA? #

No. You download it and upload it yourself to Internet File Transfer.

Why does the RL-1 carry a watermark? #

Revenu Québec has not yet authorized the software: Illizeo’s RL-1 is a working document, to be entered in Revenu Québec’s online service.