When to expect your tax slips
You should receive most of your slips and receipts by the end of February, although trust and partnership slips usually come in by the end of March.
Here's an overview of the filing deadlines for common tax slips:
- Reporting entities must send T4 employment income slips, T4A pension and other income slips, and T5 investment income slips by March 2. These normally need to be sent by Feb. 28, but it falls on a Saturday this year.
- Trusts have a deadline of 90 days after the trust's year-end to report income to beneficiaries on T3 slips. As such, those with a calendar-year reporting period have until March 31.
- Partnerships must generally report partnership income to their partners on T5013 slips by March 31.
If you operate in the trucking industry, this may be the first year that you will receive a T4A slip reporting fees paid for your services in 2025. This is because the CRA changed an administrative position and will begin enforcing penalties where trucking businesses fail to report fees for services where required. For more details, read our Trucking industry T4A reporting requirements: CRA policy on fees for services article.
What to do with your tax slips
The differing deadlines mean that you may still receive tax slips in April. While you may be inclined to set them aside until you receive all your expected documents, reject that inclination and take a more organized and itemized approach.
A written checklist or a personal tax organizer can keep track of the slips and receipts you expect to receive and help you identify documents that may be missing. Assembling your slips and documentation will make verifying accuracy and catching any omissions easier.
What are the penalties for not reporting income?
Tax slips help you confirm that all sources of income are reported each year. They help ensure you pay the appropriate amount of tax and avoid interest on underpaid tax. They also enable you to avoid the penalty for failing to report income.
For example, if you omit an income amount of $500 or more on your 2025 tax return, and on any of the 2022, 2023, or 2024 tax returns, you may face a penalty for failure to report income.
The federal and provincial or territorial penalties are each equal to the lesser of the:
- 10% of the amount you failed to report on your 2025 return; and
- 50% of the difference between the understated tax (and/or overstated credits) related to the amount you failed to report and the amount of tax withheld related to the amount you failed to report.
Revenu Québec assesses Quebec tax penalties separately.
How to deal with missing tax slips
Information slips are sometimes received late or not at all. If this occurs, there is an increased risk of unreported income and associated penalties.
Here are three tips to help you avoid penalties even if you have missing slips or receipts:
- Before filing, contact the issuer for any missing information slips or income receipts and request a duplicate. If you are a registered user of the My Account service offered by the CRA, you may be able to view your tax slips online and save yourself some time.
- If you are unable to locate the necessary information in time to file by the deadline, estimate the missing income amounts to the best of your ability. Supporting documents, such as pay stubs or account statements, may help you do this. Always retain your supporting information in case the CRA requests to see it. If necessary, you can request an adjustment to your tax return once the actual slips or receipts are received and the amount of income is confirmed.
- Be sure to file on time to avoid late-filing penalties, even if you have yet to receive all your expected tax information slips or receipts for the 2025 reporting year. The CRA will not automatically waive penalties for late or inaccurate filing because of missing slips.
What about receipts for tax deductions?
While you could incur a penalty for missing an income slip and under-reporting your income, it is also important to keep track of slips that support income tax deductions or credits, such as charitable donation receipts and medical expense receipts.
Although tax slips for income are reported to the CRA and can be accessed using CRA’s My Account, the same is not true for charitable donation receipts or medical expense receipts. If you donate to several charities, it can be difficult to make sure that you have all the receipts to support your claim for donations as they could be sent throughout the year when donations are received or at the end of the year.
Setting up an electronic or paper folder at the start of every year can help keep the receipts all in one place so they’re easy to find before you meet with your tax preparer. The same idea works well for medical receipts. While these receipts don’t have to be submitted to the CRA with your return, the CRA may ask for copies if it conducts a post-assessment review.
Don't let a third party's oversight add to your tax bill. Taking the time to manage and collect your information slips and tax receipts before filing your tax return can help you avoid paying unnecessary taxes, interest, and penalties.
How we can help
Have questions? Contact your BDO advisor.
The information in this publication is current as of Jan. 9, 2026.
This publication has been carefully prepared, but it has been written in general terms and should be seen as broad guidance only. The publication cannot be relied upon to cover specific situations and you should not act, or refrain from acting, upon the information contained therein without obtaining specific professional advice. Please contact BDO Canada LLP to discuss these matters in the context of your particular circumstances. BDO Canada LLP, its partners, employees and agents do not accept or assume any liability or duty of care for any loss arising from any action taken or not taken by anyone in reliance on the information in this publication or for any decision based on it.