February is the month of T4’s and T5’s for most employers.  If you had any employees during the 2012 calendar year, then CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) requires you to file T4’s and T5’s by February 28, 2013.  There is no flexibility on the deadline and the penalties and interest start adding up on March 1^st.  The penalties also are based on the number of information slips you were required to file and are calculated for every day that it is late.  That is correct, not based on a month, but added on a daily basis..  That may not mean much if you have only one employee, but if you have multiple employees, those fines can add up pretty fast. 
The minimum penalty for filing your T4 or T5 slips late is $100 and the maximum is $7500
Here is a chart outlining the penalties charged by CRA. *
If you outsource your payroll to a payroll provider like Ceridian Canada or ADP, your T4’s should already have been distributed.  If you need to manually prepare them, you can download the CRA guide for filing the T4’s either from the CRA website, or you can find it here on our website.
The T4 Slips have to be given to your employees on or before the last day of February, and CRA has to receive or have the T4 Summary return postmarked by that day also.
If you need help with your T4’s or aren’t sure whether you are responsible for filing them, please feel free to give us a call and we can help.
We’ve also posted some helpful articles on our site to help you understand the T4 filing process in Canada. Here also is the complete T4 Guide from CRA.

1. What is a T4 Slip?
2. Methods of Filing your T4 Slips and T4 Summary?

 
*Reprinted from the CRA website
Copyright: tashka2000 / 123RF Stock Photo