Executive Summary
This information has been developed to aid you as you work through the T4 process, and while the Payroll Documentation retains a comprehensive overview of every field within every T4 process, this guide is a methodical construct of all the necessary processes required to complete and submit your T4s. Please note that this guide is a source of authority on "how" to use the payroll software to complete your T4s. Questions regarding "if" you should be including something on your T4 should be directed towards Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Once you have a ruling from CRA on how to proceed, then consult this guide or atrievePayroll Support Services for how you will use the software to implement a decision that you have made.
The T4 Menu is visually broken down into groupings: Setup, Balancing, Processing, Distributing and Submission to CRA, and Merging multiple T4 files into one file.
You will process T4 Tax Forms Format Profile, T4 Pre Validation Report, T4 Tax Eligible Reconciliation and T4 Summary And Total Reporting in each of your payroll groups. You will then process your pension adjustments and the T4 statement creation in each of your payroll groups (even if you intend on merging your T4s). After running T4 statement creation in each of your payrolls, you should test-print and/or email your T4s to ensure ALL necessary information is printing on the T4 statement as well as being properly aligned within each box.
Process any necessary adjustments in T4 statement maintenance at the individual payroll level and then run the T4 Statement Regeneration to update the T4 print file with the changes you have made. T4 adjustments should be maintained at the individual payroll level. We recommend that you process all of your T4 adjustments before running the T4 Merge Creation.
Now you will then make the decision as to whether or not you will run T4 Merge Creation, which will take all T4 files with the same RP# from all payrolls and merge them together to form one unified file. Merging is optional. If you do not want to merge your T4 files, then you will not utilize T4 Merge Creation or T4 Merge Regeneration. If you do use the merge feature, then once you have processed T4 Merge Creation, from then on, you will refer to 'M' Merged T4s instead of 'R' Regular.
Once you have processed T4 Merge Creation, invariably you may need to make manual changes to the merged T4 (although it would be atrievePayroll's recommendation that you go back to the individual T4, make the change, regenerate, then re run the T4 merge creation. Changes to the merged T4 can be made through T4 Statement Maintenance selecting 'M' for merged T4. Once you have made necessary changes to your merged T4s, run T4 Merge Regeneration to update the merge print file with the changes you have made.
The Merge functionality, has been incorporated to all of the necessary T4 processes that you are used to using (i.e. T4 Statement Maintenance, T4 Statement Inquiry, T4 Statement Print, Email T4 Statements, T4 CRA File Changes, T4 CRA File Inquiry, T4 XML Creation).
Now that you T4s are in a finalized mode, merged or unmerged, you will proceed with T4 Statement Print, Build PDF/Emailing T4 Statements, and/or posting your T4s to the web, depending on your district's protocol (ensure your district is licensed if you intend on emailing or posting T4s to the web). If your district does not email T4s, but posts to the web, then you will still run Build PDF/Email T4 Statements process to build the file (.pdf) that is required for web viewing.
Finally, you will run T4 XML Creation, parse your XML files, and submit your files to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Starting January 2015, please take special note that you will be required to send your T4 XML files to CRA electronically using the Internet. CRA will no longer accept CDs, DVDs, USB keys, or diskettes. For more information on this change, please visit the CRA website.
This T4 Procedure Guide that follows is to serve as a workflow or step-by-step document to guide you through the T4 process. At any given point throughout the process you may find that this guide is not providing you with enough detail for you to proceed. In such instances, please note that the payroll manual is the most comprehensive resource available and provides a detail overview of every process.