Missing T4: What Should You Do?
Can't find your T4? Ask the employer, check My Account, then estimate from pay stubs and file on time.
The short version
- First, ask the employer for a copy. Second, check CRA My Account under tax information slips. Third, estimate it from your pay stubs.
- Don't wait for the slip and miss the deadline. CRA says to file on time with an estimate and a note.
- The note names the employer and its address, the type of income, and what you're doing to get the slip.
- Ignoring a missing slip doesn't make it go away. CRA has a copy and will match it, with interest.
- If the real slip arrives later and is different, change your return. Don't file a second one.
Missing T4? Here's What to Do
A missing T4 is usually not a mystery. It's in a portal you've forgotten the password to, in the mail at your old address, or with an employer that closed in July and whose bookkeeper now has other priorities. Here's the order to work through it.
The deadline for employers to give you your 2026 T4 is the end of February 2027 (March 1, since February 28 is a Sunday). Before that date, the slip isn't late. It's just not here yet.
Step 1: Ask the Employer
Call or email payroll and ask for a copy. Most large employers post T4s in an online portal; check there first, including for a job you left. Confirm your mailing address while you're at it. A T4 sent to an apartment you moved out of last spring has a new reader now.
Step 2: Check CRA My Account
Once your employer files its T4s with CRA, a copy shows up in My Account under tax information slips, and “Auto-fill my return” pulls it into certified tax software. CRA can't give you a slip the employer hasn't sent yet. If it's early March, wait a week or two and check again.
Step 3: Estimate It and File on Time
If the slip still isn't available by the filing deadline (April 30, 2027 for 2026 returns), CRA's instructions are to file anyway:
- Use your last pay stub of the year to estimate box 14 (year-to-date gross pay, plus any taxable benefits), box 22 (tax deducted), and boxes 16 and 18 (CPP and EI).
- Include a note with the employer's name and address, the type of income, and what you're doing to get the slip.
- If you file online, keep the pay stubs and the note in case CRA asks. On paper, attach them.
Waiting for the slip instead costs money if you owe: the late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance plus 1% a month. Missing the deadline also delays benefits like the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. The dates are on Canadian tax deadlines.
Got a pay stub but no T4?
Upload the last pay stub of the year, or the T4 once it shows up. The Tax Document Analyzer reads it and tells you which numbers go on which line of your return.
Step 4: When the Real Slip Shows Up
If it matches your estimate, you're done. If it doesn't, correct your return with ReFILE in your software, “Change my return” in My Account, or form T1-ADJ. Don't file a second complete return; it just confuses the system, which is not hard to do. Our guide on how to change your tax return walks through it.
The Employer Went Out of Business
File with your estimate and note, as above. Payments from the Wage Earner Protection Program, for wages owed by a bankrupt employer, come on a T4A, not a T4. Generally, tax that was taken off your pay counts as paid by you, even if the employer never sent it on to CRA, but you'll need your pay stubs to prove it. Keep them. If CRA disputes the credit, that's a conversation for a professional; see find the right tax help.
Forgot a T4 Entirely?
CRA's matching program compares every slip issued in your name with your return. A forgotten T4 from a summer job usually turns into a notice of reassessment several months later, with the tax plus interest from April 30. Correct it yourself before that happens.
Do it twice and the penalty gets real: fail to report $500 or more of income in the current year and in any of the three years before, and CRA can charge the lesser of 10% of the unreported amount or 50% of the tax you understated (after tax withheld), on top of the tax itself. A missed T4 with tax already withheld costs less than one without, but neither is free.
If CRA has already reassessed you and you think the slip is wrong, not the return, you can object. Read what to do after a CRA reassessment.
Disagree with CRA? File the objection properly
The Objection Pack reads your notice, works out your deadline, drafts your statement of facts and fills in form T400A for you to sign.
Prevent It Next Year
- Update your address with every employer you leave, and with CRA.
- Write down every employer you had during the year, in January, while you still remember the three-week job.
- File after mid-March if you can, when most slips are in My Account.
- Check your return against your slips before sending it. That's what Return Check does: it flags slips CRA has that your return doesn't.
Got the T4 and not sure what it says? Read T4 slip explained. Missing a T4A instead? Same steps; see the T4A slip.
Missing T4 Questions
What do I do if I did not get my T4?
Ask the employer for a copy, then check CRA My Account under tax information slips. If you still do not have it by the filing deadline, estimate the amounts from your pay stubs and file on time with a note giving the employer's name and address, the type of income, and what you are doing to get the slip.
Can I file my taxes without a T4?
Yes. CRA says not to delay filing because of a missing slip. Use your pay stubs to estimate the income and deductions, keep them, and include a note about the missing slip.
When is my T4 available in CRA My Account?
After your employer files it with CRA. Employers have until the end of February, so most T4s appear in My Account by mid-March. CRA cannot provide a copy before the employer sends it.
What happens if I forget to report a T4?
CRA's matching program will usually find it and reassess your return with interest. If you fail to report $500 or more in the current year and any of the three previous years, a repeated failure to report income penalty can also apply.
My T4 arrived after I filed and the numbers are different. What do I do?
Change your return with ReFILE, Change my return in My Account, or form T1-ADJ. Do not file a second return.
Sources: CRA, Tax slips: Get a copy of your slips; Common adjustments; Repeated failure to report income; Interest and penalties on late taxes. Checked October 2026. The rule that withheld tax counts as paid by the employee is a general principle; disputed cases depend on the evidence.
Last reviewed October 4, 2026 against CRA and Government of Canada sources. How we check our facts.