Ask an employer when payroll year-end happens and most will say February, when the T4 slips are due. By February, though, almost nothing about the numbers can still be changed — the slips only report a year that has already closed. The year is actually decided in December, in the final pay runs, when bonuses are paid or deferred, taxable benefits are recorded or forgotten, and the last remittance of the year is calculated. February's deadline is real: employers have to file the T4 information return and give employees their slips on or before the last day of February of the following year (s1). But the employers who file calmly treat February as a printing exercise, because the work was split across three clocks — December, January, and February — and each clock got its own job. This guide lays out the three phases, including the one most checklists skip entirely: recalculating CPP and EI in January the same way the CRA itself will recalculate them later.
Payroll year-end runs on three clocks
| Phase | Window | The job | What goes wrong if it slips |
|---|---|---|---|
| December — record | Final pay runs of the year | Pay or formally defer bonuses; record every taxable benefit in the year it was provided; run the final payroll cleanly | Benefits surface in February with no pay run left to attach them to, and CPP, EI and tax were never deducted on them |
| January — reconcile | After the last December remittance | Total the year's pay, deductions and remittances per employee; recalculate CPP and EI; calculate pension adjustments | Differences are discovered by the CRA's review instead of by you, when correcting them costs more |
| February — file and deliver | By the last day of February (next business day if it falls on a weekend) (s1) | File the T4 return and summary; give every employee and recipient their slip, including former employees | Late-filing penalties, and employees filing personal returns with missing or amended slips |
One date deserves a circle this cycle. The last day of February 2027 is Sunday, February 28 — and where the last day of February falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the information return is due the next business day (s1). For the 2026 payroll year, T4 slips and the summary are therefore due Monday, March 1, 2027. Treat that as a one-day grace on a deadline you plan to beat by two weeks, not as the plan itself.
December: what has to land in the final pay runs
The December rule is simple to state: if it was pay, it belongs in a pay run dated in the year. Year-end housekeeping guidance for Canadian employers starts in the same place — check that all wages, salaries, bonuses and taxable benefits have been recorded, and confirm CPP and EI contributions are correct for both the employee portions withheld and the employer portions owed (s5). Taxable benefits are the chronic failure point. The company car's personal use, the group insurance premiums the business paid, the gift cards handed out at the holiday party — each is remuneration with deduction consequences, and each is easiest to handle while a December paycheque still exists to carry the CPP, EI and tax on it. A benefit discovered in February can still be reported, but it can no longer be processed; it can only be explained.
December also carries a cash deadline that has nothing to do with slips. If you are a regular remitter — an average monthly withholding amount under $25,000 — your remittance period is the calendar month and the due date is the 15th day of the following month, so December's deductions must reach the CRA by January 15, 2027 (s2). Eligible quarterly remitters owe the whole October-to-December quarter by the same January 15 date (s2). Closing December pay therefore means two things at once: the year's remuneration is complete, and the remittance that proves it is already scheduled.
January: recalculate CPP and EI the way the CRA will
Here is the step the general checklists omit. Every year the CRA runs a pensionable and insurable earnings review — a PIER — recalculating the CPP and EI that should have applied to the earnings on your slips and comparing the result with what you reported; a shortfall becomes a deficiency covering both the employer and employee shares (s4). Most deficiencies trace back to simple causes: a taxable benefit treated the wrong way, pensionable earnings entered incorrectly, or an exemption applied to the wrong employee (s4). Every one of those causes is findable in January with the same arithmetic the CRA will use later, at a point where the correction is a journal entry and an explanation rather than an assessment.
January is also when the rest of the reconciliation lands. Reconcile total remittances against your CRA payroll account statement to make sure nothing was missed or overpaid during the year (s5). Verify each employee's legal name, social insurance number and current address against your records — a slip mailed to last year's address is a February problem manufactured in January. And if any employees belong to a registered pension plan or deferred profit sharing plan, calculate the pension adjustment for each member for the year (s1): the PA belongs on the T4, and it cannot be reconstructed quickly in the last week of February. The decision framework for the whole month is one question per employee — do the pay records, the deductions, the remittances and the slip draft tell the same story? — answered while the answer is still cheap to fix.
The year-end payroll procedure
- Freeze the December inputs early. In the first half of December, list every bonus, retro pay adjustment and taxable benefit still to be recorded, and assign each one to a specific remaining pay run (s5).
- Run the final December payroll and review it before submitting. Check gross pay, benefits and deductions employee by employee; this is the last run that can carry corrections inside the year.
- Schedule the December remittance for its actual due date. January 15, 2027 for regular monthly remitters and for eligible quarterly remitters covering October to December (s2) — earlier if cash flow allows, never later.
- Total the year per employee in January. Gross remuneration, CPP, EI and income tax deducted, and total remitted, in one schedule that will become the T4 summary's backbone (s5).
- Run your own PIER check. Recalculate expected CPP and EI from pensionable and insurable earnings for each employee and compare against what was deducted; investigate every difference, especially around taxable benefits and mid-year maximums (s4).
- Calculate pension adjustments and verify employee details. PAs for every RPP or DPSP member (s1), and names, SINs and addresses confirmed for everyone who will receive a slip — including people who left during the year.
- File electronically if you must — and plan as if you must. Employers preparing more than 5 slips for a calendar year are required to file electronically in XML or through Web Forms (s1); smaller filers can save rework by using the same route.
- Deliver the slips the compliant way, by the deadline. Slips must reach employees by the last day of February — Monday, March 1, 2027 for the 2026 year, since February 28 is a Sunday (s1, s3). Portal delivery through a secure employer portal is permitted without prior consent, but paper copies are required where an employee asked for paper, cannot reasonably access the portal, or is a former employee or on extended leave when the slips are issued (s3).
What success looks like: your per-employee totals, your remittance record and your draft slips agree to the dollar; the PIER-style recalculation shows no unexplained CPP or EI differences; and the February filing is a submission, not an investigation. If the only February task left is pressing send, December and January did their jobs.
FAQ
When exactly are the 2026 T4 slips due? The rule is the last day of February of the following year, moved to the next business day when that day falls on a weekend (s1). February 28, 2027 is a Sunday, so the 2026 T4 return, summary and employee slips are due Monday, March 1, 2027.
Do I have to file electronically? If you prepare more than 5 slips of a type for the calendar year, yes — the return must be filed electronically over the Internet, in XML or using Web Forms (s1). At five or fewer slips, paper remains an option, though electronic filing produces cleaner confirmations.
What is a PIER, and why should I imitate one? It is the CRA's pensionable and insurable earnings review: the CRA recalculates the CPP and EI that should have applied to your reported earnings and assesses any deficiency, for both the employer's and the employee's shares (s4). Running the same recalculation yourself in January finds the usual causes — mis-treated taxable benefits, wrong pensionable earnings, misapplied exemptions (s4) — while they are still free to fix.
Can I just email T4 slips to staff? The compliant default is delivery through a secure employer portal, which is allowed without obtaining consent first — with paper required for employees who requested it, who cannot reasonably access the portal, or who are former employees or on extended leave at issue time (s3). Plan the exception list in January, not in the last week of February.