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CRA Penalty Box for Late-Filed Information Returns 

Canadian Tax Adviser

 

May 15, 2012

 

Paul Hickey
Toronto, National Tax Centre

 

The CRA released a document listing the various late-filing penalties that apply to various information returns. Of particular interest is the CRA's relieving administrative policy, as announced in the 2012 federal budget, that applies to penalties for certain information returns that are received on or after January 1, 2012. This CRA says its objective is to ensure penalties for small businesses are reasonable.

Background
The 2012 federal budget announced that the CRA instituted a new administrative policy to ensure that penalties on late-filed information returns are charged in a manner that is both fair and reasonable. Where a business is unable to comply in a timely manner with a reporting obligation related to certain information returns, such as T4s, reduced penalties will be applied when the number of late-filed returns is small.

 

New penalty regime
The penalty for certain late-filed information returns is the greater of $100 or a penalty determined as follows:

 

 

The following information returns are subject to the relieving administrative policy:

 

  • NR4, "Statement of Amounts Paid or Credited to Non-Residents of Canada"
  • T4, "Statement of Remuneration Paid"
  • T4A, "Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income"
  • T4E, "Statement of Employment Insurance and Other Benefits"
  • T5, "Statement of Investment Income"
  • T5018, "Statement of Contract Payments".

 

For details, contact your KPMG adviser.

Publications

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