T4s, ROEs and payroll year-end, handled

T4 season without the panic

Every Canadian employer must issue T4 slips to employees and file a T4 Summary with the CRA by the end of February. Errors mean amended slips, frustrated employees trying to file their own returns and sometimes penalties. SeroPayroll produces T4 slips and the T4 Summary as XML from the pay runs you already posted, so the slips match payroll to the cent without retyping.

Filing readiness checks catch common problems before you submit anything: missing or invalid SINs, incomplete addresses, and boxes that do not add up to the totals on the summary. Fixing those in January is far easier than correcting rejected slips in March, when employees are waiting on them to file their personal returns.

T4A, T5018 and RL-1

Not every payment is employment income. SeroPayroll also produces T4A slips for other income such as certain fees and commissions, and T5018 slips for construction businesses that pay subcontractors, both as XML in the CRA’s format. SeroBooks Pro produces the same slips directly from its ledger, so supplier payments recorded in accounts payable feed the T5018 automatically.

For Québec employees, RL-1 slips are produced for distribution. RL-1 support is slips only: SeroPayroll does not transmit them electronically to Revenu Québec, so you or your accountant file them through Revenu Québec’s own services. We state that limit plainly so Québec employers can plan their filing process in advance.

• T4 and T4 Summary XML
• T4A XML
• T5018 XML for subcontractor payments
• RL-1 slips (no e-transmission)

Records of Employment on time

When an employee has an interruption of earnings, such as a layoff, a leave or quitting, you must issue a Record of Employment, generally within five calendar days after the end of the pay period in which it happened. SeroPayroll produces ROE .BLK files for upload to Service Canada’s ROE Web and tracks the five-day deadline for every ROE that is due.

Because the ROE uses insurable earnings and hours straight from posted pay runs, there is no re-keying from paper records or spreadsheets, and no risk of the ROE disagreeing with the T4 later. Former employees get the document they need for EI benefits on time, which also saves your office from follow-up calls.

PIER review before the CRA

After T4s are filed, the CRA runs its Pensionable and Insurable Earnings Review to find CPP and EI under-deductions, then sends the employer a bill for both the employee and employer shares. SeroPayroll runs its own PIER review before you file, so you can find and correct problems while they are still cheap and simple to fix.

SeroPayroll Starter covers up to 10 employees for $25 a month in USD, with a 14-day free trial. SeroBooks Pro at $300 a month includes the same year-end tools, with payroll inside the accounting ledger and US W-2 support for businesses that also have American employees, all in one plan with one set of books.